Internet traffic continues to grow exponentially, and communication networks must evolve to meet the need for more and faster data. Emerging technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), and virtual reality place unprecedented demands on data centers to manage higher volumes of traffic and provide faster response times than ever before. Distributed data centers need to communicate with each other to share data, balance workloads, provide backups, and scale capacity when needed. In a campus or metropolitan area, distributed data centers need to increase interconnection capacity significantly.

This paper highlights three key trends:

• 400ZR enables 400G DCI
• Benefits of 400ZR
• Testing 400G coherent optical components and transceivers