Frequently Asked Questions

From Wikipedia: A multi-source agreement (MSA) is an agreement between multiple manufacturers to make products which are compatible across vendors, acting as de facto standards, establishing a competitive market for interoperable products

To foster speed and innovation, the decision of the members was to create a Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) for OpenZR+ and opening up the MSA to others to join.

The OpenZR+ Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) defines interoperability specifications for OpenZR+, which was designed to expand the application space for a coherent solution in a small form factor pluggable module. Building on the strong foundations of OIF’s Ethernet optimized 400ZR spec, the OpenZR+ MSA extends these capabilities to include increased reach and the ability to  multiplex multiple Ethernet client interfaces together. Learn more

The OpenZR+ key features include a higher transmission performance than OIF’s 400ZR enabling both regional and long-haul reaches. This is achieved through a higher coding gain FEC known as oFEC. Ethernet client multiplexing is also supported along with different transmission modes and reaches at 100G, 200G, 300G and 400G.

There are seven original promoters (in alphabetical order): Acacia Communications, Cisco, Fujitsu Optical Components, InnoLight, Juniper Networks, Lumentum, and NTT Innovative Devices.

Please complete this form if you would like to join the MSA.

We expect the first specifications to be released by the end of Q2 2020.

The OpenZR+ MSA specifications are built upon the foundations established by OIF’s 400ZR and Open ROADM. OpenZR+ combines the Ethernet optimized ZR framing as defined by the OIF and couples that with the higher gain oFEC that is also utilized by the Open ROADM specifications.

ZR+ is a marketing term used by many companies to suggest some improvement on OIF’s 400ZR. Unfortunately, there is no consistency or common specifications for what ZR+ actually represents. The intention of the OpenZR+ MSA is to clearly specify and define a set of improvements to ensure multi-vendor interoperable operation.