FSAN close to choosing the next generation of PON

Briefing: Next-gen PON

Part 1: NG-PON2

The next-generation passive optical network (PON) will mark a departure from existing PON technologies. Some operators want systems based on the emerging standard for deployment by 2015. 

“One of the goals in FSAN is to converge on one solution that can serve all the markets"

Derek Nesset, co-chair of FSAN's NGPON task group 

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Oclaro-Opnext merger will create second largest optical component company

Oclaro has announced its plan to merge with Opnext. The deal, valued at US $177M, will result in Opnext's shareholders owning 42% of the combined company. The merger of the fifth and sixth largest optical component players will create a company with annual revenues of $800M, second only to Finisar. The deal is expected to be completed in the next 3-6 months.

Source: Gazettabyte

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100 Gigabit direct detection gains wider backing

More vendors are coming to market with 100 Gigabit direct detection products for metro and private networks. 

The emergence of a second de-facto 100 Gigabit standard, a complement to 100 Gigabit coherent, gained credence with 4x28 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) direct detect announcements from Finisar and Oclaro and likely backing from system vendor, ECI Telecom.

 

"We believe that in some cases operators will prefer to go with this technology instead of coherent"

Shai Stein, CTO, ECI Telecom 

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PMC-Sierra delivers silicon for 10 Gigabit EPON

PMC-Sierra has announced the availability of symmetric 10 Gigabit EPON chips. The devices complete the company's 10 Gigabit PON portfolio which also includes XGPON designs.

The 10G-EPON devices comprise two PAS9000 optical networking unit (ONU) and four PAS8000 optical line terminal (OLT) chips that support asymmetrical and symmetrical 10G-EPON: 10Gbps downstream (to the user) and 1Gbps upstream, and 10Gbps downstream and upstream, respectively. PMC-Sierra claims it is the first to market with a dual-mode 10G-EPON ONU device.

The PAS9000 optical network unit chip architecture. There are two devices in the family. One, the PAS9401, also supports 10G-EPON symmetric mode. Source: PMC-Sierra.

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The post-100 Gigabit era

Feature: Beyond 100G - Part 4

The latest coherent ASICs from Ciena and Alcatel-Lucent coupled with announcements from Cisco and Huawei highlight where the industry is heading with regard high-speed optical transport. But the announcements also raise questions too. 

Source: Gazettabyte

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Latest coherent ASICs set the bar for the optical industry

Feature: Beyond 100G - Part 3

Alcatel-Lucent has detailed its next-generation coherent ASIC that supports multiple modulation schemes and allow signals to scale to 400 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps). 

The announcement follows Ciena's WaveLogic 3 coherent chipset that also trades capacity and reach by changing the modulation scheme.

"They [Ciena and Alcatel-Lucent] have set the bar for the rest of the industry," says Ron Kline, principal analyst for Ovum’s network infrastructure group.

 "We will employ [the PSE] for all new solutions on 100 Gigabit"

Kevin Drury, Alcatel-Lucent

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Cisco Systems' 100 Gigabit spans metro to ultra long-haul

Cisco Systems has demonstrated 100 Gigabit transmission over a 3,000km span. The coherent-based system uses a single carrier in a 50GHz channel to transmit at 100 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps). According to Cisco, no Raman amplification or signal regeneration is needed to achieve the 3,000km reach.

Feature: Beyond 100G - Part 2

"The days of a single modulation scheme on a part are probably going to come to an end in the next two to three years"

Greg Nehib, Cisco 

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