Lumentum and Finisar to demo compatible 100G transceivers at ECOC 2016
Lumentum and Finisar are showing demonstrations of compatible 100G SWDM4 optical transceivers at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) in Dusseldorf, Germany from September 19-21.
Each module manufacturer will be demonstrating an SWDM4 optical transceiver based on a common set of specifications. The QSFP28 modules will be plugged into test systems provided by Anritsu and Viavi Solutions.
Using shortwave wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM), a novel technology in short reach data communications, multiple data streams from lasers emitting different wavelengths in the 850nm band are optically multiplexed into a single fibre at the transmitter and de-multiplexed at the receiver into the original data streams.Â
This provides a direct, low-cost solution for 100G data rate upgrades for datacentre customers who have an installed base of duplex multimode fibre (MMF) running at 10G today. Before SWDM, the standard upgrade path was to switch to multi-mode ribbon fibre and use 100G SR4 over four parallel data streams.
"SWDM is expected to play an important part in the migration from a 10G-centric datacentre to an architecture based on 40, 100, or 200G," said James Wynia, director of product management at Dell EMC Networking. "We are pleased to see multiple vendors embrace a common interface because of the security of supply it provides to end customers."
The compatibility of the Lumentum and Finisar SWDM4 transceivers benefits customers by presenting two well-known optical module suppliers with this key technology for the most economical 100Gbps upgrade path.
"This demonstration marks an important step in the development of a low-cost 100G solution for a great many customers who have made the investment over the years in a duplex multimode fibre infrastructure for their datacentres," said Kevin Redner, product line manager at Lumentum. "We knew the technology existed to use SWDM for 100G short reach applications and today we're pleased to show that customers can move confidently forward knowing that they have multiple sources for this product."
"SWDM technology enables datacentre operators to extract ongoing value from their legacy duplex multimode fibre plant," added Tony Abdilla, senior product line manager at Finisar. "Duplex multimode fibre was widely deployed for 10G data transmission. With SWDM transceivers, the same fibre can be used to carry 100G data."
In 2015 the SWDM Alliance (www.swdm.org) was created with the express purpose of promoting this technology in response to a need in the industry. With SWDM4, an optical transceiver with a standard QSFP28/CAUI-4 electrical interface can be plugged into an Ethernet switch or NIC and drive 100Gbps over legacy duplex MMF.
