News

20 September 2010

 

Oclaro demos new full-band tunable XFP transceivers

At the 36th European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communication (ECOC 2010) in Turin, Italy this week (19–23 September), optical component, module and subsystem maker Oclaro Inc of San Jose, CA, USA is demonstrating its new TL8800 full-band tunable XFP transceiver, claiming that, together with its focus on vertical integration, the firm is emerging as the price–volume leader for 10Gb/s tunable modules.

“Through Oclaro’s InP (indium phosphide) core technology, we continue to define the highest levels of photonic integration into our tunable products,” says Oclaro’s executive VP & division manager Adam Price. “Tunable XFP is just the first step on our high-density roadmap. Beyond scaling the tunable XFP product to high-volume manufacture with our proven world-class operations organization, Oclaro is readying itself to be a market driver with next-generation tunable products,” he reckons.

The tunable XFP leverages Oclaro’s in-house expertise at every level, from optical chip design and manufacture, transmitter optical sub-assembly (TOSA) and receiver optical sub-assembly (ROSA) packaging, and transceiver assembly & test. The firm has traditionally delivered small-scale, high-performance 10Gb/s transmitters based on InP Mach–Zehnder (MZ) modulator technology, and this has been strengthened over the last several years as cost, size and power have become critical customer requirements. Oclaro reckons that, being able to uniquely drive the market need, it is striving to secure a large share of the key 10Gb/s tunable 300-pin market, with the new tunable XFP building on this foundation to provide a universal DWDM 10Gb/s format for the future.

The TL8800 joins Oclaro's range of tunable components and modules such as the TL5000 iTLA (integrable tunable laser assembly), TL7000 TTA (tunable transmitter assembly), and the TL9000 TSFF (small-form-factor) 300-pin transponder. The new tunable XFP product platform enables quick and easy consolidation of DWDM 10Gb/s optics onto one format, as opposed to having to split between 300-pin and fixed-wavelength XFP solutions depending on the performance required, says Oclaro. Variants will cover a range of Tx chirp, Rx options, C- and L-band coverage, and enhanced performance for challenging optical and environmental operation.

As part of its overall Transmission strategy, Oclaro notes that it recently invested in ClariPhy Communications Inc of Irvine, CA (a fabless semiconductor company providing mixed-signal ICs for 10, 40 and 100Gb/s optical networks) and acquired Mintera Corp of Acton, MA (which makes high-bit-rate optical transport sub-systems). These developments enable Oclaro to enhance its 10Gb/s module performance, continue developing solutions for the 40 and 100Gb/s markets, and deliver cost savings, flexibility, manufacturing capacity and faster time-to-market, the firm claims.

Oclaro executives speaking at ECOC

In the panel session ‘Coherent Technologies in High Speed Networks’ (21 September, 10:45–11:15am) director of product line management Massimo Armiraglio will give a view of next-generation 40Gb/s coherent products capabilities and how these products differentiate from previous generations, and discusses: how the use of coherent detection in 40Gb/s transponders enables networks to leverage the full capabilities of upcoming 100Gb/s products; how optical component integration leads to coherent technology becoming economically competitive with other high-speed transmission solutions; and how Oclaro’s acquisition of Mintera and strategic partnership with ClariPhy are furthering the firm’s competitive lead in the development of 100Gb/s components and modules.

In the Market Focus Session ‘“Less is More” for Next-Generation ROADMs: Colorless, Directionless, Contentionless’ (22 September at 12:20–12:50pm), Dr Krishna Bala, executive VP & division manager of WSS, will discuss: how the increased demand for applications such as video and data storage are driving a fundamental shift in optical core networks from fixed-rings to integrated packet-optical meshes; how service providers need an ability to set up big ‘fat-pipes’ that allow the movement of large quantities of data and an ability to dynamically reconfigure these pipes to adapt the network changes; and the required development of devices that support 100Gb/s and beyond transport and the development of next-generation WSS/ROADMs that include the ability to support colorless, directionless and contentionless.

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