OCP introduces 1.3 micron VCSEL-based Gigabit Ethernet transceivers
March 4, 2005 Woodland Hills, CA -- Optical Communication Products, a manufacturer of fiber optic subsystems and modules for MANs, LANs, and SANs, today introduced its Gigabit Ethernet extended reach (XR) pluggable transceivers. The company says its 1.3 micron VCSEL-based product line increases the effective transmission distance of a Gigabit Ethernet link over legacy multimode fiber (MMF) to 2,000 m. The transceivers are available in SFP and GBIC form factors.
"We are addressing an enterprise application that needed a solution. End-users that had designed their cabling infrastructures around FDDI and Fast Ethernet MMF specification links of up to 2 km were limited to 220 m when they transitioned to Gigabit Ethernet. As a result, many end-users haven't been able to upgrade some segments of their network, choosing to aggregate Fast Ethernet links over the longer runs of MMF rather then spending the resources on a forklift upgrade of the cable plant," explains Kirk Bovill, the company's director of marketing. "OCP has developed the solution for this upgrade with the enabling technology of 1.3 micron VCSELs."
The XR product family uses a 1.3 micron VCSEL as its laser source, with an optical link budget of 8.5 dB to achieve the 2 km transmission distance over legacy MMF. According to the company, the 1.3 micron VCSEL has been subjected to rigorous reliability testing. A lifetime for 1% wear-out of 4.4 million hours (500 years) at 40 degrees C, and a mean time to failure of 40 million hours at 60% confidence interval (16 million hours at 90% confidence interval) at 40 degrees C has been achieved.
"We believe that the bulk of the market will be in the SFP platform," continues Bovill. "However, there is still a large percentage of GBICs utilized in the network, so we also developed a GBIC product to support customers with legacy equipment."
OCP is currently sampling the GBIC XR modules with production expected for April 2005. The SFP XR modules are scheduled for sampling in May with production expected in June 2005. The company will demonstrate the modules transmitting over 2 km of legacy MMF fiber at next week's OFC/NFOEC conference.