Our ninth annual Lightwave Innovation Reviews follows our standard format. We invited technology developers to submit products introduced or enhanced since March 2021 in various technology categories for review by our independent panel of judges. In some cases, that brought entries for products that will make their debuts at OFC 2022 this March.
Lightwave Editorial Director Stephen Hardy, in his role as Award Program Manager, assigned each entry to be reviewed by at least three judges knowledgeable in the relevant technology or application. As was the case in previous years, they rated each entry on the following scale:
- 0-1.5: Not a particularly useful product
- 2.0-2.5: Okay, but perhaps a commodity product
- 3.0-3.5: Solid product, usually with at least one attribute that sets it apart from commodity products
- 4.0-4.5: Excellent product with technical features and performance that provide clear and substantial benefits
- 5.0: Superb product that demonstrates breakthrough performance and/or innovation.
This year’s panel included:
- Robert Blum, director, strategic marketing and business development, Intel Corp.
- Brandon Collings, CTO, optical communications, CCOP, Lumentum
- Jorg-Peter Elbers, SVP, advanced technology, standards and IPR, ADVA Optical Networking
- Mike Frankel, Ciena fellow, Ciena
- Jim Hayes, president, Fiber Optic Association
- Lisa Huff, principal analyst, optical components, OVUM
- Tom Issenhuth, principal at Issenhuth Consulting
- Peter Jones, principal engineer, Cisco
- Vladimir Kozlov, founder and CEO, LightCounting
- Patrick McLaughlin, editor in chief, Cabling Installation & Maintenance
- Bethany Rüddek, director of contracts and compliance, Concert Technologies
- Jim Theodoras, vice president of R&D, HG Genuine USA.
- Matt Traverso, principal engineer, Cisco
- Dr. Tiejun J. (TJ) Xia, distinguished member of technical staff, Verizon
And, as has been tradition, we honor the following entries for achieving a score of at least 3.5 on that 1 to 5 scale. Congratulations to all of the companies listed below – and be sure to look for these companies at OFC 2022 to find out more.
Carrier Fiber, Cable, Enclosures, and Accessories
Calix: Calix Operations Cloud and the Network Innovation Platform
Go!Foton: CHT: Clamshell Hardened Terminal
Lumenisity Ltd.: CoreSmart® Hollowcore Cable Solution
Prysmian Group: SiroccoHYBRID Optical and Power Cables for Blown Applications
Communications Semiconductors and Electrical ICs
Marvell: Marvell Deneb™ Multi-rate Coherent DSP
Microchip Technology: META-DX2L Ethernet PHY
Data Center Fiber, Cable, Enclosures and Accessories
M2 Optics Inc.: Fiber Lab Flex DC
Senko Advanced Components: Senko SN-MT Connector
Data Center Interconnect Platforms
Legrand: Infinium acclAIM™ Fiber Solution
Marvell: Marvell Atlas™ 50-Gbps PAM4
Field Test Equipment
Fluke Networks: Fluke Networks Metal LC Connector
Fluke Networks: Fluke Networks FiberLert™ Live Fiber Detector
Kingfisher International: Two-Way Tester with Length Testing
Spirent Communications: Spirent B1 800G Appliance
VeEX Inc.: FX120 XG(S)-PON Analyzer
VeEX Inc.: FX182 xWDM Optical Channel Checker for O to L Band
VIAVI Solutions: FiberComplete PRO™
VIAVI Solutions: VIAVI Timing Expansion Module
FTTx Systems
Calix: Calix E3-2 Intelligent PON Node
Ciena: Universal Aggregation and Access over 10G PON Transceiver
ZTE Corp.: ZTE Light PON Solution
Lab/Production Test Equipment
Anritsu Co.: Signal Quality Analyzer-R MP1900A
EXFO: FTBx-88460 PowerBlazer: 400G Test Solution Coherent Optics
MultiLane Inc.: ML4079E/N 800G BERT with Hardware FEC and Noise Injection
Spirent Communications: Spirent B2 800G Appliance
VIAVI Solutions: FVAi-2030 Benchtop Microscope
VIAVI Solutions: ONT 800G FLEX XPM Module
Xena Networks: Valkyrie Freya 800-Gbps Ethernet TGA Platform
Yokogawa Test&Measurement: AQ6380 Optical Spectrum Analyzer
Optical Components
Albis Optoelectronics: APD20D1 – 28-Gbd APD with High Optical Damage Threshold
Albis Optoelectronics: PS60X4 - 800G Photodiode Array with Integrated Lens
Auxora Inc.: WDM Bidirectional Optical Sub-Assembly Core (BOSA Core)
Radisys: Radisys Connect Open Broadband Optical Line Terminals
Optical Transceivers and Transponders
Acacia, now part of Cisco: Coherent Optical Interconnect 8
Alpine Optoelectronics Inc.: Single-Wavelength 100G QSFP28 DWDM Optical Transceiver
FIBERSTAMP Technology: FIBERSTAMP SFP28 25G LR 10-km Submersible Optical Transceiver
II-VI: 400G QSFP-DD-DCO Coherent Transceiver
Optical Transport Systems
HFR Networks: HFR Networks’ TSN-based Optical Transport System
PacketLight Networks: PL-4000M 400G Muxponder