JOHN WILLIAMSON CMIS
OIF: CMIS OVERVIEW AND ROADMAP Work by OIF on expanding the already substantial remit and utility of the Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) is gathering speed. Optical Connections’ John Williamson
interviewed OIF to discuss the origins, necessity and future plans of this crucial optical interface standardisation effort. Ian Alderdice , OIF Physical and Link Layer Working Group – Management Co- Vice Chair and Ciena and Gary Nicholl , OIF Physical and Link Layer Working Group – Management Co-Vice Chair and Cisco kindly provided detailed, joint responses to the questions.
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How, when and where did the CMIS originate?
What does the CMIS aim to facilitate?
In addition, OIF uses white papers, industry conferences and webinars to discuss CMIS-based topics. Leaders from OIF are regulars on conference panels, discussing various management topics. The team has published, and will continue to publish white papers on management challenges, solutions and visions for the future. OIF is hosting a series of webinar tutorials that provide technical education on various CMIS topics, with each webinar drawing hundreds of participants. Details of OIF webinars are available from the organisation’s website.
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OIF CMIS originated in the Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable- Double Density Multi-Source Agreement (QSFP-DD MSA) advisor’s group, led by a small group of management experts to harmonise the management interface for the new QSFP-DD and Octal Small Form Factor Pluggable (OSFP) module form factors. The original group published CMIS 3.0, the first public version of CMIS, in 2018. They updated and maintained the CMIS specification up to and including CMIS 5.1 when ownership transitioned to OIF.
CMIS provides the required tools to manage optical modules in a common way. Common
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interfaces reduce development effort and integration time, leading to faster market introduction of new technologies. The team that maintains and updates CMIS draws on industry experts from module vendors, host vendors and service providers, leading to a specification that addresses the needs of all layers of the optical module ecosystem.
Why do we need the CMIS?
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In this context, how does the OIF operate/work to advance the CMIS standard?
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Why did the OIF adopt the CMIS, and what OIF initiatives does it slot into? The QSFP-DD MSA initiated the CMIS effort to address an industry need for commonality in
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OIF A single common management interface reduces development effort for host and module vendors, leading to faster technology introduction. Common code bases allow for faster module integration and higher software quality. Reduced module integration times benefit service providers by reducing operational expenses and accelerating end-product time-to-market.
OIF The OIF management track advances CMIS through regular updates to the standard that are driven by member companies. Member companies can submit project start contributions for major work items or technical contributions for small/medium work items. These contributions are reviewed by the management track team during OIF quarterly meetings for project starts and weekly meetings for technical contributions. If the team accepts a work item, the item will ultimately be included in a new draft of the CMIS specification which then follows the standard OIF balloting and comment resolution process.
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managing pluggable modules, and it was broadly and successfully adopted across the industry. Adopting CMIS to build on and extend the specification was an ideal expansion of OIF’s work. OIF has always strived to provide useful interface standards that further optical module interoperability. In the past, these standards have primarily been focussed on optical and electrical interfaces, but the management interface is also required to build inter-operable optical modules.
Is the CMIS application space expanding?
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OIF Yes, CMIS is continually evolving to add new applications and functionality. Some changes are more incremental like adding support for
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| ISSUE 38 | Q3 2024
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