In booth 1815 at the Optical Fiber Communications (OFC 2014) exposition in San Francisco (11-13 March), NeoPhotonics Corp of San Jose, CA, a vertically integrated designer and manufacturer of both indium phosphide (InP) and silica-on-silicon photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based modules and subsystems for high-speed communications networks, has introduced new configurations of its multicast switch (MCS) modules. These are designed to be combined in a modular fashion to increase the number of degrees or directions supported by a reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) node, reducing initial costs and providing a ‘pay as you grow’ model to scale with network growth. For example, with this modular approach, two 4x4 MCSs can be combined to form a dual 8x4 configuration, supporting a total of 8 input ports. Similarly, two modules of the dual 4x16 MCS can be combined to form a dual 8x16 that can be extended further to a 12x16 configuration.
NeoPhotonics multicast switches are designed to be used in a next-generation ROADM node to direct any wavelength to any port (Colorless), accept input wavelength channels from multiple different directions (Directionless), and be able to drop two identical wavelengths from different directions through the same switch (Contentionless), thereby increasing network flexibility and efficiency. One of the biggest challenges for designers of these next-generation ‘colorless, directionless and contentionless’ (CDC) networks is managing the up-front initial installation costs required to support the large number of degrees or directions that may eventually be required in dense mesh networks, even though initial deployments may only use a small number of degrees. NeoPhotonics’ new modular approach to next-generation ROADM design allows network equipment manufacturers to initially install low-port-count modules that provide only the ports and directions that are initially needed.
As the complexity of the network deployment grows, NeoPhotonics’ modular multi-core approach uses PIC technology to allow customers to increase the number of add/drop channels, and to expand the number of degrees or directions, on a pay-as-you-grow basis. Additional ports and directions are only added when traffic exists to support the expansion. The multicast switch enables users to upgrade existing first-generation ‘rigid’ ROADMs to the next-generation any-wavelength-to-any-port CDC-capable metro and long-haul networks. In fact, for some metro networks with a small number of coherent optics-based add/drop ports with 100Gb/s or beyond capacity, it may be possible to add CDC functionality with no additional add/drop optical amplifiers needed.
NeoPhotonics’ modular approach to next-generation CDC ROADMs addresses a critical problem for systems designers and carriers by reducing the first install costs of CDC ROADMs without compromising the ability of these systems to scale with network growth, says CEO Tim Jenks. “The modular multicast switch design is made possible by NeoPhotonics’ advanced photonic integration technology, which efficiently combines many functions on a single silicon chip.”
At OFC, NeoPhotonics is showcasing its modular MCS alongside its 100G client transceivers (CFP, CFP2), intradyne coherent receivers (ICR), and micro narrow-linewidth tunable lasers (μITLA) for 100G coherent communications, as well as an extensive line of next-generation transceivers for access networks.