Mar 20 2010
Picometrix, LLC, an Advanced Photonix company (NYSE Amex: API), announces the availability of its compact coherent receiver product targeting the emerging 100G optical communications market.
The Company currently has two configurations for its CR-100A compact coherent receiver, one incorporating an internal polarizing beam splitter (PBS) and one without. The Company is currently sampling its CR-100A products to subsystem and equipment manufacturers for system level testing. The receiver will be fully qualified and released for volume production in the second half of 2010.
The CR-100A is the first in the planned suite of coherent receivers (CR) targeting next generation 40G, 100G and beyond line-side telecommunication networks utilizing DP-QPSK (Dual-Polarization Quadrature Phase Shift Keying), a coherent modulation format. In addition to 100G, Picometrix' CR product platform will serve as the basis for next generation 40G line-side coherent receivers. Coherent transmission offers the benefit of being mostly immune to impairments intrinsic to optical fiber plants, which eliminates the need for optical amplification and dispersion compensation, thus greatly reducing total system cost. In addition coherent transmission systems reduce network latency, which is critical for real-time applications, like stock and commodity trading. The CR-100A supports four 32 Gbaud outputs (128 Gb/s), covers both C and L bands and is compliant with the compact form-factor recently established by the CCRx multi-source agreement (MSA) and the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) 100G optical receiver implementation agreement.
Robin Risser, General Manager of Picometrix and CFO of API, stated, "We have been at the forefront of 100G coherent receiver development during the past year through close cooperation with the major OEM customers of optical communication equipment. Our initial product shipments this quarter have enabled our customers to develop their 100G systems and our fully qualified product will support their initial field trial deployments over the next year. We have experienced robust customer demand for our CR-100A family of products as they develop their first generation 100G systems. We expect the market to enter its growth phase within 18 to 24 months. The CR-100A incorporates an impressive array of new technology, like optical beam splitters, mixers, high-speed photodiode arrays and amplifier arrays in a compact high performance package, and positions us for long-term future growth as the next generation of telecommunications are deployed."
Picometrix will be exhibiting the compact coherent receiver and their full line of receivers at OFC next week (March 23-25) in booth #921 and OIF's booth #3041.