NVIDIA and Cisco announced yesterday local time the launch of the industry's first pluggable optical module specification, USFP, supporting 400Gbps/lane high-speed signals.
The USFP optical module has the same form factor as the OSFP, with initial products integrating 16 full-duplex channels, and future expansions supporting up to 32 or more channels to achieve a throughput of 12.8 Tb/s.
The bandwidth of USFP optical modules can reach four times that of existing 200G/lane pluggable optical modules; with support for 400G SerDes technology, the energy efficiency of USFP is 1.3 times higher.
It features a novel 2D array connector with a two-step insertion design that engages high-speed contacts only after the module is inserted, reducing contact wear, improving signal integrity, and providing more predictable insertion force; it supports 100W power consumption, simplifying switch design.