Acacia Communications shipping coherent CFP

Sept. 21, 2014

Following up on its announcement of the industry’s first coherent CFP optical transceiver at OFC this past March, Acacia Communications says the optical module is now shipping. As was the case with its OIF MSA transceiver, the Telcordia-qualified AC100-CFP is the first optical module of its kind on the market, thanks to the fact that Acacia has its own DSP development team and therefore doesn’t have to wait for a third party to create the necessary ASIC.

Stephen Hardy

Following up on its announced development of the industry’s first coherent CFP optical transceiver at OFC this past March, Acacia Communications says the optical module is now generally available. As was the case with its OIF MSA transceiver, the Telcordia-qualified AC100-CFP is the first optical module of its kind on the market, thanks to the fact that Acacia has its own DSP development team and therefore doesn’t have to wait for a third party to create the necessary ASIC.

Acacia Communications President and CEO Raj Shanmugaraj says there’s significant demand for the coherent CFP – in fact, the company likely will ship more units in the next quarter than the total number of OIF MSAs its shipped since that initial product came to market in 2011. The current coherent CFP customer roster includes more than 15 companies (all of whom have filed purchase orders, Shanmugaraj asserted), including systems houses that have developed their own DSPs. These network equipment manufacturers likely will use the optical transceiver in universal line cards that enable support of both line side and client side (100 Gigabit Ethernet) optics.

The coherent CFP requires 24 W in ZR mode and is less than half the price of the OIF MSA module, Shanmugaraj asserts. The device has integrated Optical Transport Network (OTN) framing and supports metro/regional reaches of 80 to 1,200 km. It also leverages silicon-photonics based photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology.

Meanwhile, Shanmugaraj said development work on the company’s digital CFP2 module – a transceiver with an integrated DSP, as opposed to the analog CFP2 devices most other suppliers are pursuing that would rely on a board-mounted ASIC – remains on schedule for delivery in 2016. The ability to efficiently co-package the DSP and silicon photonics PIC will be essential for successful development of the module.

Shanmugaraj added that support of data rates greater than 100G is on the roadmap.

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About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher

Stephen Hardy has covered fiber optics for more than 15 years, and communications and technology for more than 30 years. He is responsible for establishing and executing Lightwave's editorial strategy across its digital magazine, website, newsletters, research and other information products. He has won multiple awards for his writing.

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