SC328 - Standards for High-Speed Optical Networking
16 Mar 2026
13:30 - 17:30
Short Course Level
Intermediate
Short Course Description
This course provides details of a complementary set of standards for high-speed optical networking including the Optical Transport Network (OTN) and Flex-OTN standards developed by ITU-T Study Group 15, higher speed Ethernet (100 Gb/s and beyond) standards developed by IEEE 802.3, and the 400G and faster coherent optical interface Implementation Agreements developed by the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF).
While OTN was initially developed for DWDM transport of SONET/SDH, it has evolved to provide a common convergence layer for IP and Ethernet traffic, as well as storage-area network, video distribution, and mobile fronthaul/backhaul traffic, providing full end-to-end management over a variety of network topologies at multi-gigabit per second data rates. OTN is being deployed by many operators in support of multiservice transport network applications, using multiple modulation formats and flexible grid networks. Recent standardization efforts, including the OIF 400ZR and 800ZR interfaces, which are primarily targeted at data center interconnect (DCI) applications, have blurred the line between OTN and Ethernet and focused attention on different network architectures that are better suited to those applications.
Participants will learn the basic features of OTN, Ethernet, and OIF ZR interfaces, with specific emphasis on recently added capabilities and how the various standards are related. The course will also include information related to ongoing work on 1.6T interfaces. They will also learn how networks can be built using these technologies and the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of interfaces.
Short Course Benefits
This course should enable you to:
- Describe the capabilities provided to manage client signals and optical media/wavelengths.
- Identify the mapping mechanisms used by OTN to transport major client signals.
- Describe the structure and format for higher rates of Ethernet, including the interfaces specified by the OIF ZR Implementation Agreements.
- Discuss a range of industry efforts to incorporate DWDM technology and coherent modulation for a variety of applications.
- Explain the network configurations that can be supported with OTN, Ethernet, Flex Ethernet, and OIF ZR interfaces.
- Identify where to look to find more information about ITU-T Recommendations on OTN, IEEE 802.3 standards, and OIF Implementation Agreements.
Short Course Audience
This course is intended for anyone who designs, operates, or supports metro and/or long-haul optical networks for any application space (including telco, data center interconnect, storage area networking, and video distribution) and who needs to understand the latest standards related to OTN and Ethernet. Participants should have a basic understanding of transport networking technologies (e.g., SONET/SDH or OTN) and Ethernet.
The course has been revised to emphasize recent standards work related to 800G and beyond interfaces.
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Tom Huber
Nokia, United States
Tom Huber is part of the optical standardization team at Nokia. He received his B.S. (Electrical and Computer Engineering) from the University of Notre Dame and M.S. (Computer System Engineering) from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has been active in transport network standardization for more than 25 years. He is a vice chair of ITU-T Study Group 15, Networks, Technologies and Infrastructures for Transport, Access and Home, chair of ITU-T Working Party 3/15, Transport network characteristics, and former associate rapporteur of ITU T Q11/15, Signal structures, interfaces and interworking for transport networks. He is also PLL vice chair for the Protocol track in the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and part of the editorial team for IEEE P802.3dj, 200 Gb/s, 400 Gb/s, 800 Gb/s, and 1.6 Tb/s Ethernet.