Nvidia and Cisco introduced the USFP (Ultra-Dense Small Form-Factor Pluggable) optical transceiver standard at the OCP Global Summit on October 12. The new module supports 400 Gbps per lane, enabling an aggregate capacity of up to 12.8 Tbps.
Initial transceivers are designed for devices featuring 16 full-duplex 400G lanes, providing a total throughput of 6.4 Tbps. Compared to existing 200G transceivers, the new standard offers a 1.3x improvement in energy efficiency and a fourfold increase in bandwidth density.
The USFP module can dissipate up to 100 W of heat without requiring integrated liquid cooling. The design maintains a pluggable form factor to facilitate field replacement and maintenance procedures.
Nvidia is collaborating with TE Connectivity and Amphenol to establish a multi-vendor ecosystem. The companies intend to finalize a formal MSA agreement to standardize the technology across the industry.
Higher lane capacity reduces the need for additional switch layers, decreasing the number of cables and network hops in GPU clusters. The initiative is currently a proposed standard, with technical specifications pending publication.
