Feb 28 2008
Avanex Corporation, a pioneering provider of intelligent photonic solutions enabling next-generation optical networks, today announced commercial shipments of next-generation tunable dispersion compensation (TDC) products into major OEM customers for 40Gb/s applications.
Commenting on the current market expansion of Avanex TDC technology, Avanex SVP and GM Pat Edsell said, “The technical and commercial success of the 40Gb/s portfolio has also led us quite naturally to the submarine community, where flexible solutions to deal with challenging dispersion management problems is a must. The introduction of the Avanex PowerShaper 3200 to these submarine applications is meeting the needs of this market and also expanding our footprint beyond the rapidly growing 40Gb/s market.”
Like the other members of the PowerShaper 3000 series, the PowerShaper 3200 leverages Avanex’s proprietary cascaded, thermally-tuned etalon technology to provide software-configurable continuous and hitless dispersion compensation over +/- 800 ps/nm with a maximum insertion loss of 7dB. The PowerShaper 3200 comes in a 130mm x 100mm x 15mm module, and offers superior group delay phase ripple (10ps peak to peak) and phase ripple variance (< 6 degrees) at bandwidths supporting multiple 10Gb/s and 40Gb/s modulation formats.
The Avanex TDC portfolio uses a patented etalon approach to chromatic dispersion management, providing the superior performance required for 40Gb/s applications. The digital control architecture provides software-configurable, continuous, and hitless dispersion compensation for next generation networks. As a stand-alone TDC module, Avanex offers the PowerShaper 3300. This compact unit has a form factor of 90 x 70 x 12 mm and +/- 650 ps/nm of continuously variable dispersion compensation. Because 40Gb/s Rx applications often require pre-amplification and tunable dispersion management to precondition signals before the receiver, Avanex also uses the Oasis digital control system to combine controlled amplification with transient controlled TDC in the Avanex 3400 module. The physical dimensions of the 3400 are 130 x 100 x 12 mm. The available dispersion compensation is +/- 800 ps/nm with optical output power up to 15 dBm. Input power spikes are also dramatically reduced by this advanced product.
Avanex Modules and Subsystems GM Richard Smart said, “As network owners upgrade their systems to 40Gb/s and migrate from NRZ to duobinary, DPSK and DQPSK formats, their applications become characterized by very tight dispersion tolerances. When using any of the PowerShaper 3000 series, customers can now use a single module that offers flexible configuration of the dispersion range and optical pass-band to support 10Gb/s submarine as well as all common 40Gb/s applications.”
Avanex Senior Vice President of Sales Scott Parker pointed to the various ways that terminal tunable DC benefits the system provider. “The flexible capability of the PowerShaper clears obstacles in the path of rapid network upgrades to 40Gb/s transmission, simplifying deployment and sparing, and providing for a variety of monitoring and control functions that have the potential to reduce OPEX. Tuning at the terminal plus inherent re-configurability mean one SKU fits all, reducing many inventory and installation issues for our customers.”