Thursday, March 3, 2005

Infinera to Present 10x40 Gbps Photonic Integrated Circuits

At next week's OFC/NFOEC 2005 conference in Anaheim, California, Infinera will present four papers including a paper describing technical results of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) capable of carrying 400 Gbps of telecommunications traffic per chip.


In May 2004, Infinera introduced the first commercial, large-scale PICs, which integrate over 50 photonic devices on a chip and support 100 Gbps of Wave Division Multiplexing transmission. The devices, which serve as the heart of the Infinera DTN digital optical networking system, are now carrying live telecom traffic in multiple networks.


Infinera said the R&D results to be presented at OFC/NFOEC on a next-generation 400 Gbps PIC demonstrate the scalability of PIC technology to greater data rates and capabilities, in this case delivering a 4x increase in capacity compared to first-generation PICs and 40x capacity over other integrated components.
http://www.infinera.com

  • In October 2004, Infinera, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, raised $52 million in new funding for its Photonic Integrated Circuit technology. The company has raised $205 million to date. Strategic investors in this round include UTStarcom and CTC (Itochu Techno-Science Corporation), both of which are collaborating with Infinera to provide optical networking solutions in Asia.


  • Infinera is offering an optical transport platform based on its Photonic Integrated Circuits. The Infinera DTN supports 400 Gbps, i.e., forty 10 Gbps channels in a half rack, and 800Gbps (eighty 10 Gbps channels) in a full rack.. 100 Gbps line cards support a variety of hot-swappable client interfaces including OC-192/STM-64, OC-48/STM-16, 10 Gigabit Ethernet LAN PHY and WAN PHY, and Gigabit Ethernet. The platform runs Infinera's IQ Network Operating System to automate network discovery, configuration, and provisioning via GMPLS.

  • Unlike conventional optical systems, which use analog optical devices for key networking functions, the Infinera DTN uses digital technology. Its photonic integrated circuits convert all traffic from optical to electronic signals, allowing the DTN to add and drop, multiplex, groom, and protect circuits digitally rather than optically. Infinera's Photonic Integrated Circuits include a 100 Gbps transmitter, which integrates ten lasers, ten 10 Gbps modulators, and an optical multiplexer; as well as a 100 Gbps receiver, which integrates an optical demultiplexer and ten photodiodes. Each enables low-cost optical-electrical conversion on a semiconductor chip.