Chinese optoelectronics manufacturer Accelink Technologies has introduced a 1550nm 100Gb/s PSM4 transceiver based on Mellanox’s low-power, silicon photonics optical engine. This module format serves the growing demand from hyperscale and cloud data centre providers for parallel singlemode optics within data centres.
PSM4 differs from the alternatives in its use of a parallel ribbon fibre, using four lanes per direction to transmit four 25Gb/s channels. Though this requires more fibre, the transceivers are lower cost than those based on wavelength multiplexing, and PSM4's 25Gb/s channels can be used as individual breakout links (see The economics of port breakout).
Accelink’s new transceiver provides customers with an additional source and is fully interoperable with PSM4 transceivers supplied by Mellanox.
“We are delighted to announce Accelink as a partner and customer for our optical engine,” said Amir Prescher, senior vice president of business development and general manager of the interconnect business at Mellanox. “PSM4 represents the highest volume, most cost-effective and flexible 100Gb/s transceiver for singlemode fibre in data centre applications. Customers benefit by having more supplier options; Mellanox and Accelink both benefit by expanding the market for 100Gb/s products.”
The Mellanox optical engine was announced earlier this year at OFC 2017. The components are fully qualified for use in low-cost, electronics-style packaging, ensuring a low-risk, and quick time to market. Because Mellanox’s silicon photonics platform eliminates the need for complex optical alignment of lenses, isolators, and laser subassemblies, customers can scale to high-volume manufacturing easier and faster than using traditional technologies, the company contends.
“Chinese Web 2.0 and data centres are transitioning to 100Gb/s networks so the timing is perfect for us,” remarked Zhang Jun, general manager at Accelink. “The fully qualified Mellanox optical engine significantly reduced our time to market. With no lenses, isolators or hermetic packages, the Mellanox solution is easier to assemble and lower cost than competitor solutions.”
Mellanox is exhibiting the new Accelink transceivers at the China International Optoelectronics Exhibition (CIOE), 6-9 September 2017, in Shenzhen, China, on its booth #1A22-1, Hall 1.
