Infineon ships XPAK modules for both short- and long-reach
17 December 2002 -- Infineon Technologies says it is the first supplier of optical transceiver (TRX) modules to begin shipping samples of XPAK MSA-compliant devices for both short-reach (SR) and long-reach (LR) data transmission applications. Volume production of final-standard-compliant modules is planned for second-half 2003.
The new modules allow networking and communications equipment manufacturers to create standards-based high-bandwidth systems to meet the requirements of a variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) and 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel (10GFC) applications, including high-density data centre applications within wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs) and storage area networks (SANs).
The small-form-factor 10Gbit/s TRX modules meet or exceed the specifications of the optical XPAK MSA (multi-source agreement), which was co-founded by Infineon, Intel and Picolight in March 2002. One module operates at a wavelength of 850nm and the other at 1310nm. Both comply with all the applicable IEEE P802.3ae 10GE and NCITS T11 10GFC standards. The small size and low power consumption make the modules ideal for integration into server network interface cards, host bus adapters, target channel adapters, backplanes, and dense-packed SAN and enterprise switches.
The 850nm XPAK transceiver supports full-duplex data transmission rates at distances of up to 100m over standard multi-mode optical fibre and up to 300m over high-bandwidth multi-mode fibre. This exceeds the 66m specified in the 10GE standard. The 1310nm XPAK transceiver supports full-duplex data transmission at standard-compliant distances of up to 10km over single-mode optical fibre.
"Recent XPAK product announcements have been for modules that serve either short-reach or long-reach applications, and we're pleased that we can now offer devices for both based on the same platform," said Ayad Abul-Ella, director of Infineon's Fiber Optics Module Business Line. "XPAK has gained momentum as a form factor for today's high-density, high-bandwidth applications. Supporting it will help us complete our 10G product family."
The XPAK TRX modules provide an interface between the optical fiber physical layer and the protocol-processing layer (ISO Model Layer 2). They contain an optical transmitter and receiver pair that is integrated with 10 Gigabit Attachment Unit Interface (XAUI)-to-serial conversion. Designed for high-density applications, configurations of up to 16 modules on a 17-inch line-card are possible using belly-to-belly mounting, without compromising the stringent thermal and EMI (electromagnetic interference) management requirements of 10Gbit/s optical electronics devices. "Hot-pluggability" for user-friendly plug-and-play of all physical media device transceiver types allows end-users to adopt a "populate-as-you-go" strategy, whereby they can buy a switch and populate it with links at a later date. It also eliminates system downtime during upgrades and repairs.
Total maximum power consumption for each module is less than 3.5W. They offer LC and SC optical connector interface options, and provide a variety of digital optical monitoring capabilities, including transmit and receive power, module temperature, loss of signal, laser bias current and laser safety alarm. Built-in self-test and a number of loop-back test modes are also provided.