This week Finisar is participating in the Ethernet Alliance Interoperability Demo in booth #724, one of the largest interoperability demonstrations taking place at OFC/NFOEC 2012!
The Ethernet Alliance (EA) is a global consortium that includes system and component vendors, industry experts and university and government professionals who are committed to the continued success and expansion of Ethernet technology. Taking Ethernet standards to market by supporting activities that span from incubation of new Ethernet technologies to interoperability demonstrations and education, this demo showcases cost-effective, high-speed connectivity to the cloud via interoperable 10-, 40-, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) optical connections – focusing on how the Ethernet ecosystem uses optics and how businesses are implementing 10-, 40-, and 100GbE optics in their networks.
The EA and 10 member companies (including Finisar, Brocade, Cisco Systems, Dell Force 10, Ixia, Volex and others) will demonstrate a variety of high-speed Ethernet technologies illustrating how 10GbE servers are driving the need for 40bE and 100GbE uplinks within the data center environment and to cloud service providers.
Finisar’s high-performance 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP and OTU4/100GBASE-LR4 CFP standards-compliant optical transceiver modules are playing a key role in the deployment of new 40- and 100GbE routers and switches required to meet the large increases in bandwidth demand and are an integral part of this interoperability demo.
Planning to catch the demo in action? Tell us what you think! To hear more about what’s been taking place this week at OFC/NFOEC, be sure to follow our updates on Twitter!
Finisar 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP Optical Module
Finisar OTU4/100GBASE-LR4 CFP Optical Module
The 16G market has arrived and we are happy to announce that Finisar is shipping lots of 16 Gb/s Fibre Channel transceivers. We have now shipped 16 Gb/s transceivers in volumes of multiple tens-of-thousands. Our portfolio includes both shortwave and longwave modules; these provide an important part of the core foundation of next-generation Storage Area Network (SAN) equipment for 100 meter and 10 km applications. With the achievement of this milestone, Finisar is well-positioned to continue to serve as the foremost supplier of transceivers for the SAN market.
Finisar’s 16 Gb/s Fibre Channel SFP+ transceiver modules provide superior value to customers:
• IC integration gives way to the industry’s highest performance module with the lowest power dissipation
• MSA-compliant while supporting special customization to enhance customer system value
• Total solution – Finisar is the only supplier offering both shortwave and longwave solutions in volume.
We have leveraged our experience in delivering 8 Gb/s Fibre Channel transceivers in high volume to develop and manufacture our 16 Gb/s transceivers. With in-house IC capabilities, high volume capacity, and vertical integration technology, Finisar offers customers the security of supply continuity by eliminating the single-source availability issues faced by its competitors.
As a long-time and valued customer, Brocade’s Lisa Loscavio, VP of Supply Chain Operations, commented:
“Finisar provides the high performance, power efficiency, and volume capacity we need to meet the rising demand of the market for next-generation SAN equipment. We look forward to continuing our relationship with this market leader.”
Thank you, Brocade, for your long-standing commitment to Finisar. We are proud to serve you and the 16G market.
When I joined Finisar nearly nine years ago, I was told repeatedly by customers (paraphrasing):
• Make sure your module exactly meets the standards and relevant MSAs (Multi-Service Agreement).
• Don’t try to do anything outside of the MSA or standard.
• God help you if you try to differentiate your product or do any “funny business” like that!
Indeed, it was a difficult time. The entire optical market had just crashed, and everybody was focused solely on efficiency and reducing costs.
Probably the most depressing statement I heard was during a speech at a celebration dinner in 2003 for the ratification of the XFP MSA. I had been with Finisar for only a month, and as we were celebrating the fine work that had been put into completing the XFP MSA, an individual from a system OEM (who shall remain unnamed to protect the innocent), stood up and said “I would like to see optics become a commodity – not a commodity like gold, but a commodity like rice.”
Fortunately that viewpoint is changing. Many of our customers, the systems manufacturers, are in a position where it is increasingly difficult to differentiate their systems. In addition, next generation optical technology has become increasingly difficult to develop. Datacenters are demanding reaches outside of those specified in the standards. Parallel optics are enabling system densities that were unheard of a few years ago. ROADMs are increasingly ubiquitous in telecom networks, all based on WSS’s (wavelength selective switches). The line-side of telecom has become increasingly more complex with differing modulation formats; and trade-offs between reach, bandwidth and spectral efficiency are becoming a reality as we move to higher data rates.
As such, customers are now seeing that aligning with specific optics vendors that can provide differentiated optical technology can go a long way to helping them improve their margins and market position.
I believe this is a very positive trend in our industry and increasingly allows us to challenge our intelligent and creative people to develop innovative ideas for meeting the demands of next generation networks. At Finisar, we continue to work on developing products that enable our customers to be successful and we certainly hope to see this trend continue.
Your thoughts and comments are welcome.
More than 350 exhibitors from around the world convened in Geneva, Switzerland in September for the annual ECOC tradeshow which gathered more than 5,000 attendees.
Gearing up for ECOC, Finisar introduced several new products including the world’s first 1×20 High Port Count WSS for telecom networks and the WaveShaper 1000S/X and 4000S/X for optical system testing applications. Check back on Lightspeed later this week for a demo video of the new WaveShaper.
Other company highlights at ECOC included live demonstrations of the industry’s first 40 Gb/s Multi-Rate Serial CFP-FR optical module and the 10 Gb/s DWDM 80km SFP+ Optical Transceiver (you can also check back later this week for a video demo of our new SFP+). It was great to see so much activity stir around these demos at the Finisar booth!
We also introduced a new Finisar GPON Stick for PON applications. As always, we enjoyed showcasing our latest products and innovative technology at this international event.
As ECOC 2011 came to an end and we made our way back across the pond, we turned our thoughts to a great fall season and already look forward to seeing all of you at next year’s event in Amsterdam.
We are pleased to announce that Finisar recently received the 2010 Excellent Partner Award from Hitachi. Of the 200 companies that were eligible, only four suppliers received this award with Finisar as the only optical communications supplier. The most rewarding part is that we were recognized for providing innovative technology and flexible support – two items we continually strive to be the best at in our industry.
Thank you Hitachi for recognizing our efforts.
Uncategorized | Rafik Ward | 
March 5, 2012 7:33 pm | 
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