Menara Networks enters 4x28G CFP metro 100G market

Intelligent optical module and systems developer Menara Networks has decided to enter the direct-detect 100-Gbps metro market with a tunable DWDM CFP 100G MSA optical transceiver. As is the case with competitive modules, the module will use optical duobinary modulation format.

Menara says that each of the optical transceiver’s four 28-Gbps lasers can be independently tuned across the full C-Band. The module will support 100 channels with 50-GHz spacing. The transceiver also supports both CAUI and OTL-4.10 electrical interfaces, and with the addition of forward error correction will support transmission distances up to 400 km.

With a power consumption below the MSA limits, the DWDM CFP should find application in dense Ethernet switch and IP router line cards and DWDM transport systems, Menara believes. To prove the point, the DWDM CFP integrates with the Armada 1000-GM, Menara’s 1RU 100G WDM transport platform that offers 100G transponder and 10G/40G muxponder functions into a OTU4 100G uplink.

"The customer demand for 100G transport in the metro network is driven by immense amounts of backhaul traffic from ISPs and carrier aggregation points, " said Adam Hotchkiss, vice president of product management at Menara Networks. “Our optical duo binary 100G DWDM CFP solution provides a low-cost 100G transport solution fitting the needs of these applications today.”

Menara expects the new CFP to find use in carrier backhaul and datacenter interconnect applications where the desire for low cost and simplicity makes a direct-detect approach more attractive than one based on coherent transmission. The device joins Finisar’s first-to-market direct-detect CFP (see “Finisar unveils coherent, 4x28G approaches to 100-Gbps modules”) and the recently announced module from Oplink (see “Oplink to unveil metro 100G CFP optical transceiver”) as options for 100G metro applications via 4x28G direct detect modulation.

The CFP is now sampling.

For more information on optical transceivers and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.