Ample Communications and Big Bear Test 40 Gbps Technology

Ample Communications, a start-up based in Fremont, California, completed interoperability testing of its Blackbird 40 Gbps frame processor and Big Bear Networks' Kodiak 40 Gbps transponder. Ample Communications' Blackbird 40 Gbps frame processor is a single-chip 40 Gbps packet over SONET framer targeted for single port STS-768/STM-256 and four port STS-192/STM-64 SONET/SDH applications. It combines multiple functional blocks including framer, overhead processor, pointer processor and data link logic into a chip. Big Bear Network's Kodiak 40 Gbps transponder is an MSA standard 300-pin module supporting OC-768 SONET and STM-256 SDH transport, as well as 43 Gbps OTU-3 digital wrapper applications. The transponder incorporates several Silicon Germanium (SiGe) chipsets developed by Big Bear. The companies described the interoperability as an important step forward for 40 Gbps applications.
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