Mitsubishi Electric intros TOSAs for 8- and 10-Gbit/sec SFP+ transceivers
FEBRUARY 5, 2008 -- Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (search for Mitsubishi Electric) today announced the development of four 1.3-micrometer band transmitter optical sub assembly (search for TOSA) laser modules for 10- and 8-Gbit/sec optical transmission. The module is small enough to be installed in an enhanced 8.5- and 10-Gigabit small form factor pluggable (search for SFP+) optical transceiver and operates at low power consumption and a wide temperature range, say company representatives.
Carriers have been rushing to expand metro area fiber-optic communications networks with the recent increase in traffic due to the spread of ADSL, FTTH, and other high-speed, large-volume communication services for the residential market. Similarly, there is a growing demand to increase transmission capacity in high-speed storage area networks, which also uses optical fiber to transmit data between storage devices and servers.
To further expand transmission capacity in these networks, which currently use optical transceivers compliant to the industry-standard XFP form factor, carriers have been looking for transceivers that are small and operate at low power consumption with a wide temperature range, thus enabling high-density installation. Hence the development of another standard, SFP+, which uses smaller transceivers with lower power consumption compared to XFP. Transceiver manufacturers have been waiting for the development of a small-sized pluggable transceiver module to use in their transceivers.
With an 80% smaller flexible printed circuit (FPC), which is an electric interface between modules and transceivers, and a highly efficient laser diode, Mitsubishi Electric's new TOSAs for 10- and 8-Gbit/sec enable perfect installation in small optical transceivers compliant to SFP+, claim company representatives.
Previous transceivers used a large amount of electricity to get a response fast enough for 8- and 10-Gbit/sec high-speed transmission, says Mitsubishi. By using highly efficient distributed feedback (DFB-LD) and Fabry-Perot (FP-LD) laser diodes, the new product can operate at 7 0mA, 20% lower than previous modules, thus reducing the transceivers' power consumption. The module can also operate at a 10-degree higher temperature of 90 ° C., widening the range of operating temperature in transceivers, adds the company.
Shipment of the new TOSAs will begin on February 18, 2008.