Finisar and Hitachi Cable agree to standardize SONET OC-48 SFP digital diagnostic functions

March 6, 2001

Mar. 6, 2001--Finisar Corporation and Hitachi Cable, both providers of gigabit fiber optic solutions for high-speed data and telecommunication networks, announced they have reached an agreement to standardize new digital diagnostic and monitoring functions in their respective SONET OC-48 Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) optical transceiver modules.

Finisar Corporation (Nasdaq:FNSR) and Hitachi Cable, both providers of gigabit fiber optic solutions for high-speed data and telecommunication networks, announced they have reached an agreement to standardize new digital diagnostic and monitoring functions in their respective SONET OC-48 Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) optical transceiver modules.

The new digital diagnostic standard utilizes the two Serial ID pins in the SFP connector to access an extended address set that provides calibrated, absolute real time measurements of the laser bias current, the transmitted optical power, the received optical power, and the internal transceiver temperature and supply voltage. This digital data is generated by the transceiver using an internal analog to digital converter together with an onboard processor. Digital alarm and warning flags are also available.

Both companies' SONET OC-48 SFP transceivers operate at data rates of 2.488Gb/s over single-mode fiber and are fully compliant with both the SONET OC-48 and SDH STMEI-16 standards, as defined in Bellcore GR-253 and ITU-T G.957. They also comply with the Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) Multisource Agreement (MSA).

Since they occupy much less circuit board space than their predecessors, the SFP transceivers allow telecommunications and networking equipment manufacturers to cost-effectively increase the port density of their optical transmission systems.

SONET/SDH optical transceivers are utilized by telecommunications and networking equipment manufacturers in their optical transmission systems, to convert high-speed electrical signals to optical signals and vice-versa for transmission over fiber optic cables.

About Finisar:

Finisar Corporation (Nasdaq:FNSR) is a provider of fiber optic subsystems and network performance test systems which enable high-speed data communications over Gigabit Ethernet local area networks (LANs), Fibre Channel storage area networks (SANs), metropolitan data network applications (MANs), and CATV. For more information, visit www.finisar.com.

About Hitachi Cable:

Hitachi Cable, Ltd is a manufacturer and distributor of optical and electro-optical devices for use in optical networking equipment. Hitachi Cable is also a supplier of compound semiconductors, superconductors, and related electrical components and devices.