II-VI shrinks an optical line system into an OSFP module

II-VI has developed an optical line system that fits inside a pluggable module. 

The advent of coherent pluggable modules implementing the 400ZR standard allows switches and routers to be linked across separate data centres. Now, with a pluggable optical line system, a dedicated line-system platform is no longer needed to send the 400ZR signals over a fibre. 

Sanjai ParthasarathiIn turn, the network operating system on the switch manages the optical line system directly such that a separate optical management software layer is no longer needed.

“We have shrunk an entire pizza-box line system into a small pluggable,” says Sanjai Parthasarathi, chief marketing officer at II-VI.

Indeed, one customer refers to the II-VI pluggable product - dubbed the OSFP-LS - as a ‘zero-rack-unit’ platform.

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Finisar adds silicon photonics to its technology toolkit

• Finisar revealed its in-house silicon photonics design capability at ECOC
• The company also showed its latest ROADM technologies: a dual wavelength-selective switch and a high-resolution optical channel monitor.
• Also shown was an optical amplifier that spans 400km fibre links 

These two complementary technologies [VCSELs and silicon photonics] work well together as we think about the next-generation Ethernet applications.

Rafik Ward

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