FS 100G SR4 Module Applications in Data Center

With the rapid rise of technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data, data centers are undergoing a deep evolution in network architecture. Traditional 10G/40G networks are no longer sufficient to support the demands for high concurrency and high throughput, making upgrades to 100G and beyond a prevailing trend. Among these, 100G SR4 optical modules have emerged as a key component for short-reach high-speed interconnects due to their low cost, low power consumption, and high performance.

FS offers 100G SR4 modules that support four-channel parallel transmission using MPO connectors, optimizing cabling efficiency and deployment flexibility. Thanks to premium components and rigorous testing, they deliver excellent performance and reliability, making them a foundational component for backbone interconnects in modern data centers.

Benefits of FS 100G SR4 Modules in Data Center

Given their pivotal role in enabling data center performance, FS 100G SR4 modules offer a range of practical benefits that make them well-suited for high-density, high-speed networking. The following highlights their core advantages across data center.

Building a High-Speed, Low-Latency Network Foundation

FS 100G SR4 modules, compliant with IEEE 802.3bm, leverage 4×25Gbps parallel transmission to deliver a full 100Gbps throughput. This high bandwidth plays a critical role in supporting east-west traffic within virtualized clusters, especially in hyper-converged infrastructure and distributed storage environments.

For example, in scenarios where multiple VMs communicate across racks, deploying FS 100G SR4 modules between ToR and Leaf switches creates a congestion-free backbone that ensures seamless data exchange and maintains application responsiveness.

Moreover, for environments requiring real-time responsiveness — such as financial trading systems, HPC, or large-scale analytics — these modules offer clear advantages. The parallel transmission over multimode fiber delivers significantly lower latency compared to serial PAM4-based designs. Paired with MTP/MPO interfaces and 70–100m transmission distances, FS 100G SR4 ensures minimal jitter and ultra-low bit error rates, enabling reliable performance for latency-sensitive workloads.

Optimized for Flexible, High-Density Deployment

Modern data center networks must scale efficiently, often requiring dense switch configurations and simplified cable management. FS 100G SR4 modules adopt a compact QSFP28 form factor, enabling high port density on 1U/2U switches — ideal for environments with rack space constraints.

The use of MPO-12 ribbon fiber supports multi-channel transmission while reducing physical cabling bulk, which simplifies deployment and enhances airflow — crucial for maintaining thermal efficiency in dense setups.

More importantly, FS 100G SR4 supports both 1×100G direct connections and 4×25G breakout connections, allowing seamless integration with mainstream aggregation devices or server NICs. Whether you're upgrading existing links or deploying new fabrics, this flexibility enables data center operators to adapt their architecture without major overhauls, lowering deployment barriers.

Direct Connection

Breakout Connection

Delivering Energy Efficiency and Lower Operating Costs

Energy efficiency is a growing concern in large-scale data centers, where power consumption and cooling demand have a direct impact on operational costs and carbon footprint. FS 100G SR4 modules operate at ≤2.5W — over 20% more efficient compared to some same-type products on the market (~3.5W). This efficiency allows each module to save approximately 9 kWh of energy per year, which, in a switch node equipped with 100 such modules, translates to 900 kWh annually — enough to power a small server for a year or reduce the carbon footprint of a mid-sized data center. By lowering power consumption and reducing thermal output, this contributes to lower operational costs and extended equipment lifespan, benefiting enterprises focused on green IT and sustainable operations.

Backed by Rigorous Testing and Comprehensive Service

FS goes beyond product delivery by providing end-to-end assurance across the deployment cycle. Every FS 100G SR4 module undergoes extensive compatibility testing to ensure interoperability across various brands and platforms. This minimizes integration risks and guarantees stable performance in complex, multi-vendor environments.

In addition, FS offers professional consultation services, assisting clients in choosing the optimal transmission solution based on their application scenario, budget, and infrastructure status. From pre-sales design assistance to after-sales technical support, FS empowers clients to deploy their optical networks with full confidence.

Application Scenarios of 100G SR4 Modules in Data Center

Combining these key advantages, FS 100G SR4 modules are ideal for a wide range of data center application scenarios, ensuring high-performance interconnects across various network environments.

Intra-Data Center Interconnects

In modern two-tier data center architectures, 100G SR4 modules play a crucial role in enabling high-throughput, low-latency communication between Server, Leaf, and Spine switches. These connections support scalable east-west traffic across server racks, accommodating virtualized workloads and data-intensive applications.

Server-to-Leaf: In virtualized environments where a single physical server may host multiple virtual machines, bandwidth demand is significantly amplified. By using QSFP28-to-4×25G breakout cables, SR4 modules facilitate efficient connectivity to 25G NICs, ensuring optimal server I/O.

Leaf-to-Spine: In high-performance storage networks such as NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF), the SR4 modules provide low-latency links. These modules work in conjunction with switches that support redundancy protocols like ECMP and MLAG, ensuring stable, deterministic network transmission between the aggregation and core layers, while enhancing network availability and fault tolerance.

AI and RoCE Cluster Interconnects

As AI and HPC environments scale, data centers must support increasingly dense, high-speed cluster networks. In these setups, architectures often separate compute, frontend, and storage networks to optimize performance and resource allocation.

100G SR4 modules, while not the centerpiece of the fabric, play a crucial supporting role—particularly in Frontend Network and Storage Network segments. These areas require fast, short-reach connectivity between switches and servers or storage devices, where predictable performance, low power consumption, and cost-efficiency are key.

In RoCE-based architectures, the Frontend Network often handles traffic between user-facing nodes and compute clusters, demanding high throughput with minimal latency. Meanwhile, the Storage Network relies on stable, lossless transmission for high-volume data reads/writes—areas where 100G SR4 modules provide a reliable, low-latency link option over parallel multimode fiber (MMF).

By enabling dense, efficient short-reach interconnects in these critical subsystems, 100G SR4 modules help data centers scale intelligently while maintaining network determinism and cost control. Learn more in the 400G RoCE Lossless Network Solution.

Autonomous Driving Network Interconnects

In autonomous driving environments, where high-speed data transfer and low latency are essential, the network architecture must be both flexible and resilient. FS’s solution leverages the 100G SR4 modules to establish high-performance, low-latency interconnects between critical components across data centers. These modules are deployed at the key connection points between DC A and DC B, ensuring seamless and efficient data flow between the two data centers. Additionally, they are placed at the critical junctions connecting switches to servers, facilitating rapid data access and real-time processing, which are vital for autonomous driving applications.

The 100G SR4 modules provide stable, short-reach connectivity over multimode fiber, ensuring high throughput with minimal latency. This is crucial for supporting the large volumes of real-time data generated by autonomous driving systems. Whether for training machine learning models or processing sensor data, these modules guarantee that data transfer remains uninterrupted and efficient.

PicOS® further strengthens the network by providing a scalable and programmable operating system, enabling more streamlined management and higher network resiliency. AmpCon™’s automated network lifecycle management platform ensures simplified provisioning, monitoring, and troubleshooting, thereby reducing operational overhead and enhancing reliability. Together, these technologies form a powerful and reliable infrastructure that meets the rigorous demands of the autonomous driving industry. Learn more in the PicOS® for Automated Driving Solution.

Conclusion

FS 100G SR4 modules have become the preferred solution for short-reach, high-speed interconnects in data centers, especially in scenarios requiring high density, low latency, and high reliability. FS offers a one-stop service—from solution design to product deployment—empowering enterprises to build high-performance, stable, and sustainable data center networks ready for the demands of the digital era. For more information about FS solutions, please contact our team of experts.