NeoPhotonics Corp (NYSE: NPTN) says it has begun sample deliveries of its Multicast Switch based on photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology for next-generation ROADMs. The Multicast Switch is designed in a dual 8x16 configuration, offering 16 drop and add ports and accommodating up to eight directions.
The company says its PIC platform also can enable support for architectures requiring 8x12 or 8x24 configurations, as well as offering the option of integrated power monitoring for each port.
The switch is designed to help enable colorless, directionless, and contentionless (CDC) ROADM capabilities. For example, the Multicast Switch can be coupled with a wavelength-selective switch (WSS) to direct any wavelength to any port (colorless), accept input wavelength channels from multiple directions (directionless), and be able to drop two identical wavelengths from different directions through the same switch (contentionless).
“We are excited to introduce our Multicast Switch and we believe that it can play a critical role in enabling more flexible and efficient ROADM systems,” said Tim Jenks, CEO of NeoPhotonics. “The Multicast Switch is another NeoPhotonics product that takes advantage of our photonic integration technology by integrating more than 200 optical elements, and is made possible by our years of experience developing and producing increasingly complex photonic integrated circuits.”