Industry underestimating 25 Gigabit parallel optics challenge

Ten Gigabit-based parallel optics is set to dominate the marketplace for several years to come. So claims datacom module specialist, Avago Technologies. 

"One customer told us it has to keep the interface speed below 20Gbps due to the cost of the SerDes"

Sharon Hall, Avago 

"People are underestimating what is going to be involved in doing 25 Gigabit [channels]," says Sharon Hall, product line manager for embedded optics at Avago Technologies. "Ten Gigabit is going to last quite a bit longer because of the price point it can provide."

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A Terabit network processor by 2015?

Given that 100 Gigabit merchant silicon network processors will appear this year only, it sounds premature to discuss Terabit devices. But Alcatel-Lucent's latest core router family uses the 400 Gigabit FP3 packet-processing chipset, and one Terabit is the next obvious development.

Source: Gazettabyte

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OpenFlow extends its control to the optical layer

OpenFlow may be causing an industry stir as system vendors such as ADVA Optical Networking extend the protocol's reach to the optical layer, but analysts warn that it will take years before the technology benefits operators' revenues.

"We see OpenFlow as an additional solution to tackle the problem of network control"

Jörg-Peter Elbers, ADVA Optical Networking

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OTN processors from the core to the network edge

The latest silicon design announcements from PMC and AppliedMicro reflect the ongoing network evolution of the Optical Transport Network (OTN) protocol.

"There is a clear march from carriers, led in particular by China, to adopt OTN in the metro"

Scott Wakelin, PMC

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60-second interview with .... Vladimir Kozlov

A Q&A with Vladimir Kozlov, CEO of market research firm, LightCounting. The first of occassional quick interviews with industry figures. 

"You have to look over a longer time frame to understand the industry and appreciate the progress"

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OneChip Photonics targets the data centre with its PICs

OneChip Photonics is developing integrated optical components for the IEEE 40GBASE-LR4 and 100GBASE-LR4 interface standards.

The company believes its photonic integrated circuits (PICs) will more than halve the cost of the 40 and 100 Gigabit 10km-reach interfaces, enough for LR4 to cost-competitively address shorter reach applications in the data centre.

"I think we can cut the price [of LR4 modules] by half or better”

Andy Weirich, OneChip Photonics

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2020 vision

In a panel discussion at the recent Level123 Terabit Optical and Data Networking conference, Kim Roberts, senior director coherent systems at Ciena, shared his thoughts about the future of optical transmission. 

Final part : Optical transmission in 2020

"Four hundred Gigabit and one Terabit are not going to start in long-haul"

Kim Roberts, Ciena 

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