An agreement announced Wednesday between optical communications products suppliers Oclaro Inc. and 3SPGroup marks the biggest change in industry standards for small form factor (SFF) pump laser packaging in 15 years, reducing the packaging by 70 percent, the companies say. The new 10-pin butterfly package replaces the current standard 14-pin format and is about 30 percent the size. It has the same pin-out, pin-pitch and front mounting hole centers as the existing pin, so it will be backwardly compatible with legacy applications. The new form factor will allow customers to develop compact amplifiers with lower costs and reduced space requirements in network equipment, they say. Ensuring that next-generation pump lasers meet a defined and agreed mechanical outline, footprint and electrical pin-out is extremely important to amplifier customers who would otherwise have to deal with many different formats and form factors from their pump vendors, Oclaro and 3SPGroup say. "Lower-cost and space-efficient optical amplification with potentially higher component density is critical to implementing complex network solutions," said Simon Loten, director of product management at Oclaro. "Customers are looking for ways to reduce form factors, and they also want to standardize on one format for all their needs — whether that be cooled and uncooled pump products or multichip devices. This new MSA [multisource agreement] represents a significant advancement in the pump laser industry." "The industry is trending towards smaller form factors, and by establishing an MSA, customers now have a clear route and assurance that they will have multiple-vendor supply," said Didier Sauvage, chief technology officer at 3SPGroup. For more information, visit: www.oclaro.com/980PumpMSA or http://3spgroup.com/980PumpMSA