4 March 2011

POF-PLUS to report Gigabit transmission over plastic optical fiber

At next week’s Optical Fiber Communication conference (OFC 2011) in Los Angeles, CA (6–10 March), POF-PLUS will present results of its research into and development of new commercially viable technologies for transmission at Gigabit speeds over plastic optical fiber (POF).

Launched in January 2008 and sponsored by the European Union, the three-year POF-PLUS project is supported by some of Europe’s largest telecom operators. Members of the POF-PLUS research consortium include: Eindhoven University of Technology, Firecomms, France Telecom, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, project manager Institute Superiore Mario Bella (ISMB), POF Application Center (POFAC), Luceat S.p.A., Politecnico Di Torino, Rossetta IP and Telecom Italia

The POF-PLUS project develops new photonic components and transmission technologies for large core POF systems, aiming at the unprecedented implementation of tens of Gbps transmission over this medium. The project targets next-generation home networks and optical interconnects in short-reach broadband connectivity applications, including storage area networks (SAN), enterprise communications, and consumer displays for uncompressed video (e.g. HDMI).

On the POF-PLUS booth 2830, consortium members Firecomms, Luceat and Rosetta IP will provide live demonstrations of Gigabit Ethernet transmission using media converters. Member organizations Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits and POF Application Center (POFAC) will showcase novel developments of the new Gigabit transmission technology on the Plastic Optical Fiber Trade Organization (POFTO) booth 2615. The development of parallel optical transceivers for transmission of multi-gigabit transmission speeds will also be featured on the POFTO booth.

Also, on 10 March (10am) in the POF Symposium in Expo Theater 3 on the exhibition floor, a full overview of the results of the Gigibit transmission project will be given in a presentation by professor Roberto Gaudino of the Politecnico di Torino. The presentation will be concluded by Hugh Hennessy, VP of sales & marketing of Firecomms Ltd of Cork, Ireland (a manufacturer of transceivers for POF), with a discussion of the roadmap to commercial deployment of Gigabit technology.

“For several years major operators across Europe have deployed POF in home networks because of the simplicity and ultra-thin nature of POF,” says Firecomms’ chief technology officer John Lambkin. “With these presentations, POF-PLUS is demonstrating how POF home networks, with guaranteed reliability and the lowest maintenance costs, are future-proofed for the next 20 years or more.”

Tags: POF Firecomms

Visit: www.ict-pof-plus.eu

Visit: www.ofcnfoec.org

Visit: www.firecomms.com

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