Oclaro has announced sampling of a 400G CFP8 optical transceiver to support the ultra-high bandwidth requirements of core routers and optical transport applications. Oclaro held a live demo of the CFP8 at its booth #2747 at OFC 2017.
Delivering four times more bandwidth than existing 100G CFP-family devices in a small and compact footprint, the device operates with eight lasers using 50Gb/s per channel and PAM4.
“By leveraging our PAM4-compatible laser technology with our wide-receiver bandwidth capability, we've been able to quadruple bandwidth in the CFP8, while still maintaining the same size as a 100G CFP2 solution,” said Yves LeMaitre, president of Oclaro's optical connectivity business unit. “This is a significant achievement that will trigger the widespread deployment of high-bandwidth 400G optical interfaces based on PAM4 that can address the bandwidth constraints faced by data centres globally.”
Featuring a small 40 x 102 x 9.5mm form factor, Oclaro's 400G CFP8 transceiver supports the newly released CFP8 hardware specification by the CFP MSA Group for reaches up to 2km and 10km. It is also compliant with 400GBASE-LR8 optical and 400GAUI-16 electrical interface specifications that are under final stages of standardisation by the IEEE 802.3bs Task Force.
The CFP8 includes technology from Oclaro’s earlier CFP, CFP2 and CFP4 designs to provide high quality and high performance. This includes the company’s best-in-class cooled 1310nm 28Gb/s electroabsorption modulated laser (EML) and four-channel 28Gb/s PIN-photodiode array. The superior performance of the EML provides a good margin over IEEE optical specifications, while the higher receiver bandwidth allows Oclaro’s module to interface with different lasers, the company says.
The vertically integrated production of the laser and photodiode ensure a high-quality, highly reliable product from a trusted supplier, the company claims. It also demonstrates Oclaro's ability to deliver the critical components that will drive the emergence of next-generation 400G networks based on PAM4 technology, the company said.
Oclaro’s CFP8 module is sampling now with volume production expected in the second half of 2017.