Given the success of 400ZR pluggable coherent solutions in the market, discussions in the telecom sector about a future beyond 400G pluggables have often focused on 800G solutions and 800ZR. However, there is also increasing excitement about “downscaling” to 100G coherent products for applications in the network edge. The industry is labeling these pluggables as 100ZR.
A recently released Heavy Reading survey revealed that over 75% of operators surveyed believe that 100G coherent pluggable optics will be used extensively in their edge and access evolution strategy. In response to this interest from operators, several vendors are keenly jumping on board the 100ZR train by announcing their development projects: Acacia, Coherent/ADVA, Marvell/InnoLight, and Marvell/OE Solutions.
This growing interest and use cases for 100ZR are also changing how industry analysts view the potential of the 100ZR market. Last February, Cignal AI released a report on 100ZR which stated that the viability of new low-power solutions in the QSFP28 form factor enabled use cases in access networks, thus doubling the size of their 100ZR shipment forecasts.
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