A Speedier World: 200G is becoming mainstream, 400G gaining traction
Over the past 30 years, optical fiber transmission systems have been advanced rapidly. The traffic growth has been around 30% since 2013, and in some countries, the growth rate is over 40% each year, which poses a huge challenge to all the carriers around the world.
Moving towards a higher line rate is an effective solution. The most recent IHS Markit’s report showed a clear trend of 100G coherent ports shifting towards 200G and 400G. Here are the key findings from the report:
- 200G is becoming mainstream, 400G gaining traction
- 200G emerges as the fastest growing segment and will remain strong through 2023.
- Both 100G&200G operate inside a 50 GHz grid and do not require wider WDM grids, which makes 200G upgrades more cost-effective.
- Both 200G and 400G ports continue to grow to support bandwidth growth over the next five years.
“We forecast that 100G line-side ports will continue to decline slowly as new deployments favor use of multi-rate 200G and 400G solutions……200G upgrades are easier and less expensive than upgrading to 400G wavelengths. 200G is compatible with fixed 50 GHz ITU grids, used in most WDM networks deployed worldwide today.”
