JUNE 8, 2009 By Stephen Hardy -- Fujitsu Network Communications (search Lightwave for Fujitsu Network Communications) has announced general availability of 40-Gbps transponder, 4:1 muxponder, and regenerator interfaces for its FLASHWAVE 7500 reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM). The interfaces combine Adaptive Differential Phase Shift Keying (ADPSK) modulation with a patented variable dispersion compensation (VDC) technique that Fujitsu developed in-house.
Mintera (search Lightwave for Mintera) has pioneered the development of ADPSK. While Fujitsu Market Development Director Randy Eisenach said it is his company's policy not to discuss suppliers, he acknowledged that he was unaware of any other module vendor using this approach.
The new interfaces represent Fujitsu's second generation of 40-Gbps technology. The first generation, based on RZ-DQPSK, was only used for lab trials and demonstrations because the current generation -- which offers a 50% reduction in size, among other benefits -- was close at hand, Eisenach explained.
Eisenach revealed that Fujitsu already has "a couple" of orders, primarily for the 4:1 muxponder, from "major customers" in North America. He would not reveal the names of the customers, other than to say one was a large RBOC and the other a cable MSO. Fujitsu is reported to have supplied the 7500 to AT&T, Comcast, and Cox, among other carriers.
The 40-Gbps interfaces should see deployment in two primary applications, Eisenach suggested. The first, and in his opinion the largest, opportunity is for long-haul network capacity expansion. While 40-Gbps technology is still about 5X to 5.5X more expensive than current 10-Gbps offerings, it is cheaper than laying new fiber or introducing entirely new systems, Eisenach explained. He said he expects the new capabilities to play in metro networks as well.
Core router interconnect offers the second opportunity, Eisenach added.
The interfaces offer:
- full-band tunable optics
- integrated optical protection that is provisionable, per-wavelength, built-in, and Och-DPRing (optical UPSR)
- provisionable RS-FEC or UFEC
- per-wavelength VDC via Fujitsu's Virtual Image Phase Array technology
- optical loopback and PRBS test signal capabilities
- the ability to wrap a client signal for transport over OTN G.709-based optical layers
- 40-Gbps transmission over links originally engineered for 10 Gbps.
"40 Gbps is one of the highest optical networking (ON) growth areas as consumer demand, driven by video, is stressing network capacities," Kline said in a statement contained in Fujitsu's announcement. "The 40-Gbps market will grow nearly 90% in 2009 as a new generation of integrated muxponders becomes available and 4x10-Gbps applications dominate deployments."
Eisenach added that the company has a 40-Gbps transponder on the drawing board for its FLASHWAVE 9500 Packet Optical Network Platform. That unit likely will not use ADPSK, he said.