Marvell has launched the 88X9121P, a dual 400GbE (gigabit Ethernet) PHY transceiver with 100GbE serial electrical I/O capabilities, designed for secured high-density optical infrastructure.

The device offers 256-bit MACsec encryption, class C compliant precision time protocol (PTP) timestamping and Marvell’s 112G pam4 serdes technology for high-density 400GbE and 100GbE deployments.

100G serial electrical signaling optical modules allow 1:1 mapping between electrical and optical I/O speeds, the firm claims. This is said to remove the need for additional circuitry inside 400GbE optical modules to convert from 50G electrical I/Os to 100G per lambda optical I/Os.

The transceivers are provided in QSFP-DD and OSFP form factors for cloud and data centre applications.

The 88X9121P supports translation between 50G pam4- and 100G pam4-based implementations of 400GbE, 200GbE and 100GbE.

It’s both footprint- and software-compatible with the 88X7121P, providing an upgrade path that allows a transition to modules with 100GbE serial I/Os.

The 88X9121P is the latest addition to the firm’s IEEE compliant Alaska C Ethernet transceiver family.

Faraj Aalaei, executive vice president of the networking business group at Marvell says “The transition to 100G serial signaling is critical for high-density optical interconnects required for next-generation switching solutions.

“Our newest PHY transceivers will help drive the industry transition to 100G serial I/O-based optics as data centers and cloud providers look to bring greater computing bandwidth and efficiency to their customers.”

“We see 100Gbps serial I/O as a foundational speed and expect it will enable 400GbE port shipments to reach 6.5 million by 2023,” said Bob Wheeler, principal analyst for networking at The Linley Group.