November 16, 2004 Sunnyvale, CA -- Big Bear Networks today announced the Kodiak 40-/43-Gbit/sec Electro-Optical Transponder, an OC-768 transponder that the company claims has already become the industry benchmark for 40-Gbit/sec short-reach applications.
The Kodiak 40/43G is the only MSA compliant transponder in its class to have passed the Telcordia GR-468 testing requirements. High capacity 40-Gbit/sec transponders are used as the interconnection between SONET/SDH optical cross-connects, routers, switches, and transmission equipment in central office environments. The 43-Gbit rate transponders are use in inter-office facilities and metro links and also in test equipment.
"The Big Bear Kodiak transponder has been thoroughly tested by the key makers of router, transmission, and test equipment and has found strong acceptance in those markets," contends John Trail, director of product management at Big Bear. "This market interest, together with the introduction of a Telcordia-qualified, MSA-compliant, 40-/43-Gbit/sec transponder is a true indication that 40G is ready for prime time," he adds.
The robustness and high performance of the Kodiak transponder is the result of the close collaboration of the diverse Big Bear engineering staff, combining the three critical disciplines of mixed-signal IC design, optical channel design, and system integration to deliver a high capacity optical transponder. All the high speed SiGe ICs in Kodiak are designed by Big Bear, while the optical components are selected from premier third-party optical suppliers, report company representatives.
According to the company, Kodiak features excellent transmit eye quality with high eye-mask margin. Kodiak also delivers what Big Bear claims is the industry's best jitter generation performance, significantly beating the ITU specification. The transponder has very robust clock and data recovery, which is continuously tunable from 39-45 Gbits/sec. The excellent receiver performance provides a high sensitivity margin of typically 3dB to 5dB over temperature and power supply variations. E
Kodiak is in full production and is now available.