It looks like Opnext will have a race on its hands to be the first to offer a 100-Gbps DP-QPSK transponder after all. Fujitsu Optical Components Ltd. has announced that they too will have such a module available by April 2012, the same month Opnext has promised to deliver theirs (see “Opnext targets April 2012 for 100G DP-QPSK coherent transponder module production”).

The similarities don’t end there. Both designs leverage DSP-LSI technology that NTT Electronics Corp. developed as part of the “R&D on High Speed Optical Transport System Technologies” program supported by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. And, of course, the module will comply with the OIF’s 100GLH-ME-01.0 specifications.

However, Fujitsu Optical Components says that they will use their own technology to control the LN modulator and the integrated receiver (which incorporates an internal optical hybrid mixer for DP-QPSK modulation/demodulation). In fact, the company has already commercialized the DP-QPSK LN modulators and integrated receiver (see, for example, "Fujitsu introduces compact integrated DP-QPSK receiver for 100Gbps digital coherent receiving systems"). The company also asserts it has optimized the circuit design to enable a transponder package size of 127x177x17 mm, similar in size to a standard 40-Gbps transponder.

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