EMCORE's 20Gb/s Optical Cables Proven to be Reliable

EMCORE Corporation (NASDAQ: EMKR), a leading provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the fiber optic and solar power markets, today announced the reliability results of its fielded 20Gb/s active optical cables.

High performance computing systems require guaranteed reliable, high bandwidth, low-latency communication paths to connect up to thousands of processing nodes. Traditionally, these pathways are implemented using copper cables. However, due to their bulk, weight and limited transmission distance, copper cables often constrain the physical size and performance of these server clusters. EMCORE Connects Cables™ active optical cables, on the other hand, are a proven solution. They are compact, lightweight, and allow for greater reach between processing nodes than traditional copper cables.

According to a recent report by LightCounting, sales of active optical cables during the last three years were more than 150,000 units, with EMCORE shipping the majority of that volume. The reliability of EMCORE Connects Cables over that time period is better than 5 FITs, or 5 failures in one billion hours of device operation. This reliability performance demonstrates the suitability of 850-nm VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) array technology and multimode optical fiber for high performance data computing applications.

Chris Wiggins, Director of EMCORE's Enterprise Business Group says, "EMCORE is the field-proven market leader in high quality and reliable active optical cable products." He added, "Our current generation of 40Gb/s active optical cable is based on the same technology and we expect the same high reliability performance of these newer products. We are committed to providing customers with the highest performance, quality and reliable optical interconnect products."

EMCORE Connects Cables are bidirectional communications links converting four lanes of electrical signals into optical ones by modulating four monolithically-integrated VCSELs operating at 850nm wavelengths. The optical signals are carried by thin multimode optical fiber strands to the opposite end where they are converted back to electrical signals by a four-channel photodetector array. The use of high bandwidth, low loss optical fibers allow the information to be transmitted at distances of more than ten times greater than that of copper cables.

Presently, the EMCORE Connects Cables product family with CX4 and QSFP interfaces is being sold in high volume for a range of applications including InfiniBand®, Ethernet, Fibre Channel and PCI applications. The cables come in lengths up to 100 meters and operate at speeds of up to 40 Gb/s. In April 2010, the company is expected to sample the next generation 150 Gb/s CXP form-factor optical cable based on the same technology platform.

For more information EMCORE will exhibiting at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC) in San Diego on March 23-25, 2010, booth 2134.

Source: http://www.emcore.com