SWDM4 optical transceiver interoperability demonstrated at ECOC 2016

Lumentum Holdings Inc. and Finisar demonstrated the interoperability of 100-Gbps shortwave wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM) SWDM4 optical transceivers at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) in Dusseldorf, Germany.

SWDM, typically used in short reach data communications, transmits four wavelengths in the 850-nm band over multimode fiber. Proponents see the technology as a direct, low-cost approach for 100 Gbps over multimode without the need to move to either ribbon cables or singlemode fiber.

At the show, the two companies set up a multimode fiber link between their booths to generate locally created data between their respective SWDM4 optical transceivers. The transceivers were linked through traditional duplex multimode fiber, and the QSFP28 modules were plugged into test systems provided by Anritsu and Viavi Solutions.

"SWDM is expected to play an important part in the migration from a 10 Gbps-centric data center to an architecture based on 40, 100, or 200 Gbps," says James Wynia, director of product management at Dell EMC Networking. "We're pleased to see multiple vendors embrace a common interface because of the security of supply it provides to end customers."

Lumentum and Finisar use a common set of transceiver optical specifications to provide interoperability of their respective transceivers. Finisar was first to market with an SWDM4 device; Lumentum's version, which sources at the show insisted is based on an independent development, made its debut in Dusseldorf.

Both companies are part of the SWDM Alliance, which was created in 2015 to promote the technology (see "SWDM Alliance targets data center wideband multimode fiber use").

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