OIF Releases Tunable Laser and Transmitter Assembly Agreements

The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) released a new Integrable Tunable Laser Assembly Multi-Source Agreement (ITLA-MSA, version 01.2) with added features and improved performance. The new version realizes performance and cost improvements by optimizing the command set which enables the use of smaller, lower power microprocessors and leads the way in future size reduction of the ITLA. New features have also been added to support applications requiring non-traffic interrupting off-grid tuning as well as those requiring sub-tones for channel identification. Additionally, a project within the OIF Software Working Group has been created to work on interface testing to help ensure consistent software interface implementations across multiple ITLA vendors.


In addition, the ITLA platform has been leveraged into the next generation tunable laser agreement, the Integrable Tunable Transmitter Assembly (ITTA), which is a tunable laser integrated with a modulator encompassed by an electronics board containing the necessary laser and modulator control electronics. The ITTA uses an enhanced version of the ITLA's command interface that has been extended to include software control of the integrated modulator. The ITTA comes in two form-factors: One that is similar in size to the ITLA and a reduced size version compatible for use within a 300pinSFF transponder.


The OIF said the ITLA and ITTA multi-source agreements are the latest in a series of four tunable laser projects. The first project resulted in the Tunable Laser Implementation Agreement, OIF-TL-01.1 and involved a large number of contributors from a wide variety of consumers and suppliers of tunable lasers. It addressed the communication protocol, electrical interface and mechanical form factor interoperability for tunable continuous wavelength (CW) lasers. The second project, an MSA for the Tunable Laser IA, generated a more comprehensive specification of the optical, electrical, mechanical, and communication protocols.http://www.oiforum.com