September 20, 2017
By Lightwave Staff
Acacia Communications (NASDAQ: ACIA) says it plans to begin sampling a 1.2-Tbps coherent optical module during the first half of next year. The AC1200 Coherent will leverage the company's Pico coherent DSP to transmit a pair of 600-Gbps wavelengths. It also will occupy a footprint 40% smaller than current 5x7-inch optical modules, the company asserts.
The AC1200 module will feature "continuous baud rate adjustment" to optimize spectrum use, a patented fractional QAM modulation capability designed to enable the selection of QAM constellations with what Acacia terms "very fine resolution," and enhanced software-defined forward error correction (SD-FEC). The coherent module also will support encryption and a variety of host interfaces.
Acacia says it will offer a software development kit for the coherent optical module as well.
The company expects the AC1200 to find use in a wide range of applications, including data center interconnect, metro, long-haul, and submarine networks. The company is positioning the AC1200 as an alternative to the 5x7-inch 400-Gbps optical modules Lumentum, NeoPhotonics, and Oclaro are developing using DSP technology from Ciena (see "Ciena to license WaveLogic Ai coherent DSP to optical module vendors").
Acacia also attracted commentary from a high-profile source for the announcement.
"Our growth is continually driving the need for better optical performance within the network. Technology that raises the bar with high baud rate integrated photonics and signal processing algorithms in a well-architected interconnect solution provide the high performance that is imperative," said Glenn Wellbrock, director of optical transport network architecture, design and planning, Verizon, via Acacia's press release. |
