OFC update: switches and component launches abound

17 Jun 2002

Multiplexers and all-optical switching stand out

Polatis described the first performance details of a 64-port, all-optical switch card, offering "any-to-any" optical connectivity between all input ports and all output ports and featuring direct beam-switching technology at its score at OFC. SpectraSwitch announced that its WaveWalker 1 x 2 liquid crystal switch has successfully cycled more than 100 million times, suggesting that liquid crystal technology redefines optical switch lifetimes. Meanwhile, Blue Sky Research released its Optical Cross-Connect Switches (OXCs) for dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) optical networks, based on a micromirror design that uses electromechanical actuators rather than micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and said to offer improvements in performance and compactness.

The UK start-up Kamelian made its debut at the show, exhibiting a reconfigurable add-drop multiplexer based on semiconductor optical amplifier technology and featuring eight channels that can be expanded to 40 channels in 8-channel increments. OptiMight revealed its Raman-less product for long-haul and ultra-long-haul networks based on full-spectrum wave-division multiplexing (WDM) technology, the OMC 1600. Wavesplitter demonstrated the world's first 8-inch planar lightguide circuit wafer, which enables multiple functions to be integrated on one chip.

A "disruptive" wavelength networking architecture called WaveJunction, from Cinta Networks, was on show, and is claimed to integrate the fundamental transport and switching elements of next-generation optical networks, enabling "massive scalability" and savings of up to 80% in operating expenses. Nortel Networks introduced its next-generation optical solution which will operate at 40/80 Gbps and includes their OpTera Long Haul 5000 Optical Line System, their OPTera Connect HDX 40 Gbps optical switch, their MEMS-based tunable laser and their Smart Optical Network software. Meanwhile, Alcatel described a complete product line dedicated to Raman amplification, including pump modules at 300 mW, multi-pump modules at 800 mW and optical amplifier subsystems. This product line is designed to reduce the metropolitan transmission system cost.