News

1 February 2010

 

Luxtera and Siemon co-developing active optical cabling for data centers

Network cabling firm Siemon of Watertown, CT, USA has integrated 40Gb/s active optical cable (AOC) of Luxtera Inc of Carlsbad, CA into its product portfolio in order to expand and enhance its data center solutions and services.

Siemon says that it selected fabless firm Luxtera for its ability to combine silicon CMOS photonics technology and high-performance, low-cost single-mode fiber. The CMOS photonics use an integrated optoelectronic chip with a directly attached fiber and a micro-packaged laser. Siemon says that the ‘fiber to the chip’ technology enables its Moray active optical cabling to break the cost barriers and distance restrictions associated with existing vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and multi-mode fiber solutions. Unlike traditional optics that use VCSELs and multi-mode fiber for short connections, Luxtera's silicon CMOS photonics-based single-chip transceivers support any distance from 1m to 4000m for inter- and intra-building connections while decreasing the number of components in the AOC and improving its reliability.

“By collaborating with Siemon, we can deliver to customers a complete data center infrastructure that includes our high-performance, low-cost transceiver technology,” says Luxtera’s VP of marketing Marek Tlalka. “Using silicon photonics transceiver technology along with single-mode fiber transmission media, Siemon is able to offer a cost-effective cable that delivers high-performance connectivity as well as increased reliability and extended distance,” he adds.

“Luxtera has proven to be a forward-thinking company, particularly with its utilization of silicon CMOS photonics technology and single-mode fiber,” says Siemon’s business development manager Ed Cady. “Luxtera’s technology made it easy to seamlessly add value to our product portfolio of data center infrastructure solutions.”

Siemon’s first AOC offering is a four-lane QSFP (quad small form-factor pluggable) 40G active optical cabling family that supports Ethernet switch, FibreChannel SAN storage, InfiniBand server systems and several other IO interface links between various blades, boxes, racks, containers and buildings.

Siemon is showcasing its product portfolio (including Moray AOC) at this week’s DesignCon event in Santa Clara, CA (1–4 February).

See related item:

Luxtera launches low-power version of 40G active optical cable

Search: Luxtera 40Gb/s AOC

Visit: www.luxtera.com

Visit: www.siemon.com