Luminent Inc. (Nasdaq:LMNE), a supplier of single-mode active and passive fiber optic components for high-capacity data transmission in the metropolitan and access markets, announced its endorsement of Mindspeed Technologies' SkyRail family of Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) ICs for interfacing with Luminent's 4-channel Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing (CWDM) family of modules. Mindspeed Technologies is the Internet infrastructure business of Conexant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CNXT).
Mindspeed Technologies' Quad SkyRail CX27204 handles four simultaneous channels of 3.125 Gigabits per second with a single IC. This is a quantum leap, since current SerDes transceivers in production typically can only handle speeds up to 2.125 Gbps in multi-channel configurations or 2.5 Gbps in a single-channel package.
The pairing of Luminent's CWDM products and Mindspeed Technologies' SerDes transceivers provides optical-networking equipment manufacturers with a timely, cost-effective and seamless solution for supporting up to 40 km 10 Gigabit Ethernet physical layer implementations. The combination will enable manufacturers to meet the demand for greater bandwidth build-outs in the enterprise-access market segment and metropolitan area networks (MANs).
The inclusion of pre-emphasis circuitry and programmable output swing allows Mindspeed Technologies' SkyRail SerDes transceiver to be situated far from the CWDM module and still provide a clean, low-jitter signal to the module. In fact, the transceiver has been designed to drive up to 1m of FR4 backplane material through two connectors.
Rate matching, channel-to-channel and chip-to-chip alignment simplify the board designer's job significantly while the Common Mode Logic (CML) high-speed serial link makes it easy to interface to Luminent's module. The low power dissipation makes these CMOS transceivers ideal for high-density, high-bandwidth line cards and switch cards.
Luminent's CWDM modules multiplex four Distributed Feedback (DFB) lasers in the 1500 nm window and support a variety of link budgets. This technology provides an economical approach to implementing 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the MAN by supporting 10 km to 40 km solutions over existing single mode optical fiber.
Luminent is also developing similar CWDM solutions to meet various data rates and link budgets in the 1300 nm transmission window over single mode optical fiber supporting designs that meet proposed IEEE 10 Gb standards.
Luminent and Mindspeed will be exhibiting this total solution in their respective booths at the upcoming OFC Conference in Anaheim, Calif., March 19-21. Luminent is in booth No. 1000 and Mindspeed is in booth No. 222.
About Luminent:
Luminent designs, manufactures and sells single-mode active and passive fiber optic components for high-capacity data transmission in the metropolitan and access markets. For more information, visit www.luminentinc.com.
About Mindspeed Technologies:
Mindspeed Technologies is the Internet infrastructure business of Conexant Systems Inc., and offers semiconductor and software solutions that range from physical-layer access devices at the edge of the Internet up through switch fabric and network processor products for the high-speed optical core.