Agreement Enables Production of Optical Devices Based on a Unified Standard

Eudyna Devices Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., NEC Electronics Corp., Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., Opnext, Inc. and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., today announced, in advance of OFC/NFOEC, common specifications for pigtail type optical devices based on the 40 Gbit/s Optical Device Multi-Source Agreement (XLMD-MSA*1), introduced by the six companies in March 2007.

The newly available XLMD-MSA specifications detail the external-modulation laser transmitter devices with built-in driver ICs and the PIN-TIA*2 receiver devices that comply with 40 Gbit/s interface standard for SONET OC-768*3.

10 Gbit/s optical transmission interfaces are widely deployed in Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN), Local Area Networks (LAN) and Storage Area Networks (SAN). These networks currently form the backbone of broadband infrastructure, consequently increasing the popularity of 40 Gbit/s optical transmission interfaces. The XLMD-MSA aims to establish compatible sources of 40 Gbit/s optical transmitter and receiver devices embedded into the 40 Gbit/s optical transceiver modules. This agreement will accelerate the growth of the 40 Gbit/s transceiver module market, providing advanced solutions to high capacity network and storage systems. All members will promote the MSA-compliant products in order to achieve consistent customer delivery and market growth.

The XLMD-MSA specifications for compatible optical devices include:

• Mechanical dimensions and pin assignments of pigtail type optical devices
• High speed electrical interface using a dual SMPM*4 connectors
• Optical and electrical characteristics

The specifications are now available at the XLMD-MSA web site.

In accordance with the future standardization of 40Gbit/s pluggable optical transceivers, the XLMD-MSA committee will continue to discuss the corresponding optical device specifications.

Notes:

1. XLMD-MSA: 40Gbit/s Miniature Device Multi Source Agreement among Eudyna Devices Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., NEC Electronics Corp., Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., Opnext Inc. and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd, effective from March 2007.
2. PIN-TIA: PIN photodiode with a trans-impedance amplifier.
3. SONET OC-768: SONET is synchronous optical networking. OC-768 is a network line with 40Gbit/s transmission rate.
4. SMPM: Small-sized coaxial connectors specified in MIL-STD-348A, such as GPPOTM. GPPOTM is a trademark of Corning Gilbert Inc.