16 November 2016

MACOM launches 25Gbps laser family for high-volume, cost-sensitive 100G optical markets

MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings Inc of Lowell, MA, USA (which makes semiconductors, components and subassemblies for analog RF, microwave, millimeter-wave and photonic applications) has announced volume production of its family of 25Gbps lasers for data-center, mobile infrastructure and fiber to the home (FTTH) applications.

Cloud data-center infrastructure is proliferating rapidly, driven by exponential data traffic growth and the hyperscale elasticity needed to accommodate surging cloud compute workloads and long-term capacity plans, says MACOM. Global demand for online multimedia and mobile data created almost 5 trillion gigabytes of data center traffic in 2015 alone. To meet this burgeoning demand, hyperscale data centers have leveraged inexpensive computing power sewn together by optical fiber connectivity and brought to life by extremely high-speed, power-efficient lasers.

Leveraging etched facet technology (EFT) and its commercial-scale manufacturing capability, MACOM expects to capitalize on the 100G technology opportunity in Cloud data centers by replicating the significant cost structure reductions for lasers that it has previously achieved in passive optical networks (PON).

The 127/129/131/133D-25G-LCT11 and 1295/1300/1304/1309-25B-LCT11-S families of 25Gbps lasers serve CWDM and LAN-WDM data-center applications, respectively. The 131D-25I-LT5TC family of TO-packaged 25Gbps laser products service 5G-LTE and 100G PON applications. MACOM says that its TO package is a robust, high-speed design that enables the full utilization of laser bandwidth with efficient heat dissipation.

These families of products leverage MACOM's patented EFT technology which, when combined with its in-house wafer-scale indium phosphide (InP) manufacturing, is expected to provide a cost and capacity advantage previously unachievable by incumbent laser suppliers. Coupled with MACOM's driver MAOM-2304, the new laser family can offer a complete solution enabling data-center, mobile and FTTH needs to be addressed.

"In markets where EFT can bring disruptive economics to bear, we believe it will play a pivotal role in achieving the cost thresholds to enable mainstream deployment," says Dr Alex Behfar, senior VP & chief scientist, Photonic Solutions at MACOM. "We have already proven our ability to service high-volume cost-competitive markets such as PON, and with our 25Gbps laser family we believe we are well positioned to become a pre-eminent supplier of lasers into these high-volume markets."

Tags: M/A-COM 100G optical modules

Visit: www.macom.com/25GLasers