Alpine Optoelectronics offers 40-Gbps single-wavelength PAM4 QSFP+ optical transceivers
Alpine Optoelectronics says it now offers a line of single-wavelength DWDM 40-Gbps PAM4 QSFP+ pluggable optical transceivers. The optical transceivers, which are immediately available, support reaches of up to 80 km for applications in enterprise, campus, financial services, and high-performance computing (HPC) DWDM networks. The QSFP+ optical modules can support reaches of 10 km and shorter without the need for dispersion compensating fiber or EDFAs, the company says.
The optical transceiver family includes modules that operate in channels 21 to 60 within the ITU DWDM wavelength grid at 0-70 degrees C case temperature. Typical power consumption is 3.5 W.
The University of Basel has already deployed the 40-Gbps QSFP+ optical transceivers in its fiber-optic network. “With Alpine Optoelectronics’ new single-wavelength 40G DWDM QSFP+ transceivers and two inexpensive amplifiers, University of Basel has been able to easily replace portions of its 10G DWDM MAN in a cost-effective way by re-using its existing DWDM mux/demux infrastructure. As the network traffic grows, we can further increase capacity simply by adding more Alpine transceivers,” said Harald Volz of University of Basel IT Services.
“In 2018, traditional data centers in enterprises, universities, and research centers have an ongoing need to improve bandwidth and data rates of their networks, but don’t necessarily have the resources or budget to move to the latest 100G equipment. Alpine Optoelectronics offers a cost-effective PAM4 solution maximizing the ROI on existing 10G infrastructure. Today, we are introducing our first PAM4 product compliant with the QSFP+ MSA,” said Tongqing Wang, president and CEO of Fremont, CA, based Alpine Optoelectronics. “We will soon introduce single-wavelength 50G transceiver products for the 5G wireless market as well as single-wavelength 100G modules for hyperscale/cloud data centers. We look forward to delivering additional high-performance single-mode fiber solutions into these core markets.”
Alpine Optoelectronics will display the new transceivers as well as other products in Booth #4842 at OFC 2019 in San Diego, CA, from March 5-7.
For related articles, visit the Optical Technologies Topic Center.
For more information on optical modules and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.

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.
Contact Stephen to discuss:
- Contributing editorial material to the Web site or digital magazine
- The direction of a digital magazine issue, staff-written article, or event
- Lightwave editorial attendance at industry events
- Arranging a visit to Lightwave's offices
- Coverage of announcements
- General questions of an editorial nature