In this article, ETU-LINK will introduce the 100G QSFP28 and 25G SFP28 cost-effective port branch connection solutions. The following will analyze and compare from the two aspects of saving space and cost. First of all, let's talk about why the cost performance is high, we can judge by comparing the cost.

We can assume a scenario with an 8-slot chassis, which is fully equipped with 36 QSFP28 ports, and the ports are filled with 100G parallel optical transceivers, running in split mode, and the total number of ports in the chassis is 1152 25G ports. The 1152 25G ports require a total of three eight-slot chassis and 24 switches with 48 ports. If independently deployed with the above-mentioned considerable number of 25G optical modules. You need 48 switches with 48 ports and 2304 25G optical modules. Among them, the cost of the chassis also includes the required power supply, fan tray, monitor, system controller and optical module. Due to the increase in the number of chassis, these additional components will also increase. Therefore, in a multimode cabling system, the cost of independently deploying 25G SR optical modules is 85% higher than that of the 100G SR4 branch solution.

In addition, because the number of chassis and switches is reduced by 2/3, the power consumption required by the 100G branch solution and the cooling power consumption of the room air conditioner are reduced by about 67% compared with the single use of 25G optical modules. In addition to the benefits of saving space and cost, the wiring method is also more flexible. Subsequent network upgrades can continue to use 100G optical modules for wiring. At this time, it is the interconnection between 100G SR4 and 100G SR4.

The above is ETU-LINK’s analysis of why the 100G SR4 branch solution is more cost-effective than the 25G SR optical module alone, whether it is from the perspective of cost, space saving, or subsequent network upgrades The flexibility of this branch solution is indeed a better transmission solution for data centers today.