24 March 2015

Inphi demos single-wavelength, single-fiber 100GbE

In booth #709 at the Optical Fiber Communications conference & exposition (OFC 2015) in Los Angeles (24-26 March), Inphi Corp of Santa Clara, CA, USA (a provider of high-speed mixed-signal ICs for communications, data-center and computing markets) is demonstrating a 100GbE four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) 56GBaud transmission system up to10km single-mode fiber. Specifically, 100GbE is running over a single full-duplex fiber pair using Inphi's real-time digital signal processing (DSP) engine, PAM4 electronics with multiple forward error correction (FEC) options and high-speed linear drivers and amplifiers. The demonstration showcases the technology that enables cost-effective 100G, with a roadmap to 400G and beyond, for intra-datacenter and datacenter-to-datacenter connectivity.

Existing 100G datacenter solutions use either four fibers or four wavelengths at 25Gbps per wavelength, putting a limit on bandwidth scalability and cost of future solutions. The demonstration at OFC shows that, by transferring the complexity from optics into CMOS electronics with PAM encoding, DSP and FEC technologies, one can attain four times as much bandwidth improvement compared with existing solutions, at a lower cost. Coupled with the availability of Inphi's high-speed linear driver and amplifier solutions, the demonstration showcases a complete electronics platform for single-lambda 100G solutions.

"Inphi led the industry by demonstrating a two-wavelength 100G solution at OFC last year," says Siddharth Sheth, VP marketing, Networking Interconnect, at Inphi. "The technology advances in this demonstration are invaluable to our datacenter, carrier and networking customers, who are relying on Inphi to build the next-generation datacenter and the network that supports it," he adds.

"Growth in the datacenter for 100GbE is on the horizon, but the cost and power consumption of 100G optics continues to be the biggest barrier to more rapid deployment," comments Loring Wirbel, senior analyst at market research firm The Linley Group. "Single-wavelength designs such as PAM4 offer the most cost-efficient solution, so Inphi's demonstration today is an important milestone in accelerating that market growth for 100G."

• At OFC, Inphi is participating in several panels and workshops:

24 March

Market Watch: 'Panel III: What's New in Integrated Photonics Technologies?' (3pm, booth #947 Expo Theater 1) – panelist Siddharth Sheth, vice president, Networking Interconnect.

25 March

Symposia: 'Beyond The Gold Box: The Future of Integrated Optics' (8am, room 408B) – presenter Vipul Bhatt, director of Systems Engineering.

Workshop: 'Are There Limits to High-speed Interface Rates?' (9am, room 403B) – presenter Sudeep Bhoja, chief technology officer, Networking Interconnect.

Workshop: 'Photonic Startups and Entrepreneurship' (3:30pm, Expo Theater III) – presenter Dr Loi Nguyen, founder & vice president, Optical Interconnect.

Market Watch: 'Panel V: Intra-Data Center Interconnection Architectures and Challenges' (3:30pm, booth #947 Expo Theater 1) – moderator Sudeep Bhoja, chief technology officer, Networking Interconnect.

Tags: Inphi 100G optical modules

Visit: www.ofcconference.org

Visit: www.inphi.com