Components and subsystems developer NeoPhotonics has begun sampling of its 400G CFP8 transceiver modules, designed for data centre interconnection and client side telecom applications. This represents the first step on NeoPhotonics’ 400G roadmap for these applications.
NeoPhotonics’ 400G CFP8 transceiver is compliant with the IEEE 802.3bs 400 Gigabit Ethernet specifications 400GBase-LR8 for 10km links and 400GBase-FR8 for 2km links, which are based on 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) signals and eight DWDM channels on duplex singlemode fibre.
CFP8 is likely to be the first form factor on the market to support 400 Gigabit Ethernet applications, though others have been proposed, such as QSFP-DD from Cisco and Molex, and (as described in our feature On-board optics: beyond pluggables).
NeoPhotonics’ 400G CFP8 module exploits the company’s portfolio of high-speed component technologies, including its 28Gbaud high-performance and low-power electroabsorption modulated lasers (EMLs) as well as its high-speed PIN photodiodes.
The company has also made improvements to the EML design specifically focused on lowering power consumption while maintaining superior high-speed performance. As part of this development, NeoPhotonics recently announced an EML with the driver integrated into the EML at the chip-on-carrier level.
“We believe that this product firmly demonstrates our leadership position at 400G,” stated Tim Jenks, chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics.
He added: “We believe our 400G PAM4 CFP8 solution will fulfil imminent market needs by leveraging the superior link performance of our high-performance EML lasers, while reducing power consumption through integration with technology-leading CMOS PAM4 chipsets.”