1 December 2003 Durham, NC Lightwave -- ExceLight Communications, a U.S.-based unit of Sumitomo Electric Industries, announced that it will begin volume shipments of its XFP and X2 10-Gbit/sec pluggable optical transceivers in spring 2004. The transceivers use Sumitomo's high-performance, uncooled 1310-nm DFB lasers in a compact TOSA to combine low cost and high performance, say company representatives. With an optimum thermal design of devices and circuitry, they also achieve low power consumption.
"We have been sampling units to strategic customers," reports Kevin Green, chief operating officer at ExceLight. "They rate our clean optical output waveform as being better than our competitors' devices. The combination of low power and clean waveforms provide a cost-effective, high-performance solution for 10-Gbit/sec applications."
The X2 transceiver supports the 10-Gigabit Ethernet standards and transmission at distances of up to 10 km. Using a 3.125-Gbit/sec by four-lane XAUI parallel interface, the transceiver complies with the X2 multisource agreement (MSA).
The XFP transceiver provides multi-protocol support for 10-Gigabit Ethernet, 10-Gigabit Fiber Channel, and SONET/SDH to distances of up to 10 km. It has a serial electrical interface and is based on the XFP MSA.
ExceLight will expand the line throughout 2004 to offer pluggable transceivers to satisfy a range of application needs.