MARCH 3, 2008 -- Avanex Corp. (search for Avanex) has announced the Telcordia qualification and general availability of its PowerRouter 1x4 Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS).
The 1x4 WSS is designed to enable the remote high-speed switching of any wavelength or any combination of wavelengths on a 100-GHz grid from any one of the input ports to the output port. The device is bi-directional so the input and output ports can be interchanged to operate in a 4x1 mode. The switching process is hitless (non-traffic affecting) and the device allows per-channel optical power balancing, Avanex says.
Giovanni Barbarossa, Avanex senior vice president and CTO, said, "We are pleased to announce the general availability of the first WSS product based on our patented and proprietary liquid crystal technology platform. Our liquid crystal WSS platform is covered by a strong intellectual property portfolio that includes eight patents and several other patents pending."
Ross Parke, Avanex general manager, Components and Modules Business Unit, added, "Our WSS modules have gone through an elaborate Telcordia qualification program which includes extensive environmental and mechanical stress testing to assess field reliability performance. We are pleased with the successful completion of our reliability qualification program which includes test conditions in GR-1221 and other Telcordia standards."
Dr. Sanjai Parthasarathi, Avanex senior director of product line management, concluded, "While we have now begun revenue shipments of our 1x4 WSS product, we also have strong corporate support for the continued development of higher port count and finer channel spacing products for the core, and low cost, small port count products for the edge."
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