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10 March 2008

 

Finisar demos 17Gb/s VCSELs for 16G Fiber Channel

At the Optical Fiber Communication/ National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC 2008) in San Diego, CA, USA (26-28 February), fiber-optic component and subsystem maker Finisar Corp of Sunnyvale, CA, USA gave the first public demonstrations of three products:

  • an 850nm VCSEL for the emerging 16G Fiber Channel standard;
  • a 200km 10Gb/s DWDM XFP transceiver module based on Finisar's CML (chirp-managed directly modulated laser) technology; and
  • a 40km SFP+ transceiver module.

Finisar demonstrated a complete optical link using a 17Gb/s directly modulated vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), establishing the viability of the 16G Fiber Channel standard with multimode optical fiber, says Finisar. The 17Gb/s VCSEL line rate is required to support the 16G Fiber Channel payload, and should enable the next generation of Fiber Channel optical transceivers.

“There is a significant difference between achieving 17G under controlled laboratory conditions and demonstrating a reliable implementation in a public environment such as OFC,” said Joe Young, Finisar’s general manager of optics. “This particular demonstration proves the viability of the optical components required to develop the 16G Fiber Channel standard.”

Finisar also demonstrated its latest advances in 10Gb/s technologies, including:

  • The first public demonstration of a fully MSA-compliant 10Gb/s DWDM XFP transceiver module (based on its CML technology) for OC-192/STM-64 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet applications. The transceiver transmits error-free over 200km of single-mode fiber with power consumption of less than 3.5W, and enables 50GHz channel spacing for increased traffic-carrying capacity.
  • An SFP+ transceiver module enabling error-free 10 Gigabit Ethernet transmission over 40km of single-mode fiber. With power consumption well below MSA requirements of 1.5W, Finisar claims that the technology enables the highest 10G port densities for system vendors that have invested in next-generation SFP+ platforms and want to extend Ethernet into metro networks.

Finisar also exhibited a wide range of networking solutions, including Laserwire, the first 10Gb/s serial active optical cable for low-cost, high-speed serial connectivity. Laserwire is a low-power alternative to copper cabling that consumes nearly 95% less power compared with 10GBase-T solutions. In addition, Finisar demonstrated advanced bit error rate testing (BERT) technology for 40G/43G SONET/SDH/OTU3 applications built on its industry-leading Xgig test and analysis platform.

Vitesse and Finisar demo uncompensated 10Gb/s 300km link for metro regional networks

Also at OFC/NFOEC 2008, Finisar and Vitesse Semiconductor Corp, which designs and sells ICs for carrier and enterprise networks, demonstrated technology for a 300km optical link operating at 10Gb/s using standard non-return to zero (NRZ) modulation that does not require dispersion compensating fiber (DCF). This is thanks to using Finisar’s tunable DM200 chirp-managed laser (CML) transmitter and Vitesse’s new VSC8240 clock & data recovery (CDR) IC with integrated electronic dispersion compensation (EDC). The combination provides a low power solution (<2.5W) that eliminates the need for expensive dispersion compensation modules in 10Gb/s metro DWDM networks.

“The result of this collaboration enables our telecom OEM customers to design transmission equipment that will achieve a 300km reach using Finisar’s DM200 butterfly package and Vitesse’s EDC chip,” says Finisar’s marketing director Frank Fan.

Based on Finisar’s proprietary CML technology, the DM200 transmitter is available in a transmitter optical sub assembly (TOSA) format or butterfly package and is capable of 4 x 100GHz or 8 x 50GHz narrow tunability across C-band and L-band wavelengths. The CML uses a directly modulated standard DFB laser and a passive optical spectrum reshaping (OSR) filter to achieve extended reach.

The VSC8240 is a low-power, CMOS-based CDR with integrated EDC functionality derived from Vitesse’s complete line of EDC and physical layer products covering 10 GbE and SONET/SDH applications for carrier Ethernet and optical transport networks. It is suited to single receive path applications, such as single-mode fiber (SMF) reach extension applications, in 300-pin modules. The production-ready VSC8240 compensates for both SMF chromatic dispersion and polarization-mode dispersion in a poor optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) environment. Using a decision-feedback equalizer and feed-forward equalizer (DFE/FFE) EDC architecture, it implements an integrated, self-adaptive algorithm that eliminates costly system adjustments.

The collaboration with Finisar illustrates Vitesse’s commitment to working with optical module providers to speed and simplify the creation of next-generation fiber applications, says said Tony Conoscenti, Vitesse’s VP product marketing.

See related items:

Finisar’s revenue grows 12% to a record $112.7m

Finisar’s record revenue driven by 10-40Gb/s products

Avago first to market with 10GbE SFP+ SR transceiver

Search: Finisar Vitesse 850nm VCSEL 10Gb/s DWDM XFP transceiver module SFP+ transceiver TOSA

Visit: www.finisar.com

Visit: www.vitesse.com