2 February 2004 Ottawa, Canada Lightwave--Peleton, a privately held developer of photonic subsystems, today unveiled its flagship multi-wavelength laser source (MWLS) technology.
THe MWLS subsystem technology simultaneously generates multiple optical wavelengths from a DFB laser seed, delivering a DWDM lightsource. To date, the only way to create the equivalent multi-wavelength environment has been by deploying highly expensive and bulky banks of fixed-wavelength lasers.
MWLS delivers the comparable output of a bank of DFB lasers with only 1/20 the space requirement, and dramatic capital and operational savings. These savings become even more significant as the channel count increases, for example, from 40 to 80 channels.
"The MWLS is a breakthrough discovery in photonics that has great potential in a number of vertical markets," said Andrew Wolff, president and chief executive officer, Peleton. "We are currently finalizing development on our first MWLS product and are on track to deliver a controlled introduction in the second quarter of 2004. Early versions of the product are currently undergoing trials at multiple customer locations and the response we've had from customers so far has been extremely positive."
Key markets for the MWLS platform include the test and measurement, optical networking, and optical sensing industries.
The MWLS technology has the ability to provide wavelength channels in all the L, C and S bands, and offers locking to specific channel spacings, such as 100-, 50- or 25 GHz. This is the first multi-wavelength system to offer wavelength locking at these commercially viable spacings. Further benefits include reduced cabling requirements, low power consumption, and stable high output power.
"With the DWDM test equipment market likely to register a modest growth in the year 2004, end users are looking at a viable and a cost-efficient technology to generate multiple wavelengths for DWDM testing," said Ganapathi Subramanian, analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "Peleton's multi-wavelength laser technology is in a position to address the marketplace by providing an alternative solution to the expensive and bulky equipment that is used currently to generate simultaneous multiple wavelengths."
Founded in 1996, Peleton is a financially stable young company, having secured a USD$21 million funding round in 2000. Peleton's team draws on a wealth of management and technical experience at companies including Nortel Networks, JDS Uniphase, National Research Council, Fulcrum Technologies and Gandalf Technologies, among others. Palo Alto investment firm Tallwood Venture Capital is a lead investor in the company, and Tallwood managing partner Dado Banatao is chairman of Peleton's board of directors.
Peleton will be exhibiting its MWLS technology at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exposition, held in the Los Angeles Convention Center, February 24-26, 2004. Interested parties can visit Peleton at booth 3544 in the West Exhibit Hall.