Decoding

Standards
NCS Newsletter • December 2014
Connect to tomorrow
This is the third time Decoding Standards has featured the topic of 40GBase-T in the last two years. However, in
this issue, we’re presenting more than just an update. In September 2014, standardisation bodies made some
solid progress. An IEEE 802.3 plenary session was held in Ottawa and an ISO 11801 meeting in Beijing
shortly after that.

Driving factors for 40GBase-T

Source: Dell’Oro (July 2014)

Today, data growth continues to accelerate at
unprecedented rates. According to IHS Research,
the volume of data which will be created next year
alone will be equal to the total amount produced
in the 53 years from 1957-2010. It is, therefore,
no surprise that bandwidth demand continues to
be an issue, especially in the data centre market.
There is an increasing demand for high density fibre
networks which can accommodate higher bandwidth
requirements.
To support the need for greater bandwidth, especially
in switch to server links, a great deal of effort is being
put into defining standards for 40G Ethernet over
copper cabling. Although 40G solutions are currently
available for Fibre Optics and Twinax, a twisted-pair
version, 40Gbase-T, is being developed by IEEE
because this is expected to be less costly (for active
components) than fibre and offer greater reach than
Twinax which is limited to just seven metres.
Network protocol standards incorporate more than
just active equipment specifications and are playing
an important part in realising future-proof systems with
greatly diminished risks. Let’s have a look at the most
recent developments from the various Standardisation
Committees.
 IEEE Bandwidth

The 40G protocol needs a minimum bandwidth of

IEEE 802.3bq /Draft 1.0, from 2nd
October 2014
Draft 1.0 for 40GBase-T defines a 30m shielded 4-pair
cabling channel with up to 2 mated connections. The
30m channel length has been chosen to simplify the
technical challenges for the PHY development. This
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recognizes the fact that 30m covers more than 80% of
switch-to-server links in a data centre – it is not intended
for the enterprise environment.
During the last plenary session in Ottawa, September
2014, some major decisions were made, which have
put an end to most of the discussions we’ve seen in
the recent months regarding baud rate, bandwidth,
cabling parameters and connectivity.
Baud Rate
40GBase-T will use 4 X 10G Baud rate, means 4 x
800 Mbaud = 3200. This is a reuse of the 128-DSQ
coding technology developed for 10GBase-T with
3125 Bits/symbol.
1600MHz; in common with other cabling developments
(such as Category 6A to support 10GBase-T) IEEE,
ISO/IEC & TIA will ultimately propose a cabling
bandwidth which adds a 25% “guard band” to the
minimum frequency giving a bandwidth of 2000MHz.
Improved values for cabling parameters
IEEE has decided to base its “link segment specification”
around ISO’s Cat 8.1/Channel I proposal contained
within TR 11801-9901 within which they can also
accommodate the TIA Category 8 requirements. In the
table below you can see that this is a “worst case”
decision, as the other proposed alternatives from ISO
show much more stringent values:
Connectivity
The IEEE working group has adopted RJ45 as one of a
potentially larger number of MDIs (Medium Dependent
Interface) for 40GBaseT. Also being discussed, as a
possible second choice, is the GG45 8C / ARJ45
defined in IEC61076-3-110. As noted above ISO

ISO

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25/WG 3

Class I Channel
Class II @1600MHz
@1600MHz ϒ@1600MHz

RL 8 6 (8)* 8

IL 29.2 27.2 27.2

NEXT 12.9 30 31.4

ACR-F 9.9 18 34.1

CA 25.9 30.9 25.9

PSANEXT 66.9 57 (66.9)* 66.9

PSAACRF 36.9 27.9 (36.9)* 36.9

Extended and improved Extended Cat7A Extended and improved

Cat6A Cat7A

* improved Channel ϒ performance

 As noted above ISO has now published its TR
(Technical Report) for 40G. This report is divided into
two major parts :
The first part is looking at existing cabling classes and
the second at new cabling standards.
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40GBaseT Timeline
Migration to 40 Gigabit Ethernet continues to move
ahead. The first products to support 40GBase-T (draft)
will be available soon. The updated schedule for
the IEEE 40GBASE-T standard foresees circulation
of definitive draft during 2015 and ratification of the
finished standard in 2016. Cabling standards from
ISO/IEC, TIA and CENELEC will probably follow one
Summary/Recommendation
The IEEE committee defining the next twisted pair
application in support of 40G networks (40GBASE-T)
has been making considerable progress recently. IEEE,
which defines all Ethernet applications, has compared
three different cabling specs. The committee settled
on ISO Channel I, with all parameters like Insertion
Loss, Return Loss and Alien Crosstalk specified up to
2 GHz.
Beside fibre optic solutions for 40G and even 100G,
the upcoming 40GBase-T standard will offer a new
alternative for data centre cabling designs. The first
Proposals based around existing Cat 6A (500MHz) or
Cat 7A (1000MHz) components will offer insufficient
bandwidth for 40G. However components meeting
extended frequency requirements could be proposed
under three new cabling models called Class I, Class
II and Channel ϒ.
year later. The first active components should arrive
around 2017.
As the speed of adoption for 40G is not as fast as
expected, 25G media access control (MAC) matching
single-lane 25G PHY technology is being considered
as an intermediate solution. In one of the next issue
of Decoding Standards, we will take a closer look at
25G.
draft of IEEE802.3bq now gives a clear idea of
the minimum technical requirements for a cabling
system to support 40G over twisted pair. This is the
very instance in which only shielded cabling will be
sufficiently well-defined for an Ethernet application.
Whilst the IEEE have initially decided to go for the
lowest performance option as a worst case scenario,
it is possible that the additional headroom offered by
higher performing Channel ϒ (with improved values)
or Channel II solutions may yet provide possible
benefits in terms of longer drive distances.
 Standards Round-up
December 2014
ISO/IEC Cabling Standards
Most of the work at the ISO/IEC meeting in Beijing
(September 2014) was centered around the split of
ISO/IEC 11801 into parts in a similar way to EN
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50173. The 3rd Edition will therefore be sub-divided
as follows:
• Part 1 – General
• Part 2 – Offices
• Part 3 – Industrial
• Part 4 – Homes
• Part 5 – Data Centres
• Part 6 – Distributed Building Services
As previously reported but worth repeating:
During the split there are a number of changes which
will be made; principally that the OF Classes will be
prepared for removal and CCCB will also potentially
be removed. Proposals have also been made to
redefine the “sub-components” of a channel to more
accurately reflect the construction of 2 and 3 connector
permanent links.
The 3rd Edition will contain the emerging “Cat 8”
specifications with an upper frequency of 2GHz and
will specify Channel I and Channel II requirements
along with their components (Category 8.1 and 8.2
respectively).
ISO/IEC Automated Infrastructure
Management
The ISO/IEC AIM document has reached a level of
maturity that allowed it to go forward for National
Body comment. ISO/IEC 18598 will be circulated for
a second CD in December, and will cover requirements
for AIM (automated infrastructure management systems).
The main topic under discussion is the structure of
information used for exchange between systems and
connected applications.
CENELEC Cabling Standards
Current work within CENELEC cabling standards
focuses on the following:
• EN 50173 series: Information technology: Generic
cabling
• EN 50346: Information technology: Cabling
Installation: Testing of installed cabling (Ed.1, A1
and A2 published, no work underway)
• EN 50700: Information technology - Premises
distribution access network (PDAN) cabling to
support deployment of optical broadband networks
• CLC TR 50173-99 series:
CLC TR 50173-99-1: Cabling in support of
10GBASE-T
CLC TR 50173-99-2: Implementation of BCT
applications using cabling from EN 50173-4
CLC TR 50173-99-3: Information technology -
Home cabling infrastructures up to 50m
CENELEC Data Centre Standards
Progress on the EN 50600 Series of standards
continues at an impressive pace. In addition to the
publication of the General part EN50600-1, Parts
2-1 (Buildings), 2-2 (Power Distribution) and now 2-3
(Environmental Control) have also been published.
Part 2-4 (Data Centre Cabling) is reaching a state of
maturity and is being prepared for Final Draft status
following the November meeting which indicates
publication in Early 2015.
Part 2-5 (Security) was looking like being delayed by
some confusion over fire detection and suppression
happily this was resolved in the November meeting
and this part is back “on-track”.
The group will now concentrate on the development of
Part 2-6 (Management).
IEEE
The following covers activity in the September and
November meetings of IEEE 802.3:
Fibre Protocols
802.3bm – 100Gb/s Next Generation Optical PHYs
This proposal is for interconnection via 4 lanes of
25Gb/s rather than 10 lanes of 10Gb/s and will
include:
• 40G PHY for ≥40km of SM fibre
• 100G PHY for 100m of OM4 MM fibre and 70m
of OM3
802.3bs – Next Generation Ethernet
This proposal is for the definition of 400GB/s Ethernet
over Duplex SM and Parallel MM fibre and includes
PHYs for:
• 100m of 32 cores of OM4 MM fibre (16 lanes of
25G over 2 MTPs)
• 70m of 32 cores of OM3 MM fibre (16 lanes of
25G over 2 MTPs)
• ≥500m of SM fibre (4 lane PSM)
• ≥2km of Duplex SM fibre
• ≥10km of Duplex SM fibre
 Copper Protocols

802.3bj – 100Gb/s Copper
This proposal is for high speed backplane and twin-
ax protocols for switch interconnection via 4 lanes of
25Gb/s rather than 10 lanes of 10Gb/s and will
include:
Draft 1.0 circulated in preparation for the November
meeting.
CFI successful for 25GBase-T – 1st meeting in January
2015

• 100GBASE-KR4 for new blade backplanes 802.3bt – 4 Pair Power over Ethernet
• 100GBASE-PR4 for legacy blade backplanes
Connect to tomorrow
• 100GBASE-CR4 for TOR switching The purpose of this is to define a 4 Pair PoE protocol
to deliver ≥51W and >100W to a PD
802.3bq – 40GBASE-T • Comply with SELV of ISO/IEC 60950 (IT safety)
Decisions confirmed at the recent meetings include: • Operation @ up to 100m over Class D (or
better):2002, Class D: 1995
• Signalling rate of 3,200 Mbaud (4x10GBASE-T) • Include 10GBASE-T option
adopted
• ISO/IEC Channel I Insertion Loss and Return Loss
specified with 2GHz upper frequency
• ISO/IEC Channel I PSANEXT specified with 2GHz
upper frequency
• ISO/IEC Channel I PSAACRF specified with 2GHz
upper frequency
• RJ45 adopted as “an” MDI connector – implying
other connectors may be included later
 Standards Calendar

Standard committee Covering Date

of meeting

Recent meetings
Connect to tomorrow
IEEE 802.3 802.3 Ethernet Working Group September 2014
802.3bm Next Generation 40Gb/s and Ottawa Canada
100 Gb/s Optical Ethernet Task force
Next generation Base-T task force (and other topics)

November 2014
San Antonio
USA, Texas

ISO/IEC SC25 WG3 Microprocessor systems; and O/F interfaces, 14 -17 Sep 2014
protocols and associated interconnecting Beijing,China
media for information technology equipment

TIA TR 42 Copper cabling Systems (42.7) 06 Oct 2014

Sustainable information technologies (42.10) Austin, TX
USA



CENELEC TC 215 WG3 Data Centre Cabling, EN 50600 12 -14 Nov
Athens, Greece

Upcoming meetings

ISO/IEC SC25 WG3 Microprocessor systems; and O/F interfaces, 2-6 March 2015
protocols and associated interconnecting San Juan
media for information technology equipment Puerto Rico

TIA TR 42 Copper cabling Systems (42.7) 2-6 Feb
Sustainable information technologies (42.10) Tucson, AZ
USA

IEEE 802.3 40GBase-T task force 12 Januar 2015

IEEE P802.3bp task force Atlanta, GA
USA

8 March 2015
Berlin
Germany

Disclaimer
This document is for guidance only and Nexans cannot be held liable for any implementation of a system which fails to deliver
expected results, whether implied or implicit from the interpretation of this document.