Acacia looks to co-package its coherent PIC and DSP-ASIC

• Acacia Communications is working to co-package its coherent DSP and its silicon photonics transceiver chip. 

• The company is also developing a digital coherent optics module that will support 400 gigabit. 

Acacia Communications is working to co-package its coherent DSP and its silicon photonics transceiver chip. The line-side optical transceiver company is working on a digital coherent optics module that will support 400 gigabits.

Acacia announced last November that it was sampling the industry’s first CFP2 Digital Coherent Optics (CFP2-DCO) that supports 100- and 200-gigabit line rates. The CFP2-DCO integrates the DSP and its silicon photonics chip within a CFP2 module, which is half the size of a CFP module, with each chip packaged separately.

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Silicon Photonics Merging Ahead

"Silicon photonics has made considerable progress in a relatively short time to emerge as an important systems technology whose time has come"

An opinion piece on silicon photonics in EE Times. 

FSAN unveils roadmap plans

Part 2: Next-generation passive optical networks

The Full Service Access Network (FSAN) has outlined its vision for fibre access networks for the coming decade. 

FSAN is an industry forum that includes over 20 operators and 70 members overall. The group identifies service requirements and develops optical access technologies that are passed to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for standardisation.

Source: FSAN

“One of the messages of the roadmap is that, in the immediate future, what FSAN wants to do is evolve the existing standards,” says Peter Dawes, FSAN NGPON co-chair. 

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Telefonica tests XGS-PON

Part 1: XGS and TWDM passive optical networks

Telefonica is the latest operator to test XGS-PON, the 10-gigabit passive optical networking standard.

“Operators want to show they are taking the maximum from their fibre investment,” says Ana Pesovic, marketing manager for fibre at Nokia, the supplier of the XGS-PON equipment used for the operator’s lab tests. “Telefonica has been really aggressive in their fibre deployments in the last couple of years.”

Ana Pesovic

XGS-PON

Approved by the ITU-T in 2016, XGS-PON supports two rates: 10-gigabit symmetrical and the asymmetrical rate of 10 gigabits downstream (to the user) and 2.5 gigabits upstream.

XGS-PON has largely superseded the earlier XG-PON standard which supports the 10-gigabit asymmetrical rate only. “It is fair to say there is no traction for XG-PON,” says Pesovic. “Even in China [an early adopter of XG-PON], we see the interest slowly moving to XGS-PON.”

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Elenion unveiled as a silicon photonics PIC company

•  Elenion Technologies is making silicon photonics-based photonic integrated circuits
•  The company has been active for two and a half years and has products already deployed  

A privately-owned silicon photonics company that is already shipping products has dropped its state of secrecy to announce itself. Elenion Technologies is owned by Marlin Equity Partners, the investment firm that also owns systems vendor, Coriant.

“We are in the [optical] engine business,” says Larry Schwerin, CEO of Elenion Technologies. “We are developing a platform leveraging silicon photonics but we have other capabilities.” 

Larry SchwerinElenion’s expertise includes indium phosphide, radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), packaging, and driver and control electronics circuit design. The RFIC expertise suggests the company also plans to address the mobility market.  

The company will detail its first products prior to the OFC show next March.

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TIP seeks to shake up the telecom marketplace

The telecom industry has long recognised the benefits of the Internet content providers' data-centre work practices. It has led to the operators starting to embrace software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualisation (NFV) technology whereby telecom functions that previously required custom hardware are executed as software on servers.

 Niall Robinson

Now, ten telcos, systems vendors, component and other players have joined Facebook as part of the Telecom Infra Project, or TIP, to bring the benefits of open-source design and white-box platforms to telecoms. TIP has over 300 members and has seven ongoing projects across three network segments of focus: access, backhaul, and core and management. 

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NeoPhotonics samples its first CFP-DCO products

NeoPhotonics has entered the fray as a supplier of long-distance CFP pluggable modules that integrate the coherent DSP-ASIC chip with the optics. 

The company has announced two such CFP Digital Coherent Optics (CFP-DCO) modules: a 100 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) module and a dual-rate 100Gbps and 200Gbps one.

“Our rationale [for entering the CFP-DCO market] is we have all the optical components and the [merchant coherent] DSPs are now becoming available,” says Ferris Lipscomb (pictured), vice president of marketing at NeoPhotonics. “It is possible to make this product without developing your own custom DSP, with all the expense that entails.”

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