5 March 2014

GigOptix participating in PANTHER project on multi-flow Terabit transceivers for edge SDN switches and data-centers

GigOptix Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (a fabless supplier of analog semiconductor and optical communications components for fiber-optic and wireless networks) has announced its participation in the research project PANTHER (Passive and Electro-optic Polymer Photonics and InP Electronic Integration for Multi-Flow Terabit Transceivers at Edge SDN Switches and Data-Center), which is funded in part by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) of the European Commission (EC).

PANTHER aims to develop programmable transceivers with Terabit capacity for next-generation optical networks. The project aims to combine electro-optic with passive polymers for ultrahigh-speed modulation and enhanced on-chip functionality. It will also integrate the polymer platform with indium phosphide (InP) gain chips and InP photodiode arrays. For the driving electronics it will use InP double-heterostructure bipolar transistor (DHBT) technology. Finally, PANTHER will use 3D integration techniques to package these components in system-in-package transceivers, capable of 64 Gbaud operations with formats up to DP-64-QAM and flexibility in handling multiple optical flows on-chip.

The project’s total budget is €5,355,744, including €3,369,926 from the EC. The project started officially on 1 January and will run for three years. Headed by the National Technical University of Athens (GR), the consortium comprises GigOptix’ subsidiary GigOptix-Helix AG in Zurich, Switzerland, III-V Lab (the joint Alcatel-Lucent, Thales and CEA-Leti industrial research laboratory) in France, the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) in Berlin, Germany, Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs France, Linkra S.R.L. in Italy, the Danmarks Teknisske Universitet in Denmark, and Telecom Italia S.p.A.

“A successful PANTHER program will represent a meaningful contribution to technology development in the field of telecommunications, and is in line with GigOptix product development roadmaps addressing the ever growing demand for ultrahigh-capacity coherent transmission systems,” believes Dr Raluca Dinu, VP & general manager High Speed Communications products at GigOptix.

GigOptix’s ultrahigh-speed Thin-Film-Polymer-on-Silicon (TFPS) Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) and 100Gbps coherent linear MZM driver (the technology parts contributing to the PANTHER project) are being demonstrated in booth #1531 at the Optical Fiber Communication conference & exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC 2014) in San Francisco, CA (11-13 March).

Tags: GigOptix

Visit: www.ict-panther.eu

Visit: www.gigoptix.com

Visit: www.ofcconference.org