APRIL 16, 2008 -- Inphi Corp. (search for Inphi) has announced a successful interoperability demonstration of its Electronic Dispersion Compensation (EDC) and Clock Data Recovery (CDR) technology at the SFP+/EDC interoperability plugfest, hosted by the Ethernet Alliance at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL). (See "Ethernet Alliance members demo SFP+ interoperability" for more information).
Inphi claims its device, paired with every SFP+ optical module present at the event, met and exceeded the 10-Gigabit Ethernet (IEEE 802.3ae) transmitter optical eye mask and jitter requirements. In addition, the device demonstrated error-free performance as a receiver behind all SFP+ modules when put against the worst optical transmitter, say company representatives.
According to the company, its patented analog signal processing engine delivers a high- performance, low-power EDC/CDR product for use in 10-Gigabit Ethernet modules and systems. As an established vendor of transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs), Inphi says it is also well positioned to address the system challenges between SFP+ modules and its physical layer devices on a line card.
The testing was recently held at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL) by the Ethernet Alliance SFP+/EDC subcommittee. The plugfest demonstrated multiple SFP+ SR and LR optical transceivers and physical layer (PHY) ICs interoperating over 270 meters of OM3 multimode fiber and 10 km of singlemode fiber. In addition, the group demonstrated multiple SFP+ -SR and -LR optical transceivers and PHY ICs interoperating with XENPAK, X2, and XFP optical transceivers over the same distances.
"The success of this plugfest indicates the readiness of silicon and module vendors to support SFP+ platforms, which will enable mass adoption of 10-Gigabit Ethernet," reports Marco Mazzini of Cisco and the Technical Champion of the Ethernet Alliance SFP+/EDC Subcommittee.
SFP+ modules are hot-pluggable, small-footprint optical transceivers intended for datacom applications. SFP+ interfaces offer the smallest, lowest-power option for 10 Gigabit Ethernet to enable increased density in enterprise applications. SFP+ modules and PHY ICs are being developed for SR, LR, LRM (long-wavelength multimode) and ER (extra-long wavelength) optical reaches per IEEE Std. 802.3ae-2002 and IEEE Std. 802.3aq-2006. Electrical and mechanical interface specifications for SFP+ modules, direct attach cables, and hosts are under definition by the SFF Committee, a multi-source agreement group with broad industry participation.
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