Oclaro showcases 400GbE CFP8 PAM4-enabled optical transceiver

Oclaro Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR) announced sampling of its 400 Gigabit Ethernet (400GbE) CFP8 optical transceiver for core router/transport applications. The 400GbE CFP8 optical module leverages Oclaro's EML laser and receiver technology to deliver high data rates between high-end routers and optical transport systems. This week at OFC 2017 in Los Angeles, Oclaro is demonstrating the CFP8 operating with eight lasers at 50 Gbps via PAM4 modulation. It complies with the 400GBASE-LR8 optical and 400GAUI-16 electrical interface specifications under final standardization by the IEEE 802.3bs Task Force.

The optical module features Oclaro's cooled 1310-nm 28-Gbps EA-DFB laser technology, integrated TOSA and ROSA, and 28-Gbps four-channel integrated PIN-PD array.

"By leveraging our PAM4-compatible laser technology with our wide-receiver bandwidth capability, we've been able to quadruple bandwidth in the CFP8, while still maintaining the same size as a 100G CFP2 solution," says Yves LeMaitre, president of Oclaro's optical connectivity business unit. "This is a significant achievement that will trigger the widespread deployment of high-bandwidth 400 Gbits/sec optical interfaces based on PAM4 that can address the bandwidth constraints faced by data centers globally today."

Oclaro's CFP8 is compatible with the newly released CFP8 Hardware Specification by the CFP MSA Group for reaches up to 2 km and 10 km, respectively. The company says it is sampling the optical transceiver now, with volume production expected in the second half of 2017.

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