Alpine Optoelectronics Delivers Single-Wavelength 100G DWDM QSFP28 PAM4 Transceiver for 100km Interconnects
Enabled by nCP4™ Silicon Photonics Optical Engine
Fremont, CA – February 2, 2021 – Alpine Optoelectronics, Inc., a leading innovator of optical networking technology, is delivering beta samples of a new Single-Wavelength 100G DWDM QSFP28 transceiver based on its nCP4™ Silicon Photonics Optical Engine, a proprietary Silicon Photonics PAM4 modulator platform developed in-house (patents pending). The module operates at 40 fixed wavelengths on the ITU-T C-band DWDM 100GHz grid and is compatible with standard 40-channel 100GHz spacing DWDM Mux/Demux filters to provide 4Tbps of data capacity over a single G.652 single-mode fiber (SMF). With a link budget up to 25dB, it supports transmission distances of 100km or more in amplified and dispersion compensated systems. For direct links, the product supports up to 8dB link budget for short reaches of 0-2km. For applications requiring even greater bandwidth, the number of available wavelengths is expandable to 48 channels to achieve 4.8Tbps of data capacity.
Live demonstrations of this new 100G DWDM QSFP28 PAM4 transceiver are available as follows:
Demo 1: Single-span 120km multi-channel 100G DWDM transmission over standard SMF with total fiber link insertion loss of 25dB. Standard erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and dispersion compensation modules are used in this demonstration.
Demo 2: Direct link over 2km standard SMF for multi-channel 100G DWDM transmission with average link insertion loss per channel of approximately 7.5dB (including the 6dB average insertion loss per channel of the 40-channel DWDM Mux/Demux pair).
Compared to coherent 100G DWDM transceivers, Alpine’s 100G DWDM QSFP28 PAM4 module offers a disruptive price point and considerably lower power consumption for high-speed extended reach data center interconnects (DCI) and high-density intra-datacenter connectivity. In addition, inherent low latency makes it favorable for delay sensitive applications, such as edge computing and financial networking.
“Silicon Photonics technology reached maturity and wide acceptance in the market by 2021,” commented Dr. Vladimir Kozlov, CEO of LightCounting, “but performance of devices based on this technology continues to surprise us. Alpine’s latest product sets another new record in performance and there are probably more to come.”
“Alpine Optoelectronics is proud to deliver our new 100G DWDM QSFP28 PAM4 transceiver to our strategic partners serving the DCI and intra-datacenter marketplace, and they are impressed with the outstanding performance enabled by our nCP4™ Silicon Photonics platform,” said Tongqing Wang, President and CEO of Alpine Optoelectronics. “Building upon our strong success with 40G DWDM QSFP+ PAM4 optics already in mass production and our deep understanding of DWDM systems, this new 100G DWDM QSFP28 transceiver offers our customers and partners a clear, cost-effective, and flexible path to higher-speed and higher-density optical networking solutions.”
Key Features of the nCP4™ DWDM Solution
- Single-wavelength 100Gbps optical transmission
- Fixed wavelengths on the ITU-T C-band 100GHz DWDM grid
- Up to 4.8Tbps data capacity over a single fiber
- Compatible with standard 100GHz DWDM Mux/Demux filters
- 100km reach over SMF with EDFA & DCM
- PAM4 optical signal with integrated FEC
- 5W power dissipation
- 78G CAUI-4 host interface
- Compliant with QSFP28 MSA SFF-8636
- QSFP28 MSA digital monitoring functions
- Supports 100G Ethernet DWDM applications
Alpine Optoelectronics plans to showcase this and other optical connectivity solutions in Booth #2831 at OFC 2021 in San Francisco, California from June 8-10.
About Alpine Optoelectronics
Alpine Optoelectronics, Inc. is a US-based innovator in photonic products, headquartered in Fremont, California. The company was founded in 2017 by industry veteran entrepreneurs with extensive experience in optical transceiver design, development, and manufacturing. The company’s core competencies center on Silicon Photonics, PAM4, and Coherent technology bringing advanced solutions for next generation optical networks. The company is backed by private and strategic investors.
nCP4 is a trademark of Alpine Optoelectronics, Inc.
For more information visit Alpine Optoelectronics at www.alpineoptoelectronics.com or email us at sales@alpineoptoelectronics.com.
Alpine Optoelectronics Produces 400G PAM4 nCP4™ SiPho Optical Engine on Tower Semiconductor Technology
Based on Tower Semiconductor’s market leading PH18 Silicon Photonics technology platform
Designed for use in 400Gbps DR4 transceivers to support high-speed connectivity in data center applications
MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel, and Fremont, California, December 29, 2020 –Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ/TASE: TSEM), the leader in high-value analog semiconductor foundry solutions, and Alpine Optoelectronics, inc, a supplier of high data rate Silicon Photonics optical engine chips, today announced that Alpine Optoelectronics, Inc. began production of its 400G PAM4 nCP4™ optical engine on Tower Semiconductor’s PH18 Silicon Photonics technology platform. Alpine’s nCP4™ chip converts 4 lanes of 56Gbaud electrical input into 4 lanes of optical output for use in 400Gbps DR4 transceivers to support high-speed connectivity in data center applications.
“Alpine selected Tower Semiconductor as a foundry partner 2 years ago, because we believe in Tower’s capabilities of technology development and to seamlessly ramp production,” said Dr. Tongqing Wang, CEO, Alpine Optoelectronics, Inc. “We were able to develop a proprietary design to enable wafer level testing and a flexible yet efficient edge coupler that works with both lens coupling and fiber array attachment. We are also pleased with the high OE bandwidth of our modulators, thanks in part to Tower’s selection of PN junction doping.”
Based on LightCounting’s recent Integrated Optical Devices Report, Silicon Photonics based optical transceivers will enjoy an annual growth of 45% from 2019 to 2025, and it is expected to reach a market size of 3.9B USD in 2025.
Tower’s PH18 Silicon Photonics open foundry process offers a rich set of optical components including ultra-high bandwidth modulators, photodetectors, and low-loss waveguides that can be combined to enable innovative and highly integrated photonic products.
“We are excited to announce another production success story for our open foundry Silicon Photonics platform and our partnership with Alpine, an elite supplier to some of the leaders in the optical industry,” said Dr. Marco Racanelli, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Analog IC Business Unit. Tower Semiconductor, “Our unique foundry process provides customers like Alpine not only a sustainable level of maturity but also the flexibility to innovate in a market that is still young and expected to grow strongly in the coming years as 400Gb and 800Gb platforms are deployed.”
For more information about Tower Semiconductor’s RF & HPA process technology offerings, please click here.
For more information about Tower Semiconductor’s process technology offerings, please click here
About Alpine Optoelectronics
Alpine Optoelectronics, Inc. is a US-based innovator in photonic products, headquartered in Fremont, California. The company was founded in 2017 by industry veteran entrepreneurs with extensive experience in optical transceiver design, development, and manufacturing. The company’s core competencies center on Silicon Photonics, PAM4, and Coherent technology bringing advanced solutions for next generation optical networks. The company is backed by private and strategic investors. For more information visit Alpine Optoelectronics at www.alpineoptoelectronics.com or contact sales@alpineoptoelectronics.com.
About Tower Semiconductor
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ: TSEM, TASE: TSEM), the leader in high-value analog semiconductor foundry solutions, provides technology and manufacturing platforms for integrated circuits (ICs) in growing markets such as consumer, industrial, automotive, mobile, infrastructure, medical and aerospace and defense. Tower Semiconductor focuses on creating positive and sustainable impact on the world through long term partnerships and its advanced and innovative analog technology offering, comprised of a broad range of customizable process platforms such as SiGe, BiCMOS, mixed-signal/CMOS, RF CMOS, CMOS image sensor, non-imaging sensors, integrated power management (BCD and 700V), and MEMS. Tower Semiconductor also provides world-class design enablement for a quick and accurate design cycle as well as Transfer Optimization and development Process Services (TOPS) to IDMs and fabless companies. To provide multi-fab sourcing and extended capacity for its customers, Tower Semiconductor operates two manufacturing facilities in Israel (150mm and 200mm), two in the U.S. (200mm) and three facilities in Japan (two 200mm and one 300mm) through TPSCo. For more information, please visit www.towersemi.com.
Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary from those projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. A complete discussion of risks and uncertainties that may affect the accuracy of forward-looking statements included in this press release or which may otherwise affect TowerJazz’s business is included under the heading "Risk Factors" in Tower’s most recent filings on Forms 20-F, F-3, F-4 and 6-K, as were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Israel Securities Authority and Jazz’s most recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, as were filed with the SEC, respectively. Tower and Jazz do not intend to update, and expressly disclaim any obligation to update, the information contained in this release.
Alpine Company Contact: henry.plaessmann@alpineoptoelectronics.com
Tower Semiconductor Company Contact: Orit Shahar | +972-74-7377440 | oritsha@towersemi.com
Tower Semiconductor Investor Relations Contact: Noit Levy | +972-4-604-7066 | noitle@towersemi.com
Alpine Optoelectronics introduces Single-Wavelength 40G DWDM PAM4 QSFP+ Transceiver
Fremont, Calif. – February 1, 2019 – Alpine Optoelectronics, an innovation leader in PAM4, Coherent, and Silicon Photonics solutions, announces immediate availability of its single-wavelength DWDM 40G-PAM4 QSFP+ pluggable optical transceiver. The single-wavelength DWDM 40G-PAM4 QSFP+ module offers an ideal solution with superior performance and reliability for cost-effective upgrades of current 10G enterprise, campus, financial services, and high-performance computing (HPC) DWDM networks from 10G per wavelength to 40G per wavelength with reach up to 80km.
These cost-effective single-wavelength 40G DWDM PAM4 modules can be implemented with existing single-mode network infrastructure by simply replacing current 10G links with 40G links with reaches up to 80km, thus providing a 4X increase in bandwidth. On shorter reaches of 10km or less no DCF or EDFA are required.
These modules are available in the ITU DWDM wavelength grid, Ch.21 to Ch.60, and operate over 0-70 Deg C case temperature. Typical power consumption is 3.5W.
“In 2018, traditional data centers in enterprises, universities, and research centers have an ongoing need to improve bandwidth and data rates of their networks, but don’t necessarily have the resources or budget to move to the latest 100G equipment. Alpine Optoelectronics offers a cost-effective PAM4 solution maximizing the ROI on existing 10G infrastructure. Today, we are introducing our first PAM4 product compliant with the QSFP+ MSA,” said Tongqing Wang, President and CEO of Alpine Optoelectronics. “Alpine Optoelectronics is bringing innovative solutions based on PAM4, Coherent, and Silicon Photonics with an experienced team of designers. With these new products we are addressing connectivity needs of traditional data centers, and we will soon introduce single-wavelength 50G transceiver products for the 5G wireless market as well as single-wavelength 100G modules for hyperscale/cloud data centers. We look forward to delivering additional high-performance single-mode fiber solutions into these core markets.”
Alpine Optoelectronics is working with University of Basel to provide a cost-effective solution to increase existing network capacity without disrupting traffic, leasing additional fiber, or investing in a full 100G upgrade. “With Alpine Optoelectronics new single-wavelength 40G DWDM QSFP+ transceivers and 2 inexpensive amplifiers, University of Basel has been able to easily replace portions of its 10G-DWDM-MAN in a cost-effective way by re-using its existing DWDM mux/demux infrastructure. As the network traffic grows, we can further increase capacity simply by adding more Alpine transceivers” said Harald Volz of University of Basel IT Services.
About Alpine Optoelectronics
Alpine Optoelectronics, Inc. is a US-based innovator in photonic products, headquartered in Fremont California. The company was founded in 2017 by proven, industry veteran entrepreneurs with 100 years of collective experience in optical transceiver design, commercialization, and production. The company’s core competencies center on PAM4, Coherent, and Silicon Photonics bringing advanced solutions for next generation optical networks. The company is backed by private investors and has received significant strategic investment from a strong manufacturing partner with established optical transceiver production lines.
For more information contact Alpine Optoelectronics at sales@alpineoptoelectronics.com
Alpine Optoelectronics will be showcasing this and other transceiver products in Booth #4842 at OFC 2019 in San Diego, California from March 5-7.