Finisar demonstrates ROADM, transmission advances at ECOC

SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 -- Finisar Corp. is demonstrating several new technologies and products at the European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communications (ECOC) in Torino, Italy, including its new Flexgrid technology for next-generation ROADMs, a Board Mounted Optical Engine operating at 240 Gb/s, and a SONET/SDH SFP+ transceiver for telecom networks.

Flexgrid is being demonstrated for the first time as a software capability of the new WaveManager Application Suite, part of the WaveShaper family of Programmable Optical Processors. Introduced earlier this month, Flexgrid enables control of channel center frequency and channel bandwidth within a WSS, from 50 GHz to 200 GHz in 12.5 GHz steps. It is specifically designed for bandwidth-efficiency, as carriers move to higher data rates in next-generation telecommunication networks, says a company representative.

“Verizon looks forward to Finisar's next-generation flexible grid WSS product and we anticipate working with them as system suppliers integrate this type of technology into future line systems," says Glenn Wellbrock, director of Backbone Network Design at Verizon.

Being shown for the first time is Finisar's Board Mounted Optical Engine technology. As data rates on backplanes, intra-chassis, intra-board, and chip-to-chip interconnects increase, the limitations of copper exacerbate the challenges faced by systems engineers and architects. Board Mounted Optical Engines represent the next generation for optical technology and enable breakthroughs in data rate, power, and density for next-generation servers, routers, and high-performance computing (HPC) systems, adds a representative.

Finisar also is demonstrating its 10G SONET/SDH SFP+ transceiver, designed for 2km 10Gb/s SONET/SDH SR-1 and 10km 10GBASE-LR/-LW applications. The transceiver integrates re-timers on both the receiver and transmitter for jitter performance between 9.95 and 11.35 Gb/s.