Business

E2O and OFS demonstrate 10-Gbit/sec XFP transmission over 600 meters at 850 nm

April 2, 2003

2 April 2003 Norcross, GA Lightwave--E2O Communications Inc. and OFS demonstrated what the companies claim is the industry's first 10-Gbit/sec transmission over 600 meters at 850 nm. OFS' LaserWave 500 multimode fiber and E2O's 850-nm XFP transceivers were used in the demonstration, which was held at OFC last week.

2 April 2003 Norcross, GA Lightwave--E2O Communications Inc., manufacturer of multi-Gigabit rate fiber-optic subsystems, and OFS, supplier of fiber-optic products, demonstrated what the companies claim is the industry's first 10-Gbit/sec transmission over 600 meters at 850 nm. OFS' LaserWave 500 multimode fiber and E2O's 850-nm XFP transceivers were used in the demonstration, which was held at OFC last week.

At 600 meters, the transmission demonstrates twice the reach specified in the IEEE 10-Gigabit Ethernet Standard (802.3ae).

"This demonstration showcases our ability to offer the most cost-effective solutions to meet the needs of LAN, SAN, and campus applications," explains Nick Khoury, president of the optical fiber division of OFS. "Our fiber enables our customers to migrate their network from 10 Mbits/sec to 10 Gbits/sec seamlessly using low cost multimode fiber-based optics, with no changes to the cabling system up to 500 meters."

According to OFS representatives, LaserWave laser-optimized multimode fibers are the first to extend the application of multimode fiber to support 10-Gbit/sec serial transmission with low cost 850-nm VCSEL transceivers. They enable lower cost for legacy through 10-Gbit/sec applications, helping to reduce optical systems' costs by 35% or more. LaserWave 500 fiber extends the system cost benefits of LaserWave fibers to ultra long building backbones and medium length campus backbones.

"This is the latest step in E20's quest to satisfy the ever-increasing bandwidth needs of enterprise networks and service providers," explains Bob Pierce, vice president of marketing. "Our 10-Gbit/sec transceiver product family offers performance far exceeding the XFP MSA specifications. The E20 XFP 850-nm transceiver improves short reach support for 10-Gigabit Ethernet and OIF OC-192 applications and is a critical piece of the system solution."

E2O's XFP is an ultra-small 10-Gbit/sec optical transceiver module being standardized by the XFP MSA Group. The XFP's small footprint and low power dissipation (1.7 watts at 850 nm and 2.3 watts at 1310 nm) enable the highest board density applications in the industry, claims the company. It also uses the LC connector to provide superior optical insertion loss performance in a small footprint. These factors, in addition to its protocol independence, help provide the lowest overall cost solution for OEMs' optical data communications systems, says E2O.