News Briefs (March 7, 2006)

Avanex Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Opnext Inc. announced today at OFC/NFOEC, being held this week in Anaheim, Calif., the formation of a multisource agreement (MSA) to establish compatible sources of 10 Gb/s XFP-E (extended size) transceivers for high-performance applications in 10 Gb/s optical transmission systems. "As an extension of standard XFP MSA 4.0 compliant, it provides convenient and flexible optical interfaces for ultralong-haul dense wavelength division applications as well as back compatibility with SONET/SDH, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 10-G Fiber Channel XFP transceivers operating from 9.95 Gb/s up to 11.09 Gb/s," the MSA committee said. The new XFP-E meets the applicable ITU-T G.691, ITU-T G.709, Telcordia GR-253 and XFP MSA standards. An XFI electrical interface is provided along with a two-wire serial I2C interface for digital diagnostics. MSA is now finalizing the XFP-E specifications, and samples will be available in 2006. . . . Also at OFC/NFOEC, The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) is demonstrating the interoperability of transponders and optical components for very-long-reach (VLR) applications using alternative modulation techniques. OIF members Azna LLC, Essex Corp., Kodeos Communications, Opnexta and Vitesse will demonstrate interoperability of an application code for VLR links at the OIF booth (1149). For more OFC coverage and product announcements, see OFC/NFOEC 2006 Coverage & Product Showcase