2022 Lightwave Innovation Reviews Honorees

Feb. 8, 2022
Our ninth annual Lightwave Innovation Reviews follows our standard format. We invited technology developers to submit products introduced or enhanced since March 2021 in various technology categories for review by our independent panel of judges.
Lir Award2022 C
Lir Award2022 C
Lir Award2022 C
Lir Award2022 C
Lir Award2022 C

Our ninth annual Lightwave Innovation Reviews follows our standard format. We invited technology developers to submit products introduced or enhanced since March 2021 in various technology categories for review by our independent panel of judges. In some cases, that brought entries for products that will make their debuts at OFC 2022 this March.

Lightwave Editorial Director Stephen Hardy, in his role as Award Program Manager, assigned each entry to be reviewed by at least three judges knowledgeable in the relevant technology or application. As was the case in previous years, they rated each entry on the following scale:

  • 0-1.5: Not a particularly useful product
  • 2.0-2.5: Okay, but perhaps a commodity product
  • 3.0-3.5: Solid product, usually with at least one attribute that sets it apart from commodity products
  • 4.0-4.5: Excellent product with technical features and performance that provide clear and substantial benefits
  • 5.0: Superb product that demonstrates breakthrough performance and/or innovation.

This year’s panel included:

  • Robert Blum, director, strategic marketing and business development, Intel Corp.
  • Brandon Collings, CTO, optical communications, CCOP, Lumentum
  • Jorg-Peter Elbers, SVP, advanced technology, standards and IPR, ADVA Optical Networking
  • Mike Frankel, Ciena fellow, Ciena
  • Jim Hayes, president, Fiber Optic Association
  • Lisa Huff, principal analyst, optical components, OVUM
  • Tom Issenhuth, principal at Issenhuth Consulting
  • Peter Jones, principal engineer, Cisco
  • Vladimir Kozlov, founder and CEO, LightCounting
  • Patrick McLaughlin, editor in chief, Cabling Installation & Maintenance
  • Bethany Rüddek, director of contracts and compliance, Concert Technologies
  • Jim Theodoras, vice president of R&D, HG Genuine USA.
  • Matt Traverso, principal engineer, Cisco
  • Dr. Tiejun J. (TJ) Xia, distinguished member of technical staff, Verizon

And, as has been tradition, we honor the following entries for achieving a score of at least 3.5 on that 1 to 5 scale. Congratulations to all of the companies listed below – and be sure to look for these companies at OFC 2022 to find out more.

Carrier Fiber, Cable, Enclosures, and Accessories

Calix: Calix Operations Cloud and the Network Innovation Platform

Go!Foton: CHT: Clamshell Hardened Terminal

Lumenisity Ltd.: CoreSmart® Hollowcore Cable Solution

Prysmian Group: SiroccoHYBRID Optical and Power Cables for Blown Applications

ZTE Corp.: ZTE PoF Solution

Communications Semiconductors and Electrical ICs

Marvell: Marvell Deneb™ Multi-rate Coherent DSP

Microchip Technology: META-DX2L Ethernet PHY

Data Center Fiber, Cable, Enclosures and Accessories

M2 Optics Inc.: Fiber Lab Flex DC

Senko Advanced Components: Senko SN-MT Connector

Data Center Interconnect Platforms

Ciena: Waveserver 5

Legrand: Infinium acclAIM™ Fiber Solution

Marvell: Marvell Atlas™ 50-Gbps PAM4

Field Test Equipment

Fluke Networks: Fluke Networks Metal LC Connector

Fluke Networks: Fluke Networks FiberLert™ Live Fiber Detector

Kingfisher International: Two-Way Tester with Length Testing

Spirent Communications: Spirent B1 800G Appliance

VeEX Inc.: FX120 XG(S)-PON Analyzer

VeEX Inc.: FX182 xWDM Optical Channel Checker for O to L Band

VIAVI Solutions: FiberComplete PRO™

VIAVI Solutions: Nano OSA™

VIAVI Solutions: VIAVI Timing Expansion Module

FTTx Systems

Calix: Calix E3-2 Intelligent PON Node

Ciena: Universal Aggregation and Access over 10G PON Transceiver

ZTE Corp.: ZTE FTTR Solution

ZTE Corp.: ZTE Light PON Solution

Lab/Production Test Equipment

Anritsu Co.: Signal Quality Analyzer-R MP1900A

EXFO: FTBx-88460 PowerBlazer: 400G Test Solution Coherent Optics

MultiLane Inc.: ML4079E/N 800G BERT with Hardware FEC and Noise Injection

Spirent Communications: Spirent B2 800G Appliance

VIAVI Solutions: FVAi-2030 Benchtop Microscope

VIAVI Solutions: ONT 800G FLEX XPM Module

Xena Networks: Valkyrie Freya 800-Gbps Ethernet TGA Platform

Yokogawa Test&Measurement: AQ6380 Optical Spectrum Analyzer

Optical Components

Albis Optoelectronics: APD20D1 – 28-Gbd APD with High Optical Damage Threshold

Albis Optoelectronics: PS60X4 - 800G Photodiode Array with Integrated Lens

Auxora Inc.: WDM Bidirectional Optical Sub-Assembly Core (BOSA Core)

Radisys: Radisys Connect Open Broadband Optical Line Terminals

Optical Transceivers and Transponders

Acacia, now part of Cisco: Coherent Optical Interconnect 8

Alpine Optoelectronics Inc.: Single-Wavelength 100G QSFP28 DWDM Optical Transceiver

FIBERSTAMP Technology: FIBERSTAMP SFP28 25G LR 10-km Submersible Optical Transceiver

II-VI: 400G QSFP-DD-DCO Coherent Transceiver

Optical Transport Systems

Ciena: Coherent ELS

HFR Networks: HFR Networks’ TSN-based Optical Transport System

PacketLight Networks: PL-4000M 400G Muxponder

ZTE Corp.: Omni-OTN

SDN/NFV Technology

LightRiver: SD-WAVES

Ribbon: Muse Network Planner