The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) is hosting a one-day workshop on a Common Electrical Interface (CEI) project for 28G Very Short Reach (VSR) on Monday, July 19, 2010 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm in Baltimore, MD. This is the second CEI workshop sponsored by the OIF in the last five months and is open to the public and OIF members.

The OIF workshop will focus efforts on the CEI-28G-VSR project initiated at the February 2010 CEI workshop. The workshop will solicit feedback from other standards organizations and the industry in general to help guide the definition of objectives and requirements for an implementation agreement.

The CEI-28G-VSR project will result in an implementation agreement that will define data lane(s) that support bit rates up to 28 Gbps for chip-to-module interfaces with distances from zero to a minimum of 100 mm on a host PCB. The project will also define the channel model based on a chip-to-module application as well as define a test methodology for a chip-to-module interface including a single connector.

“The OIF is hosting its second workshop on the CEI Implementation Agreement,” said David Stauffer of IBM Corp. and the OIF’s Physical and Link Layer Working Group Chair. “The continued industry input and support to provide a robust CEI specification will propel this technology forward quickly.”

“The interest in this project has given OIF members and non-members the ability to collaborate on the need for higher capacity electrical interfaces,” said Rod Smith of Tyco Electronics and the OIF’s Market Awareness and Education Committee co-chair. “The continued participation and contributions from companies across the industry will help to serve the needs of the broader industry in developing an implementation agreement.”

The CEI workshop is open to the public and will take place at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore. Fee for OIF members is $100. Fee for non-members is $125 (includes continental breakfast and lunch). To access the online workshop registration system go to http://www.oiforum.com/public/OIF_CEI_workshop_19July10.html

Workshop Agenda and Speakers:

CEI-25 Project Content & Status (David Stauffer, IBM and OIF Physical and Link Layer Working Group Chair)

CEI-28G-VSR Proposed Baseline (Beth Donnay, Force10 Networks)

Needs of the Industry

Technology Issues

About the OIF

Launched in 1998, the OIF is the first industry group to unite representatives from data and optical networking disciplines, including many of the world's leading carriers, component manufacturers and system vendors. The OIF promotes the development and deployment of interoperable networking solutions and services through the creation of Implementation Agreements (IAs) for optical, interconnect, network processing, component and networking systems technologies. The OIF actively supports and extends the work of standards bodies and industry forums with the goal of promoting worldwide compatibility of optical internetworking products. Information on the OIF can be found at http://www.oiforum.com.