13 January 2004 Somerset, NJ Lightwave-- Emcore Corporation, a provider of compound semiconductor technologies for global communications, today announced the ELX-7100 XENPAK transceiver, which is compliant with 10GBASE-LX4, the highly versatile WDM format within the IEEE 802.3ae standard for 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The ELX-7100 is the latest product in Emcore's expanding solutions for the data center and central office enterprise network. Furthermore, the ELX-7100 is built upon Emcore's compound semiconductor expertise and employs both lasers and detectors that are internally produced.
The ELX-7100 transceiver provides a reach of 300 m over standard multimode fiber, including the widely deployed "FDDI grade" legacy multimode fibers, and 10 km over singlemode fiber. In addition, an extended- reach version of the ELX-7100 will reach 40 km over singlemode fiber.
"The technical challenges at 10 Gbits/sec, especially for use with legacy or installed fiber, will drive increased use of long wavelength transceivers where short wavelengths have traditionally operated," says Tom Hausken, director of Optical Components at Strategies Unlimited, a market research firm. "This, combined with the strong growth of 10-Gbit/sec switching for LANs and SANs, will drive the 10-Gbit/sec 1310-nm transceiver market well beyond $500 million by 2008."
"We are excited to introduce the industry's first commercially available 10GBASE-LX4 XENPAK solution and continue to be committed to expanding Emcore's 10 Gigabit Ethernet product portfolio," said Reuben F. Richards, Jr., president and chief executive of Emcore. "Emcore is focused on delivering value-added products to the expanding 10 Gigabit Ethernet market."
The ELX-7100 transmits data over four wavelengths, 1275 nm, 1300 nm, 1325 nm, and 1350 nm, by optically combining the outputs of four uncooled distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. By using Emcore fabricated DFB lasers, the ELX-7100 can be very competitive in cost when compared to serial 10 Gigabit Ethernet solutions based on 10GBASE-LR. Similarly, in the receive subsection, these four wavelengths are optically demultiplexed and converted to electrical output signals through detector arrays which are also internally produced. The product provides a two-wire management data I/O interface (MDIO), which is compliant with both IEEE802.3ae clause 45 and the XENPAK multisource agreement, and it is hot pluggable for convenient use at the system front panel.
"The ELX-7100 is an exciting product because it is the only available solution today that addresses 300-m applications over enterprise legacy multimode fiber as well as 10-km applications over singlemode fiber," said Dr. Hong Hou, vice president of Emcore Fiber Optics Division. "Essentially, by specifying this single XENPAK device from Emcore, customers will reduce the number of items in their inventory, reducing their costs, while providing flexibility in the field for both multimode and singlemode applications."