News: Optoelectronics
10 March 2020
Acacia sampling 400G pluggable optical transceiver modules including 400ZR, OpenZR+ and Open ROADM MSA
Acacia Communications Inc of Maynard, MA, USA (which develops and manufactures high-speed coherent optical interconnect products) is sampling multiple variants in its family of 400G pluggable optical transceiver modules including 400ZR, OpenZR+ and Open ROADM MSA.
The firm’s 400G pluggable module family features an expansive list of interoperability solutions in QSFP-DD, OSFP and CFP2-DCO pluggable form factors for cloud data-center interconnects (DCIs) and service provider networks. These pluggable solutions were designed to enable network operators to address increasing bandwidth demand through a simplified network architecture, reducing both capital and operational expenditures.
“Acacia’s vision has always been focused on driving down the level of power consumption, size and cost of coherent interconnects and we are proud of the significant advancements we have made in low-power digital signal processor (DSP) and 3D siliconization technologies,” says Mehrdad Givehchi, a founder of Acacia and VP of Hardware and Software. “By supporting both QSFP-DD and OSFP form factors, our DCI customers are able to choose their preferred solution to access our technology,” he adds.
“Our new 400G pluggable modules are based on our Greylock 7nm DSP [digital signal processor], which is our third generation of coherent DSP supporting low-power pluggable modules,” says 400G Pluggable product line manager Torben Neilsen. “Our 3D siliconization approach, which leverages high-volume electronics manufacturing processes, benefits from the maturity of our silicon photonics technology and our vertical integration strategy.”
Acacia’s new 400G pluggable module family builds on the technology that Acacia has demonstrated in the coherent module market, having shipped the following products since 2014: >200,000 coherent silicon photonic integrated circuits; >400,000 coherent DSP ports; and >125,000 pluggable DCO modules.
400G pluggable modules represent a key architectural change in high-bandwidth data-center interconnects because they can be plugged directly into switches and routers offering the same density for both coherent DWDM and client optics in the same chassis. This architectural change helps network operators support their growing bandwidth demands in a more cost-efficient manner.
“We’re excited to be successfully passing traffic in the lab with the Acacia 400G-OSFP-ZR module in our 7000 Series switches and routers,” notes Hacene Chaouch, distinguished engineer at Arista Networks. “400ZR is critical to meeting customer demand for growing data-center interconnect bandwidth and we believe the thermal and optical performance of Acacia’s coherent platform in the OSFP form factor will provide network operators with a very reliable and power efficient solution,” he adds.
“Interoperable 400G solutions have the potential to transform cloud DCI and traditional operator architectures and create new applications for coherent optics at the edge of the network,” comments Andrew Schmitt, directing analyst at Cignal AI.
Acacia’s 400G pluggable module family is sampling now and is expected to begin volume production in second-half 2020.
Acacia launches ZR-class coherent CFP and CFP2 DCO pluggable modules
