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The Year in 12 Stories
March 2013
Compass-EOS puts optical interface directly onto core router chip
S tart-up Compass-EOS has announced availability of an IP core router based on an electronic chip with a terabit-plus optical interface. Having an optical interface directly to the silicon – which includes a merchant network processor – simplifies the system design and enables the router to incorporate such features as real output queuing, the start-up says. The r10004 IP router is in production and is already deployed in an operator’s network. The company’s icPhotonics chip integrates 168 x 8Gbps VCSELs and 168 photodetectors for a A vago Technologies has announced a definitive agreement to acquire optical component player CyOptics. The value of the acquisition, at $400 million ( € 304 million), is double CyOptics’ revenues in 2012. CyOptics’ sales were $210 million ( € 160million) last year, up 21 percent from the previous year. Avago’s acquisition will make it the optical component industry’s second largest company, behind Finisar,accordingtomarketresearch firm, Ovum. The deal is expected to M arlin Equity Partners has closed its acquisition of Nokia Siemens Networks’ optical networks business, thus completing the transfer of the company’s optical business to Coriant (see Nokia Siemens exits optical hardware business). Officially “unleashed” at the OFC/NFOEC tradeshow in March – to use the term at the centre of its marketing campaign – Coriant is now an independent optical transport systems company, planning to concentrate on April 2013 May 2013
bandwidth of 1.344Tbps each direction. Eight of these chips are connected in a full mesh, doing away with the need for a router’s switch fabric and mid-plane used to interconnect the router cards. This saves on power consumption, space and cost, says Asaf Somekh, vice president of marketing at Compass-EOS. The start-up estimates that its platform’s total cost of ownership over five years is a quarter to a third of competing IP core routers. The high-bandwidth optical links will also enable system interconnect. Compass-EOS is coming tomarket with a standalone be completed in the third quarter of the year. The deal will add indium phosphide and planar lightwave circuit technologies to Avago’s vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and optical transceiver products. In particular, Avago will gain edge laser technology and photonic integration expertise. It will also inherit an advanced automated manufacturing site as well as entry into new markets such as passive optical networking (PON). Avago stresses its interest in coherent transport and software-defined optical intelligence. Coriant starts out withoperations in 48 countries and the majority of employees from the former Nokia Siemens business unit, including the management team. The headquarters remain in Munich; and Herbert Merz, previously head of optical networks at Nokia Siemens, has become Coriant’s president and CEO. The product line includes the hiT 7300 DWDM/OTN transport 100G
6U-high platform but says it will connect up to 21 platforms that appear as one large logical router. The 800Gbps-capacity IP router comes with 2x100Gbps and 20x10Gbps line cards. The platform has real output queuing where all the input ports’ packets are queued before quality of service is applied prior to the exit port. The router also supports software-defined networking to enable external control of traffic. The start-up refers to its optical interface IC as silicon photonics but a more accurate description is integrated silicon-optics; silicon itself is not used as a medium for acquiring CyOptics is to bolster its data centre offerings – in particular 40G and 100G data centre and enterprise applications – as well as benefit from the growing PON market. “Avago has seen that there are challenges being solely a short- distance supplier, and there are opportunities expanding its portfolio and strategy,” said Daryl Inniss, Ovum’s vice president and practice leader components. Such opportunities include larger data centres now being built and platform, the hiT 7100 OTN switch, and the hiT 70xx series of multiservice provisioning platforms. The company also supplies the TNMS network management software and TransNet and TransConnect network planning tools. Writing in a blog post for the OFC/NFOEC show, Merz described Coriant’s world view. “We all know that 100Ghas started now, driven by mobility, video, and cloud services. What does that mean for us? Data traffic will
light. However, Compass-EOS’s platform shows how optics can be used for chip-to-chip links to enable disruptive system designs. Somekh says the development of the integrated optical interface has been challenging, requiring three years of development working with the Fraunhofer Institute and Tel-Aviv University. One challenge was developing a glue to fix the VCSELs on top of the silicon. The start-up has raised over $120 million with investors such as Cisco Systems, Deutsche Telekom and Comcast as well as several venture capitalist firms. their greater use of singlemode fibre that is becoming an attractive alternative to multimode as data rates and reach requirements increase. Another factor motivating the acquisition is that short-distance interconnections are being challenged by silicon photonics. “In the long run silicon photonics is going to win,” said Inniss. The company says it has no plans to enter the longer distance optical transmission market beyond supplying optical components. become more unpredictable than ever, forcing customers to bring agility, capacity and flexibility to their networks. The challenge is to change from a static, hardware-centric infrastructure to more adaptable, software- defined optical networks that enable rapid delivery of end-to- end services.” In January 2013, Marlin Equity Partners completed the acquisition of Sycamore Networks, now called Sycamore Networks Solutions.
Avago announces its intention to acquire CyOptics
Coriant enters optical market, as Nokia Siemens bows out
10 | Optical Connections 2013 | www.opticalconnectionsnews.com |
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