Finisar unveils Flexgrid wavelength-selective switches for next-gen ROADMs

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 -- Finisar Corp. (NASDAQ: FNSR) has introduced its new Flexgrid wavelength-selective switch (WSS) technology. Flexgrid is designed to enable dynamic control of channel center frequency and channel bandwidth within a WSS, from 50 GHz to 200 GHz in 12.5-GHz steps, with no penalty on any aspect of WSS performance.

Finisar says Flexgrid draws upon the inherent flexibility and performance of the company's Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) optical engine to address carrier demand for flexible, bandwidth-capable ROADMs in next-generation networks.

The need for increased network capacity, efficiency, and flexibility is driving the introduction of higher data rates, new transmission formats, and channel management technologies. These all require flexible bandwidth capable ROADMs, says Finisar. For example, the introduction of coherent techniques enables 100-Gbps transmission within a 50-GHz channel. However, higher speed traffic, including future 400-Gbps and 1-Tbps signals, will not fit into such a narrow channel, Finisar asserts. To maximize network capacity and future-proof a carrier's investment in transmission hardware, the channel bandwidth in both the WSS and the add/drop components required for contentionless, directionless, colorless (CDC) architectures must therefore be dynamically variable to accommodate new transmission formats and data rates, Finisar contends.

"Channel-width flexibility is increasingly sought by major telecom carriers as a way to maximize bandwidth-efficiency in the network," said Andrew Schmitt, senior analyst with Infonetics Research. "Flexible Grid functionality offered by leading suppliers, like Finisar, allows an optical network to accommodate advanced optical transmission techniques."

Finisar will demonstrate its Flexgrid technology in booth #207 at the European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communications (ECOC) in Torino, Italy, September 20-22.

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