In booth 2405 at the Optical Fiber Communication/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC 2013) in Anaheim (19-21 March), fiber-optic communications component and subsystem maker Finisar Corp of Sunnyvale, CA, USA is demonstrating several new products for telecom applications, including a Dual 1x20 wavelength-selective switch (WSS) incorporating the Flexgrid functionality pioneered by Finisar and the industry’s first direct modulated lasers (DML)-based PRX40 OSA (optical sub-assembly) for 10G-EPON.
Finisar’s WSS devices enable networks to dynamically evolve with changing standards so that systems equipment OEMs can provide the performance, dynamic flexibility and scalability required for both today’s and tomorrow’s networks.
The WSS demonstration shows a single device with dual independent 1x20 and 20x1 wavelength-selective switching in a compact module for high degree and colorless, directionless, contentionless (CDC) reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) nodes. The device, as well as the entire WSS portfolio, features wide passbands, low insertion loss and Flexgrid technology, including hitless widening/narrowing of channels and intra-channel attenuation for equalization across a super-channel with high-resolution control. The dual 1x20 WSS is the same size as the existing 1x20 WSS and is also built on Finisar’s Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) technology.
With a transmission reach up to 20km, the DML-based PRX40 Triplexer OSA will cost-effectively provide both higher optical power (5dBm to 9dBm) than existing EML devices and a higher link budget to enable split ratios greater than 1:64, says Finisar. The Triplexer OSA is shown in an XFP module, but can be packaged into any form factor required.
Finisar says that it provides WSS technology to meet the needs of every application, with switching up to 20 ports using a single device, small-form-factor options suitable for low-cost network edge applications, and wide channel plan support (10G, 40G, 100G, 400G) for both current and future high-speed applications.
Finisar’s Flexgrid WSS devices are also ITU G.694.1 flexible DWDM grid-compliant to prevent network operators from being locked into existing 50 and 100GHz ITU grids and therefore being unable to deploy emerging technologies in a timely and cost-effective fashion. Flexible grid technology also provides a reliable means for systems equipment OEMs to enable greater spectral efficiency, no matter how technology advances, by dynamically supporting narrower channel spacing while maintaining data rates or, where appropriate, wider channels to accommodate higher data rates, including 400G. Network administrators can hence reallocate spectral resources and optimize channel spacing to address the needs of legacy and new equipment using a single WSS.
“Our WSS products provide the flexibility networks need to meet the changing demands placed upon them without requiring frequent and higher infrastructure investment to increase capacity,” says Ken Falta, senior marketing director of WSS products.
