NeoPhotonics will demonstrate a 16x16 multicast switch (MCS) without drop-side amplifiers on March 26 at OFC 2015 in Los Angeles, California. The 16x16 MCS comprises four modular, low-loss 4x16 MCSs which can be cascaded to encompass 16 directions. The demonstration is intended to show how the low insertion loss of the MCS, when combined with a high-sensitivity coherent receiver, can eliminate the need for drop-side amplifiers in metro networks.
NeoPhotonics’ modular MCS is designed to reduce the initial deployment costs of contentionless ROADMs and to provide customers with a ‘pay as you grow’ approach for future degree and add/drop port expansion. For example, for degree expansion, after first installing one 4x16 MCS for four directions, a second device can be installed when required (and without disrupting traffic) to achieve an 8x16 configuration, which accommodates eight directions and provides 16 add/drop ports. A third module achieves 12x16 ports and a fourth achieves 16x16. Similarly, for add/drop port expansion, additional MCSs can be added to additional wavelength selective switch (WSS) ports to achieve Nx32, Nx48 and so on.
A significant portion of the cost of an MCS is due to the need for optical amplifiers on the drop side to recover the optical loss induced by the MCS. NeoPhotonics 4x16 MCS is based on the company’s photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology, which has been in volume production for fifteen years. This technology enables a switch design with sufficiently low loss in the modular 4x16 MCS, which, when coupled with the high sensitivity of NeoPhotonics intradyne coherent receiver (ICR), eliminates the need for drop-side amplifiers in metro environments.
NeoPhotonics will describe this modular approach in Paper M3A.5 entitled ‘Degree-Expandable Colorless, Directionless, and Contentionless ROADM Without Drop-Side EDFAs’ presented by Wen-Jr Jiang at OFC on Monday, March 23 at 5:30 PM. An associated interactive demonstration of the MCS, also using NeoPhotonics ICR and ultra-narrow linewidth external cavity tunable laser, will be given on Thursday 26 March from 10 – 12 in the Exhibit Hall (South Hall), Interactive Demo Poster Area.
“As we see the market need for true ‘colourless, directionless and contentionless’, or CDC , ROADMs becoming more evident every day, we are excited to demonstrate how our modular MCS can make deployment of CDC ROADMs cost effective for carriers through ‘pay as you grow’ deployments and the elimination of drop side amplifiers,” said Tim Jenks, chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics. “This demonstration combines several elements of our hybrid photonic integration technology, including our low loss silica waveguide MCS, our hybrid silica/indium phosphide ICR and our external cavity ultra-narrow linewidth tunable laser.”