Bookham Tunable Laser Assembly Selected to Support 40Gb/s DWDM Systems
Bookham, Inc. (Nasdaq: BKHM), a leading provider of optical components, modules and subsystems, today announced that its LambdaFLEXTM integrable Tunable Laser Assembly (iTLA) has been selected by equipment vendors to support 40Gb/s DWDM transmission systems. The iTLA offers equipment vendors a cost-effective, single product to cover all data rates up to 40Gb/s. The iTLA, which has already been extensively deployed in systems supporting 10Gb/s and below, has now been selected for use in 40Gb/s transmission systems, including the Mintera MI 40000XS next-generation subsystem for DWDM optical transport in metro, regional and ultra long-haul telecom networks. Mintera is currently shipping the MI 40000XS platform to customers worldwide.
" The Bookham iTLA has proved extremely effective in our next-generation 40Gb/s DWDM optical transmission systems,” said Bryan Siegal, VP Operations and Customer Satisfaction at Mintera.
“ We are very satisfied with the optical performance of the Bookham iTLA. It has provided us with a reliable, high performance laser source. The product’s mechanical design means that it is easy to assemble, requiring no additional parts, thereby reducing the bill of materials. The full C band coverage has simplified our planning and inventory requirements."
Commenting on the announcement, Jon White, product line manager for tunable sources at Bookham, said:“The Bookham iTLA has been designed to be a common base technology to enable bit rates up to and through 40Gb/s. This approach has enabled us to provide a very cost-effective solution for our higher bit rate customers without the need for further design changes. We are seeing significant market penetration with our tunable portfolio and we continue to demonstrate our capability to enable our customers’ next-generation network architectures through qualified leading-edge technology and a high volume manufacturing capability.”
Differentiated by its fast tuning speed to enable reconfigurable network features, the iTLA is fully-qualified and in volume production at the company’s manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, China. Based on the OIF MSA outline, the full-band tunable laser is supplied in module form, with control electronics and firmware, to enable customers to integrate the assembly with their systems quickly and economically. The product provides a number of market-leading functions, such as narrow line width, internal frequency dither generation, direct input path for transmitter trace tone functionality, dark tuning, field programmable firmware, adjustable power and full C or L band coverage. Bookham is also able to offer custom iTLA designs by leveraging its vertical integration capability.
Unlike many competing technologies, the Bookham tunable laser is built on a single InP optical chip, the DSDBR, with no moving parts – a design that is protected by US patent (US7145923). This enables extremely fast wavelength tuning with excellent reliability, comparable to that offered by legacy DFB lasers. It also brings cost-effective wideband tunability to all optical transport applications.
Source: Bookham (Press Release).