Menlo Park, CA January 2011: IPtronics is pleased to announce availability of the quad IPTA12G4C TIA and quad IPVD12G4C VCSEL Driver for pluggable module applications. The chipset is offered as a complement to the widely used existing 4 channel solution that has become the preferred solution in the industry for InfiniBand QDR & FDR.

The IPVD12G4C VCSEL Driver Array and IPTA12G4C TIA/LIA Array, offer advanced features while reducing power dissipation further to an industry leading 0.45W for the chipset. The 0.45W reflects total power dissipated in the Tx/Rx module or for each cable end, including power in the optics as well as terminations.

Channel rates of 12.5Gbps enable 50Gbps total bandwidth. With a selectable bandwidth feature the chipset is suitable for multi-rate modules.

The IPxx12G4C chip set is unique in the sense that it accommodates both applications for chip to chip communications, active cable applications as well as pluggable QSFP+ optical modules without compromising performance, feature-set or cost. While offering the lowest power in the industry by far, the chipset is fully InfiniBand and Ethernet compliant and includes advanced functions such as on-chip PROM for vendor and start up settings, advanced temperature control features, any rate operation by selectable bandwidth, polarity, I2C interface, RSSI and much more.

The low power features combined with advanced management functions lead to improved system operational expenditure savings as well as capital expenditure savings enabling system manufacturers to go green as well as save money.

Our second generation 4 channel chip set enables a wider use of IPtronics silicon, in particular pluggable modules for QDR InfiniBand and 40G Ethernet applications such as QSFP+ as well as emerging storage applications such as miniSAS. Said Mr. Jesper Bek, CEO of IPtronics Inc and added "Driven by customer demand, we have spun a revision of our world leading 12 channel chipset with proven performance".

http://www.iptronics.com/38122/IPtronics%20Releases%20New%204ch%20chip%20set%20/

Milpitas, Calif., January 17, 2011 – In conjunction with the BICSI Winter Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, JDSU today introduced its next-generation cable certifier, the JDSU Certifier40G. The innovative handheld test solution is the fastest and most advanced cable certifier for growing enterprise network bandwidth demands – including local access networks (LAN), storage area networks (SAN), and data centers. The JDSU Certifier40G supports those responsible for quality, reliable performance of private businesses, government and campus networks.

JDSU will be exhibiting the Certifier40G and other test and measurement solutions at the winter BICSI event, booth # 702, in Orlando, FL, January 16-20.

The emergence of cloud computing, virtualization, HD video conferencing, Ethernet network convergence and other applications require higher-capacity enterprise networks. The JDSU Certfier40G accelerates new network installations and network updates that are needed to meet growing bandwidth requirements.

“The Certifier40G is a powerful tool with the most advanced technology to drive installation of cabling infrastructure to support high-quality video teleconferencing, cloud computing and other advanced services,” said Assaji Aluwihare, a director in JDSU’s Communications Test and Measurement business segment.

An innovative feature of the JDSU Certifier40G includes the ability to view complete test results at both ends of the network, eliminating the need to walk back to the main device. This feature significantly increases productivity by reducing installer test time. The JDSU Certifier40G enables contractors and network owners to ensure that network cabling infrastructure performs reliably, meets industry standards, and establishes warranty conditions so installers and cable manufactures meet the expectation of high-quality work and solid network performance.

For more details about the JDSU Certifier40G, please click here.

JDSU offers a complete range of communications test and measurement solutions to address the needs of installers and IT professionals who manage enterprise local area networks for installation or maintenance, ongoing testing, or deploying new applications and services. Network professionals must ensure network uptime and reliability, and JDSU offers a comprehensive suite of hardware and software solutions to support this goal.

January 5, 2011 : Watertown, Connecticut — Siemon, a leading global manufacturer of IT network cabling and infrastructure systems, announces the release of a new QSFP+ (Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus) to SFP+ (Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus) hybrid passive copper cable assembly. These hybrid fanout cables break a single 40Gb/s QSFP+ connector into four individual 10Gb/s SFP+ connectors, allowing users to connect multiple ports of SFP+ equipment to QSFP+ based equipment with a single, easy-to-manage assembly.

The direct-attach hybrid assembly's four hot-pluggable SFP+ connectors are factory-terminated to twin-axial shielded cable to provide superior signal integrity in support 10+Gb/s high frequency data rates The assemblies are impedance matched to ensure interoperability with SFP+ host ports and minimize insertion loss.

The four 10Gb/s SFP+ legs feed into a single 40Gb/s capable QSFP+ connector. The 4-lane QSFP+ form factor interface supports up to 10Gb/s per lane, providing 40Gb/s composite data transfer rates. In terms of both physical connector space and data throughput, a single QSFP+ connector can replace up to four standard SFP+ connections, providing greater port density and reduced system cost. Manufacture of Siemon's SFP+ and QSFP+ interconnects is automated, eliminating assembly variations for consistent and industry leading signal integrity, including a unique termination process that optimizes cross talk and return loss performance.

The Siemon QSFP+ to SFP+ hybrid cable assemblies were developed as a cost-effective means of integrating higher-performance QSFP+ equipment with current SFP+ systems in high-performance computing (HPC), enterprise networking, video networking and network storage applications. Each end of the hybrid assembly is compliant to the SFF specifications that define the mechanical and electrical requirements for interoperability.

Designed for channel lengths up to up to 5 m, these low-power interconnects are compatible with a wide array of data protocols, including InfiniBand 4X SDR, DDR, QDR as well as Ethernet 10G, 40G (IEEE-802.3ba) and SONET electrical failover 40G links. They also support Fibre Channel SAN 10G, 40G and SAN; RapidIO and Myrinet 40G systems links. Siemon offers application specific assembly solutions such as varied EEPROM programming options, wire gauges and custom lengths.

This interconnect is part of the Siemon's high speed interconnect family, which includes their Moray QSFP+ Active Optical Cable assemblies and MTP optical fiber Plug and Play solutions as well as a variety of innovative high-performance structured cabling products.
 
http://www.siemon.com/us/company/press_releases/11-01-05-hybrid-qsfp-plus.asp
 
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SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - November 15, 2010) - AlpenIO, developing the next generation optical interconnect technology, announced today, at SC10, new optical technology and four new optical products. AlpenIO's new cable assemblies are based on its proprietary LightFinity optical technology. The miniature, low power, low cost design results in a very small form factor. "Our patented design using passive alignment and pre-aligned V-Grooves is a pivotal innovation to simplify fiber attachment," says Marc Verdiell, President & CEO. AlpenIO offers ready to use LightFinity optical engines for integration into cable assemblies. The completion of an AOC cable requires only the gluing of the fibers and the addition of a shell. LightFinity optical engines are also designed to be mounted onto PCB boards.

QSFP Active Optical Cable, LightFlash4. The LightFlash4 supports Infiniband data rates up to FDR as well as 40GbE. A key design feature is low power consumption, typically 750mW per end. Power consumption as low as 600mW per end has been demonstrated. This improves thermal efficiency and reduces power consumption in the data center. Compliant with the QSFP MSA specification, the cables are ideally suited for HPC clusters and high density interconnect topologies up to 100 meters.

Gen2 PCI Express x4 Active Optical Cable, LightXpress4. AlpenIO introduced the first PCI Express active optical cable early in 2010. "We are pleased to offer a leading edge optical cable solution in the PCIe segment that supports both Gen1 and Gen2 signaling up to distances of 300 meters," said Mr. Verdiell. An important design feature is the ability to transmit the auxiliary sideband signals over fiber. "Our cable technology is also capable of supporting the emerging Gen3 data rates up to100 meters which represents a 2x improvement in performance over Gen2." The cables are plug compatible with the standard external cabling PCIe connector.

Miniature, low power, low cost, parallel optical engine, LightFinity-P. The LightFinity-P proprietary optical engine technology is offered in a fully engineered paddleboard sub assembly. This approach enables easy transition from copper to optical fiber for cable producers. The LightFinity optical engine is manufactured on FR-4 PCB. "Our goal with LightFinity-P is to be an enabler for fiber optical cable manufacturers by providing cost effective, simplified manufacturing transition to optical technology," said Mr. Verdiell. No expensive or complicated fiber alignment equipment is required.

LightFinity-S, the surface mount ceramic version with a fiber pigtail, is designed to be mounted onto PCB boards via a low profile LGA socket. The compact form factor, 16mm X 16mm X 2.92mm (LxWxH) offers miniaturization beyond even CMOS silicon photonics based transceivers. Typical applications include Chip to Chip interconnect, Backplane interconnect or Fiber Channel optical interfaces.

CALABASAS, CA. – Nov. 1, 2010 – Fulcrum Microsystems today announced the FocalPoint® FM6000 series of fully integrated wire-speed 10G and 40G Ethernet switch chips, which incorporate the company’s new and innovative Alta high-speed Ethernet switching architecture.

One key new feature of the FM6000 series switches is Fulcrum’s FlexPipe™ low-latency packet-processing pipeline, which can parse, modify and apply multiple rules to traffic at more than 1 Billion packets per second in a completely deterministic manner. FlexPipe also can be upgraded in the field to support future data center networking protocols as they emerge.

The FM6000 series devices are based on Fulcrum’s Alta switch architecture that, in addition to FlexPipe, features flexible 10G and 40G Ethernet port logic and third-generation RapidArray™ output-queued shared-memory architecture. Altabased FocalPoint devices achieve unprecedented performance while maintaining low cut-through packet latencies of less than 300nS, regardless of configuration or features enabled. Fulcrum’s pioneering efforts in developing low-latency Ethernet switch technology has made FocalPoint the preferred data center fabric building-block for applications such as financial trading and computer clustering in today’s virtualized and high-scale data centers.

Virtualization is increasing the density of server farms and enabling data center operators to efficiently deploy cloud services. In addition, new server architectures include multi-core processors, increasing network bandwidth requirements.The FlexPipe packet-processing pipeline in the FM6000 series devices delivers full line-rate performance across up to 72 ports, offering non-blocking throughput for thousands of virtualized flows.

“Our Dell’Oro forecasting models show that 10GE server ports will grow dramatically in coming years, which will drive demand for high density 10G switches and also the demand for 40G Ethernet uplinks,” said Alan Weckel, director of
Ethernet research for Dell’Oro Group. “Given this expected demand, the launch of this switch from Fulcrum is very
timely.”

FlexPipe allows the functionality of several key logic blocks, such as the packet parser and egress frame modification unit, to be upgraded to support new data center networking standards or proprietary performance-enhancing application tags. With this functionality, switch manufacturers can sell switching systems that are field upgradable with support for emerging data center interconnect topologies such as TRILL and SPB, as well as emerging virtualized networking standards such as 802.1bg (Edge Virtual Bridging) and 802.1bh (Port Extenders).

There are nine devices in the FM6000 series, each offering a different port configuration and total bandwidth, ranging
from 160Gbps to 720Gbps. FM6000 series switches can be used to build very high port-count top-of-rack or end-of-row
data center switches with industry-leading latency, performance, and scale. With the ability to drive SFP+ direct-attach
copper cable directly without the need for an external PHY, the FM6000 series reduces the latency, cost and power of
these top-of-rack switch designs. To enable network convergence, the FM6000 supports the efficient mix of storage, HPC
and LAN data traffic with extensive QoS and data center bridging (DCB) features such as PFC, ETS, and QCN, simultaneously supporting lossless operation alongside bandwidth and latency guarantees. Additionally, system-wide
management features offer line rate per-flow monitoring and policing for clear visibility and a single point of
management, reducing overall system complexity.

“Fulcrum is changing the game again by delivering standards-based switching solutions that provide advanced features
and shatter all established benchmarks for high bandwidth, low latency and power efficiency,” said Mike Zeile, Fulcrum
Microsystems president and COO. “The FM6000 series, with our revolutionary Alta architecture, is helping define the
future of virtual computing by delivering the performance needed for next-generation data center fabrics.”

Configuration and Availability
All nine members of the FocalPoint FM6000 series will be generally available in 2Q 2011. More information regarding
the FM6000 series devices can be found at www.fulcrummicro.com/products.

http://www.fulcrummicro.com/documents/announcements/Anncmt_10-1102.pdf

Santa Clara, Calif. – October 13, 2010 – NetLogic Microsystems, Inc. [NASDAQ: NETL], a worldwide leader in high-performance intelligent semiconductor solutions for next-generation Internet networks, today announced the introduction of the NLP3342, the industry's first dual-mode quad-port 10GBase-KR and 40GBase-KR4 backplane PHY with Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE). Designed in the advanced 40nm CMOS process, this new NLP3342 device is targeted at transmission of 10Gbps and 40Gbps signals over standard backplanes, and is compliant with the IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet standard to offer significantly lower power consumption. The NLP3342 PHY device also integrates NetLogic Microsystems' industry-leading electronic dispersion compensation (EDC), 3-tap transmit pre-emphasis, automatic receive link margin calibration and forward error correction (FEC) technologies to achieve best-in-class performance and robustness of serial data transmission over a wide variety of backplanes. NetLogic Microsystems' NLP3342 PHY is ideally suited for next-generation data centers and telecommunications equipment that are capable of scaling power consumption proportionally to the throughput performance of the network. This enables data center and infrastructure network managers to significantly reduce the costs of cooling down data center servers, networking equipment and aggregation platforms. By being the industry's first 40Gbps and quad-port 10Gbps PHY solution that supports the EEE standard, NetLogic Microsystems is driving higher energy efficiency while delivering superior jitter and reach performance of next-generation backplane systems.

In addition, the NLP3342 PHY device is the industry's first product capable of supporting either the 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GBASE-KR4) or quad channels of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GBASE-KR) modes with the same device. This provides unprecedented scalability for customers to develop a wide range of equipment such as blade servers, ATCA switches and routers, with backplanes that can support multiple form factors and transmission speeds using a single part number from NetLogic Microsystems.

"As blade servers and networking equipment enable high computational processing in the data center and infrastructure networks, the need for high-speed connectivity that can scale from 10Gbps to 40Gbps becomes an important element of these chassis-based systems," said Jag Bolaria, senior analyst at The Linley Group. "NetLogic Microsystems continues to drive market-leading innovations by now offering an Energy Efficient Ethernet compliant feature in a quad-port 10GE PHY that in turn allows network owners to deploy green data center and infrastructure networks."

"The NLP3342 builds upon six generations of field-proven and market-leading 10GE PHY technology at NetLogic Microsystems," said Stefanos Sidiropoulos, vice president of Physical Layer Products at NetLogic Microsystems. "Delivering the industry's first dual-mode 40G and quad-channel 10G backplane PHY solution that integrates Energy Efficient Ethernet enables our customers to develop highly robust and scalable backplanes that meet stringent energy-efficient requirements for high-density systems."NetLogic Microsystems' new NLP3342 supports 10Gbps transmission for XFI-to-KR as well as 40Gbps transmission for XLAUI/XLPPI-to-KR4 modes over standard backplanes. The device consumes 550mW per channel and offers low-power modes with the EEE feature. In addition, the NLP3342 PHY supports Clause 73 auto-negotiation and link training, Clause 74 Forward Error Correction (FEC) and KX / KX4 bypass modes.

The NLP3342 PHY device is available now. Please contact sales@netlogicmicro.com for more information.

http://www.netlogicmicro.com/news/pr/2010/10-10-13dualmode.asp

September 28, 2010 : Siemon, the network infrastructure specialist, today introduced its new line of four lane QSFP+ 40Gb/s active optical cabling assemblies, designed to support interconnect applications such as high-performance computing (HPC), enterprise networking and network storage systems. These high-speed interconnects are a part of Siemon's MorayT Active Optical Cabling (AOC) product family and expand Siemon's extensive portfolio of copper and fibre data centre cabling solutions.

The Moray QSFP+ active optical cable assemblies incorporate the lowest power transceiver in the market that typically requires 780mW by utilising Silicon CMOS Photonics technology, which features an integrated opto-electronic chip with a directly attached fibre and a micro-packaged laser. This "Fibre-to-the-Chip" technology enables Siemon's Moray active optical cabling to break the cost barriers while decreasing the number of components in the AOC and improving its reliability when compared with existing vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and multi-mode fibre solutions. Unlike traditional optics that utilise VCSELs and multi-mode fibre for short connections, Moray's single chip transceivers support any distance from one metre to 4,000 metres for inter- and intra-building applications.

The Moray line offers high performance and extended reach optical interconnects at lower-cost than legacy multimode fibre, providing an additional option for high-speed data centre connectivity. These single-mode active optical cable assemblies will overcome the technical challenges of legacy technologies to support Ethernet, FibreChannel SAN Storage, InfiniBand systems and several other IO interface links between various blades, boxes, racks, containers and buildings.

Commenting on the launch of these specialised products, marketing manager Graeme Stoker said; "The market continues to demand higher bandwidth products and the future Moray product family is poised to support next-generation optical interconnect products for 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s applications. The innovative combination of silicon photonics transceiver technology and single mode fibre offers low power, high-speed interconnects that deliver high performance connectivity, increased reliability and extended transmission distances."

The Moray product is available in custom length options ranging from 1-4000m. EPROM programming options are also available.

To learn more about Siemon's Moray QSFP+ active optical assemblies visit: http://www.siemon.com/sis/

http://www.siemon.com/uk/company/press_releases/10-09-28-qsfp-plus.asp

CAESAREA, ISRAEL and WALLDORF, Germany - 28th September 2010 : ColorChip and Molex Incorporated announce today the development of the QSFP+ 40G-LR4 pluggable module with duplex LC interface. The transceiver, which was developed under an Israel-U.S. Bi-national Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) foundation grant awarded in 2007, is designed to provide the same performance level as the CFP 40G-LR4 module but with substantial size, power and cost benefits to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and end users.

“The collaboration between our two companies allowed us to combine our complementary areas of expertise,” said Tom Marrapode, director of marketing, Molex Fibre Optics. “ColorChip applied its knowledge of PLC technology to design the transceiver concept, electronics and optical integration scheme, while Molex tapped into its broad experience with mechanical integration and packaging to bring the module to completion.”

The transceiver uses ColorChip's System-On-Glass™ (SOG) PLC-based integrated optics and Molex's mechanics to create the industry's first 40G-LR4 Singlemode LC interface pluggable module in a QSFP form factor. ColorChip's advanced SOG waveguide technology implements CWDM multiplexing of four 10G DFB lasers to achieve 40G-LR4 performance in an industry standard QSFP+ pluggable module format.

“By using a QSFP+ form factor with duplex Singlemode LC connector as the module interface we were able to reduce costs compared to current CFP 40G-LR4 modules,” said Eli Arad, vice president of R&D, ColorChip. “It will allow vendors to design systems with higher port density and lower power consumption, simplifying installation and maintenance processes while maintaining the same high-speed, small-form factor product that customers demand.”

BERLIN, Germany, Sep 24, 2010 : VI Systems GmbH (VIS), a leader in optical engines and components for ultra-high speed short reach communication networks will present the R40-850TB high-frequency ceramic micro-assembly which includes a multimode-fiber compatible VIS photodetector chip, a VIS transimpedance amplifier (TIA) integrated circuit and the matching components. The integration is designed to improve dramatically the quality of the signal transmission. A multimode-fiber coupled Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) module V40-850M from VI Systems was used as the transmitting device. The Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio measured at the receiver at -3dBm optical power using Non-Return-to-Zero Pseudo-Random Bit Sequence (PRBS 27-1) encoding at 40 Gbit/s exceeded S/N = 6.5. This demonstrates a major advancement in low cost low power consumption 40 Gb/s optical transmission.

The advantages of optical subassemblies of VI Systems are in their ultralow power consumption with the driver and TIA ICs consuming below 130-150 mW at 40 Gbit/s each to improve the energy efficiency of datacenters.

The targeted applications include short-reach (0.5 m � 10 km) and very short-reach systems as well chip-to-chip optical interconnects used in the high performance computing industry. Future serial standards for electrical interfaces at data rates higher than the present ones of up to 14 Gbit/s are currently being developed within the Infiniband EDR (26 Gbit/s per lane, 2011), Common Electrical Interface Standards (CEI-25/28G), Fibre Channel FC32G, and IEEE 40/100G Ethernet.

Tokyo, Japan, September 16, 2010 — Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (TOKYO: 5802) (ISIN: JP3407400005), a leading provider in advanced optical solutions, today announced that it is expanding its optical transceiver portfolio with the introduction of a 40GbE optical transceiver for 40km reach.

The optical transceiver that Sumitomo Electric developed complies with the CFP Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) hardware and software specification and is capable of supporting 40km link distance over standard single mode fiber.

In order to alleviate future core network bandwidth shortage due to the rapid growth of the IP traffic volume, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has standardized 40Gigabit and 100Gigabit Ethernet under the 802.3ba Task Force. In parallel, Sumitomo Electric has been leading the CFP MSA for next generation form factor with 3 major optical component vendors.

 Sumitomo Electric has already released the 40GbE CFP optical transceiver for 10km reach and in addition, developed the world’s first 40GbE CFP for 40km reach by using a high speed 4-wavelength Corse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) laser diode for the optical transmitter and a high speed avalanche photo diode for the optical receiver. Maximum power consumption is compliant with CFP MSA power class 1 (8W max.) and it is the same value as the 40GbE CFP for 10km reach.

Sumitomo Electric is planning to start shipping 40GbE CFP samples for 40km reach in the 1st quarter of 2011 and mass production is planned for the 4th quarter of 2011. The mass production will be done at Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations, Inc. a 100% owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric.

http://global-sei.com/news/press/10/10_19.html