#OFC2016: AT&T Pushes for Open ROADM MSA

An Open ROADM project is underway with the backing of AT&T and a goal of driving faster innovation and open software control for the Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers (ROADMs) used in optical transport networks. The Open ROADM Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) defines interoperability specifications for Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers (ROADM). Included are the ROADM switch as well as transponders and pluggable optics. Specifications...

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#OFC2016: Inphi Targets DCI with QSFP28 Design

Inphi unveiled a QSFP28 reference design that uses advanced Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) signaling to deliver up to 4 Tbps of bandwidth over a single fiber at distances up to 80km.  The target application is metro Data Center Interconnect (DCI). Commercial launch date was not specified. Key features of Inphi's "ColorZ": QSFP28 form factor supporting 100G Ethernet Extended reach up to 80km Enables 4Tb/s capacity over a single fiber 4.5W...

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#OFC2016: Inphi Develops Silicon Photonics for Data Centers

Inphi announced a highly integrated Silicon Photonics (SiPho) chip that includes multi-channel modulators, photodetectors, multiplexers, demultiplexers, optical power monitors and fiber coupling structures on the same integrated circuit (IC).  The chip is targeted at 100G intra and inter data center optical interconnects. The company said it expects a 100G upgrade cycle in data centers to begin this year with the introduction of a new generation...

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#OFC2016: Lumentum Targets Optical Whiteboxes for SDN

Lumentum (formerly JDSU) unveiled an "optical whitebox" platform for data center & metro/edge DWDM transport. Lumentum said its SDN optical whitebox platform will consist of family of configurable building blocks with open interfaces for integration into SDN controller/orchestrator layers, enabling system integrators and network operators to deploy and turn-up services. The initial products based on this SDN whitebox platform target simple...

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Cisco Brings High-Density TDM to Optical Transport

Cisco rolled out a number of enhancements to its optical transport portfolio including high-density time-division multiplexing (TDM) to IP/MPLS capabilities. Some highlights: Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS) 4200 Series: Part of the Cisco Evolved Programmable Network (EPN), this transport system addresses network inefficiencies with high-density circuit emulation technology located at the network edge. It converts TDM services into pseudowires...

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Stratoscale Secures $27M for Hyperconverged Software

Stratoscale, a start-up based in Herzeliya, Israel, secured $27 million in Series C financing for its distributed data center operating system. Stratoscale's hardware-agnostic Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) solution that offers a holistic data center experience. Its rack-scale architecture aims to transform standard x86 servers into a hyper-converged infrastructure for cloud services while supporting both containers and virtualization on...

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Mellanox Announces 200 Gbps Silicon Photonics Devices

At this week's OFC, Mellanox demonstrated 50 Gbps silicon photonics optical modulators and detectors -- the key component for 200 Gbps and 400 Gbps LinkX cables and transceivers. The demonstration is an important milestone toward providing end-to-end solutions for HDR 200G InfiniBand and Ethernet interconnect infrastructure. “Silicon photonics is the enabling technology for 200Gb/s InfiniBand and Ethernet networks,” said Amir Prescher, executive...

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Semtech Releases Quad 25Gbps Chipset for 100G SR4

Semtech released a new chipset for quad channel 100G-SR4 optical interconnects operating at 25.78 Gbps. The GN2108 is a quad channel CDR with integrated vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) drivers, and the GN2109 is a quad channel CDR with integrated transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs). A full suite of on-chip features minimizes external components and helps customers speed up their hardware and firmware development. Semtech said its GN2108...

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