Product category:
Optical Transceivers, Transponders and Repeaters
News Release from: Cypress Semiconductor | Subject: QuadLink MSA
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 21 January 2002
Four-channel transceiver takes on 10Gbit
standards
Alvesta and Cypress Semiconductor have announced the QuadLink MSA, a multisource agreement based on four-channel parallel optic transceivers.
Alvesta and Cypress Semiconductor have announced the QuadLink MSA, a multisource agreement based on four-channel parallel optic transceivers QuadLink is the first parallel optics MSA optimised for 10Gbit operation across multiple industry standards, including Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) for SONET/SDH, InfiniBand and the emerging 10Gbit Fibre Channel specification
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 9 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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"Four-channel parallel transceivers are the most cost-effective optical solution for 10Gbit applications", said Dan Morris, Vice President of Cypress's WAN and Storage Network divisions.
"Optics is the wave of the future; therefore, we have developed parallel optical interconnect products, leveraging the capabilities of Cypress and our subsidiary Silicon Light Machines.
Signing this MSA demonstrates our commitment to providing our customers with very-short range optical solutions".
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The QuadLink MSA is based on an innovative four-channel, full-duplex optical transceiver architecture.
Both companies intend to manufacture MSA-compliant optical transceivers.
Additionally, the MSA is openly structured to enable additional optics vendors to manufacture compatible products.
Fully compatible optics from multiple vendors provide optical system manufacturers with improved continuity of supply and associated risk reduction.
"Alvesta created the four-channel parallel optics segment with the mid-2000 introduction of our Model 3100 transceiver", stated Dubravko Babic, Alvesta chief technology officer.
"The QuadLink MSA provides a major benefit to customers by extending sourcing of completely compatible parallel optics to two high-volume manufacturers".
Industry standards supported by the QuadLink MSA include OIF-VSR4-03.0 for OC-48 SONET/SDH channel aggregation, IB-4X-SX for InfiniBand architecture quad optical links, and 1200-M5-SN4P-I for 10Gbit Fibre Channel VSR optics as included in the current 10 GFC NCITS working draft.
The QuadLink MSA leverages the broad availability of electronic components optimised for four-channel operation.
Specifically, the MSA is compatible with SERDES and integrated switch silicon from a number of leading semiconductor manufacturers.
Compatible products include quad and octal SONET/SDH SERDES and integrated switches supporting 4 x 2.488Gbit/s data transfer, quad InfiniBand SERDES and 4x integrated switches operating at 4 x 2.5Gbit/s, and four channel XAUI SERDES for 10Gbit Ethernet or 10Gbit Fibre Channel applications operating at 4 x 3.125 or 4 x 3.1875Gbit/s, respectively.
The MSA footprint of 542mm2 is the smallest in the industry for 10Gbit/s serial or parallel optics, taking 35% less board space than the next smallest solution.
Field replaceable mounting, as well as solder attachment is supported.
A standardised management interface is also provided.
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