At ECOC 2018, Intel announced new 100G silicon photonics transceivers targetted at 5G wireless fronthaul applications. The new transceivers are designed to meet the harsh outdoor conditions of cellular towers with the capability to support optical transport to the nearest baseband unit or central office (up to 10 km). Commercial availability is expected in Q1 2019.
“Our hyperscale cloud customers are currently using Intel’s 100G silicon photonics transceivers to deliver high-performance data center infrastructure at scale. By extending this technology outside the data center and into 5G infrastructure at the edge of the network, we can provide the same benefits to communications service providers while supporting 5G fronthaul bandwidth needs,” stated Dr. Hong Hou, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Silicon Photonics Product Division.
Intel's first 100G silicon photonics product was introduced in 2016. The company says its 100G data center products are now shipping at a run rate of more than a million units per year.
Intel projects the total market opportunity for its connectivity business, which includes silicon photonics, to grow from $4 billion today to an estimated $11 billion total addressable market by 2022.
