23 March 2015

Oclaro demos first SFP transceiver transmitting 28Gbps over 10km single-mode fiber

In booth #2011 at the Optical Fiber Communication conference & exposition (OFC 2015) in Los Angeles (24-26 March), Oclaro Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which provides components, modules and subsystems for optical communications) is demonstrating prototypes of what is claimed to be the first SFP28-LR transceiver capable of transmitting 28Gbps data rates over 10km with about 1 Watt of power consumption.

The SFP28-LR transceiver is SFF-8432 compliant and delivers data rates of 25.78125Gbps (25GE)/28.05Gbps (32GFC) with a reach of up to 10km. Additional features include a bit-error rate (BER) of less than 10-6, C-Temp, and a power consumption of about 1W. Target applications for SFP transceivers operating at 24-28Gbps include Ethernet (25GE) and Fiber Channel (32GFC).

Timed with the market availability of Gen 6 Fiber Channel (32GFC, 28.05Gbps) applications, the new SFP28 transceivers double the transmission rate of previous Fiber Channel solutions (16GFC, 14.025Gbps) and enable the high throughput, energy efficiency and enhanced security required by new hyper-scale SSD storage systems and data centers.

Hyper-scale SSD storage systems and data centers are a vital part of the core infrastructure used in cloud computing, where rapid and reliable storing, accessing, and processing of Big Data represent major technical challenges, says Oclaro. Serial transmission rates of around 25Gbps may also be required in a variety of emerging applications, such as 25G Ethernet, which is being standardized by the IEEE. In these next-generation network architectures, SFP28 transceivers provide a cost-effective migration path from existing 10G SFP+ designs by offering a 2.5x increase in capacity. Oclaro says that SFP28 modules are also lower in cost, smaller in size, and consume less power than other available options to upgrade the bandwidth, such as 40G QSFP+ transceivers, which are based on four 10G lanes that are multiplexed in wavelength for applications requiring a reach of 10km.

"With the SFP28-LR transceiver, Oclaro customers will be ready to meet the needs of Gen 6 Fibre Channel applications," says Yves LeMaitre, president of Optical Connectivity Business at Oclaro. "In addition, enterprise and data-center hardware customers will be able to leverage this innovative new product, which represents Oclaro's first contribution to the fast expanding 25G Ethernet eco-system," he adds.

"We see initial demand for 32G Fiber Channel materializing in early 2016, and a large portion of the revenue will be in the single-mode segment," comments Vladimir Kozlov, founder & CEO of LightCounting Market Research. "In addition, we are expecting demand for data rates above 10Gbps in next-generation applications such as wireless or 25G Ethernet, once these become standardized."

Oclaro expects to start sampling the SFP28-LR transceivers in second-half 2015, with a production release scheduled for early 2016.

Tags: Oclaro

Visit: www.oclaro.com

Visit: www.ofcconference.org