JUNE 1, 2010 -- Luxtera says its optical modulators now support 30-Gbps serial data rates, a step towards enabling four-lane parallel 100-Gbps interconnects.
Luxtera uses its Silicon CMOS Photonics technology to address the market for optical interconnects including next-generation Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and InfiniBand networks projecting data speeds of up to 100 Gbps per port.
“As InfiniBand transitions to EDR data rates and Ethernet transitions to 100GbE, there is an increasing need for low-cost, high-throughput interconnects to support large-scale computing systems and datacenters,” said Lisa Huff of CIR and Discerning Analytics. “Traditionally, this market has been serviced by vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and multimode fiber, which may reach performance limitations beyond 10 Gbps. Luxtera’s Silicon Photonics-based transmitters enable data centers to keep pace with bandwidth needs, providing end-users with enhanced performance that will support 100-Gbps deployments at economical cost points.”
Data center connectivity options, such as legacy copper and VCSEL-based multimode fiber transceivers, are currently limited in reach, size, and performance, Luxtera asserts. When pushing to higher speeds of 30 Gbps and beyond, transceivers based on VCSEL technology will face numerous technical obstacles such as achieving the required modulation bandwidth, receiver sensitivity, and effects of multimode-fiber dispersion, as well as performance and reliability requirements, the company adds.
Silicon Photonics transmitters use continuous wave (CW) lasers and Mach-Zehnder interferometer CMOS waveguide based modulators. This technology removes the need for expensive high-speed directly modulated lasers and, when combined with the company’s fiber-to-the-chip singlemode fiber transmission, overcomes the shortcomings of multimode fiber, Luxtera says.
“By demonstrating 30Gbps modulators implemented in production-ready CMOS process technology, Luxtera’s team continues to lead optical innovation in Silicon Photonics,” said Marek Tlalka, vice president of marketing for Luxtera. “Our 30G transmitter overcomes performance constraints associated with traditional optics. We are paving the way to the next wave of Silicon Photonics commercial applications as well as wide deployment of low-cost optical connectivity for EDR InfiniBand, 100G Ethernet, and 28G Fibre Channel applications.”
Products based on 30-Gbps transmitter technology will sample in 2011, Luxtera says.
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