II-VI, Lumentum Partner with Infinera

Infinera has announced partnerships with II-VI Inc. and Lumentum Holdings Inc. to advance the development of optical transceivers based on the XR optics technology. XR optics are expected to enable more efficient and cost-effective solutions for transporting 5G signals, enhanced broadband, and cloud-based business services.

“We are excited to partner with II-VI to introduce this revolutionary point-to-multipoint solution that is expected to help network operators realize unprecedented savings,” said Dave Welch, Infinera’s chief innovation officer. “We are experiencing growing interest from our customers in XR optics, and collaborating with a leader like II-VI underscores the value of this innovation and our commitment to bring it to market with a broad-based coalition of top-tier suppliers.”

Infinera stated in a press release that its Infinite Capacity Engine and coherent subcarrier aggregation will allow them to use Nyquist subcarriers or subcarrier bundles generated by a single coherent transmission source to be assigned to various endpoints “This collaboration will enable us to jointly deliver digital coherent optics in small pluggable form factors and with low power consumption,” said Matthias Berger, II-VI’s vice president of the Coherent Optics Business Unit.

Infinera had previously announced on Feb. 10 that it was also partnering with Lumentum on the same project.

Beck Mason, senior vice president and general manager of Lumentum’s Telecom Transmission Business, said his company’s collaboration with Infinera will lead to bringing XR optics to market. “The XR optics concept aligns with our core strategy to provide scalable and flexible coherent optical network solutions that enable higher speeds for next-generation transport networks.”

Infinera said it would seek partners to ensure the development of pluggable coherent modules that are capable of being inserted into router ports.