June 8, 2006 Bristol, UK -- Phyworks will extend its Fibre Channel product line to 8 Gbits/sec with two new products now in development. The new devices include the PHY1080, an 8G integrated VCSEL driver and limiting amplifier designed for short-wavelength, multimode applications, and the PHY1085, an 8G integrated laser driver and limiting amplifier designed for long-wavelength, singlemode applications.
Phyworks' new products are being designed to meet the need for backwards compatibility in the imminent 8G Fibre Channel market. Current 8G module prototypes have been designed using high-specification 10G drivers and post amplifiers. The PHY1080 and PHY1085 will offer highly integrated transmitter and receiver functionality, reducing cost for both optical module manufacturers and end users.
Phyworks says it is drawing on experience from both its successful integration of driver and receiver ICs at 4 Gbits/sec and its work 10-Gbit/sec devices to deliver high-performance ICs that will facilitate the 8G Fibre Channel market.
The T11 standards group is currently nearing completion of the FC-PI4 8G Fibre Channel standard that will drive the 8G Fibre Channel market. Commenting on the market, Lawrence Gasman of Communication Industry Researchers Inc (CIR) predicted that "the market for 8-Gbit/sec Fibre Channel ports will exceed five million units by 2011." Gasman adds, "The initial driver for 8-Gbit/sec Fibre Channel will be for interswitch links in networks with a growing number of 4 Gbits/sec, after which 8-Gbit/sec ports will become the choice on the client side."
Additionally, the company expects the "SFP+" Multi-Source Agreement, expected in 2007, will drive the move to 8 Gbits/sec, with high-port-density applications leading the way. Phyworks' offering will feature a backwards-compatible limiting receiver architecture, designed to meet all requirements for the SFP+ form factor.
To meet the lower power and smaller size requirements of optical module vendors, the PHY1080 and PHY1085 will be developed as highly integrated, multi-rate products offering a range of features to meet the needs of multiple system environments.
EMI emissions will be minimized, aiding and simplifying the transceiver qualification and design-in process by implementing transmit and receive edge rate control. End users will also benefit from guaranteed optical compliance over environmental conditions and lifetime, while further reducing transceiver manufacturing costs by removing the need to set up and test transceivers over temperature, Phyworks asserts.
The new products will enable optical module vendors to meet all Fibre Channel link lengths in the most cost-effective way, the company also states. By offering VSCEL and laser versions of the highly integrated IC, with identical pin outs, optical module manufacturers will be able to design a complete Fibre Channel product portfolio using a single platform, Phyworks says.
The PHY1080 and PHY1085 will be available in RoHS compliant, industry standard QFN packages. Phyworks anticipates silicon being available by the end of 2006. The PHY1080 and PHY1085 will be sampled with SFP+ reference design, and, as with all Phyworks products, full applications support.