Infinera reveals II-VI, Lumentum as XR optics partners

Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) has revealed partnerships with II-VI Inc. (NASDAQ: IIVI) and Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) to advance the development of optical transceivers based on the systems house’s XR optics technology. While the timeframe for commercialization of such modules was not revealed initially, sources at Infinera tell Lightwave that products should be announced at some point this year.

XR optics technology made its debut at ECOC 2019 last September in Dublin. The technology enables point-to-multipoint coherent transmission (see “Infinera unveils XR optics single-source coherent point-to-multipoint transmission technology”), leveraging Infinera’s Infinite Capacity Engine and what Infinera terms “coherent subcarrier aggregation” to enable Nyquist subcarriers or subcarrier bundles generated by a single coherent transmission source to be assigned to various endpoints. The approach would significantly reduce the cost of hub-and-spoke architectures, Infinera believes.

As described at the time, Infinera’s strategy is to deliver XR optics in the form of pluggable coherent modules that could be inserted into router ports. (XR optics modules would need to be positioned at both ends of the coherent transmission.) The company said it would seek partners to ensure both the development of such modules and multiple sources of them. Infinera itself had announced previously that it plans to get into the pluggable module space (see “Infinera offers Infinite Network pluggable coherent module strategy details”), making the company potentially one such source.

It appears that the collaboration could result in modules from all three partners. While this conclusion wasn't clear from the original announcements, a source at Lumentum responded via an email to a Lightwave query that "Our intention is to develop and market the XR Transceiver as a ‘Market Participant.’ Both parties plan to jointly bring new interoperable transceivers to market based on the Infinera DSP Device and the Lumentum TROSA."

“Collaborating with Infinera leverages our deep experience in high-speed coherent components and pluggable modules to bring an innovative solution like XR optics to market,” commented Beck Mason, senior vice president and general manager of Lumentum’s Telecom Transmission Business, via Infinera’s press release announcing their partnership. “The XR optics concept aligns with our core strategy to provide scalable and flexible coherent optical network solutions that enable higher speeds for next-generation transport networks.”

A source at Infinera wrote via email that the company and its partners would support a series of XR optics modules in a variety of form factors and with various transmission rates. "Specific product announcements along with features, form factors, and implementation will be announced later this year," the source added.

A request for additional comment from II-VI remains unfulfilled. “We are looking forward to leveraging our highly integrated laser technology platform, coupled with our industry-leading optics and module expertise, together with Infinera’s coherent subcarrier aggregation DSP and transmission expertise, to achieve next-generation coherent transceiver solutions,” said Matthias Berger, vice president, Coherent Optics Business Unit, at II-VI, in the press release that announced the company's work with Infinera. “This collaboration will enable us to jointly deliver digital coherent optics in small pluggable form-factors and with low power consumption.”

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