News: Optoelectronics
6 October 2021
II-VI wins ECOC’s Most Innovative Product/Optical Integration award
Coherent optical component, module and subsystem maker II-VI Inc of Saxonburg, PA, USA says that its Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) Type (2) integrated coherent transmitter & receiver optical subassembly (IC-TROSA) for 400G transmission has won the 2021 Industry Award from the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC 2021) in the category of Most Innovative Product/Optical Integration.
Communications service providers are planning to deploy new network architectures that will considerably reduce capital expenditures and operating expenses by leveraging next-generation transmission technology. II-VI’s IC-TROSA is 400G transmission technology with a combination of high output power, small size, and low power consumption that enables the elimination of an entire layer of optical equipment, dramatically reducing capital outlays and greatly simplifying network operation.
“The IC-TROSA is based on advanced proprietary indium phosphide technology,” says Patrik Evaldsson, VP & general manager, II-VI Järfälla. “Indium phosphide is an intrinsic enabler of 0dBm output power in 400G digital coherent optics transceivers, yet with low enough power consumption to be suitable for the small QSFP-DD form factor.”
“The availability of 400G with such high output power in a QSFP-DD form factor is a game-changer due to its compatibility with router interfaces,” reckons Dr Sanjai Parthasarathi chief marketing officer. “Now, service providers can connect routers directly to access, metro and regional optical transport networks without client interfaces. This type of network architecture, such as IP-over-DWDM, achieves huge savings in upfront costs and ongoing expenses.”
II-VI’s IC-TROSA was announced in early 2020 and is now in volume production. It integrates all the optical functions of a coherent transceiver into one digitally controlled subassembly that customers can interface to the DSP of their choice. It is said to be the first of its kind to conform to the Type-2 form factor specified in the OIF IC-TROSA implementation agreement (IA) and to support optical performance compatible with both 400ZR+ and the OpenROADM multi-source agreement (MSA).
