MRV adds 100G muxponder to OptiDriver line

MRV Communications, Inc. (OTCQB: MRVC) has expanded its OptiDriver optical transport systems line with a multi-protocol, multi-rate muxponder capable of supporting 100G. The OptiDriver family debuted late last year (see “MRV launches OptiDriver optical transport platform line”).

The OptiDriver muxponder supports a variety of pluggable interface combinations, including two 40G QSPF+ optical transceivers, ten 10G SFP+ modules, and a 100G CFP uplink that could take the form of short range, DWDM metro, or long-range coherent 100G optics.

MRV sees the muxponder as an efficient means to combine ten 10G services into a single 100G signal, or to accommodate a mix of 40G and 10G services without the need to pre-plan the network or replace hardware for different mixes.

“Most people know data center and content delivery network operators are experiencing a rapid growth in streaming video, cloud storage and virtualization data traffic, but many of these operators have limited fiber resources that they need to maximize. To accomplish this they need to introduce 100G solutions into their network. With the large amount of 10G and 40G ports in their network today, a flexible 100G muxponder makes for an ideal solution,” said Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst at Infonetics Research.

Like other members of the OptiDriver family, the 100G muxponder leverages MRV’s Pro-Vision service provisioning and management platform to offer streamlined manageability with centralized service visibility, intelligence, and control. Pro-Vision enables operators to reduce operational expenses and proactively prevent potential errors that can occur from manual provisioning, MRV asserts.

“MRV continues to invest in the development of leading, forward-thinking solutions for next-generation packet and optical networks. As a result, our customers are able to build networks that are simpler to manage and have the capacity to support advanced, in-demand services,” said John Golub, vice president of global product line management for MRV Communications. “The OptiDriver 100G muxponder reflects the traditional flexibility of MRV’s packet and optical solutions and allows customers to use a single set of hardware across multiple applications. This capability reduces ordering complexity and results in an overall reduction in capital and operational expenses.”

MRV also announced that the OptiDriver platform will supports flexible reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs). The new functionality will enable network operators to move individual groups of wavelengths around the network via software rather than hardware changes. The OptiDriver chassis will initially support a four-degree ROADM capability.

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