AUGUST 27, 2008 -- IPtronics (search for IPtronics) recently introduced a low-power four- channel vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (search for VCSEL) driver and transimpedance amplifier that the company claims features the lowest power in the industry for next-generation optical parallel transmission modules and active cables.
IPtronics says its silicon already enables module manufacturers in Japan, U.S., and Europe to offer devices dissipating less than 8mW per Gbit/sec (for a transceiver), running at up to 12.5 Gbits/sec per channel with even lower power per Gbit/sec in the pipe line.
The new chipset from IPtronics enables module manufactures to compete with existing offerings mainly on power dissipation, but also parameters such as cost, weight, and EMI, say company representatives. Compared to copper links, system manufacturers will experience power savings of a factor of 10, says the company. And compared to existing optical links, system manufacturers can expect three to five times lower power than modules currently available in the market place, report Iptronics.
In addition to enabling power savings in the data centers, server farms and supercomputers, IPtronics says it also supports customers' "Green Procurement" policies.
The devices are protocol agnostic and can be used in applications such as InfiniBand DDR & QDR, proprietary links, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. Current offerings for high-speed optical interconnects have been gated so far by high-power silicon and data rates below 2.5 Gbits/sec per channel.
"Our silicon enables substantial power savings and thereby less strain on the environment," reports Jesper Wolf Bek, director of sales & marketing and co-owner of IPtronics "Our lead-free chipsets enable system vendors to reduce opex as well as capex while improving performance."
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