Mitsubishi's XFP transceiver packs lowest power consumption

MARCH 6, 2007 -- Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (search for Mitsubishi Electric) has developed a new 10-Gbit/sec transceiver module capable of a 40-km optical communication transmission. The company says the module has the lowest power consumption in the industry and complies with the 10-Gbit/sec form-factor pluggable extended multisource agreement (XFP MSA), the industrial standard for small optical transceivers. Samples begin shipping today.

With the dissemination of high-speed, high-volume communication services such as voice over IP, IPTV, and others, there has been a rush to expand the communications network in long-distance trunk lines and metropolitan areas to keep up with sudden increases in communication traffic. To reduce installation costs, there has been strong demand by communication device manufacturers for a small, low-power-consumption optical transceiver that can provide multiple functions in one optical transmission device.

The MF-10KSXA-008ZA's light-modulated integrated laser -- an optical device with a semiconductor optical modulator and laser diode in one chip -- exhibits low wavelength fluctuation even during high modulation. Using this as a light source, the company says, reduced power consumption to 2.5 W, approximately 30% less compared to the previous model MF-10KSXB003, and the lowest in the industry. By reducing energy consumption, additional modules can be incorporated without increasing the power capacity of the optical transmission device. This will allow up to a 30% increase in the number of modules that can be added to a single optical communications device and reduce installation costs.

Mitsubishi says using established phase-locked loop (PLL) circuitry capable of transmission rates from 9.95 to 11.1 Gbits/sec will ease construction of optical transmission systems of differing transmission rates, such as SONET/SDH, 10-Gigabit Ethernet, and 10-Gigabit Fibre Channel.

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