Inphi adds a laser driver to its 100-gigabit PAM-4 DSP

Inphi has detailed its second-generation Porrima chip family for 100-gigabit single-wavelength optical module designs.

Source: Inphi

The Porrima family of devices is targeted at the 400G DR4 and 400G FR4 specifications as well as 100-gigabit module designs that use 100-gigabit 4-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4). Indeed, the two module types can be combined when a 400-gigabit pluggable such as a QSFP-DD or an OSFP is used in breakout mode to feed four 100-gigabit modules using such form factors as the QSFP, uQSFP or SFP-DD.

The Gen2 family has been launched a year after the company first announced the Porrima. The original 400-gigabit and 100-gigabit Porrima designs each have three ICs: a PAM-4 digital signal processor (DSP), a trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) and a laser-driver. 

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Inphi unveils a second 400G PAM-4 IC family

Inphi has announced the Vega family of 4-level, pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4) chips for 400-gigabit interfaces.

The 16nm CMOS Vega IC family is designed for enterprise line cards and is Inphi’s second family of 400-gigabit chips that support eight lanes of 50-gigabit PAM-4.

Its first 8x50-gigabit family, dubbed Polaris, is used within 400-gigabit optical modules and was announced at the OFC show held in Los Angeles in March.

“Polaris is a stripped-down low-power DSP targeted at optical module applications,” says Siddharth Sheth, senior vice president, networking interconnect at Inphi (pictured). “Vega, also eight by 50-gigabits, is aimed at enterprise OEMs for their line-card retimer and gearbox applications.”  

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Coherent optics players target the network edge for growth

Part 1: Coherent developments

The market for optical links for reaches between 10km and 120km is emerging as a fierce battleground between proponents of coherent and direct-detection technologies. 

Interest in higher data rates such as 400 gigabits is pushing coherent-based optical transmission from its traditional long-distance berth to shorter-reach applications. “That tends to be where the growth for coherent has come from as it has migrated from long-haul to metro,” says Tom Williams, senior director of marketing at Acacia Communications, a coherent technology supplier. 

Source: Acacia Communications, Gazettabyte

Williams points to the Optical Internetworking Forum’s (OIF) ongoing work to develop a 400-gigabit link for data centre interconnect. Dubbed 400ZR, the project is specifying an interoperable coherent interface that will support dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) links for distances of at least 80km.

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