Portable OTDR homes in on bending loss test
Yokogawa has added a triple-wavelength module to its AQ7260 optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR), which now includes 1625, 1310 and 1550 nm testing. The new 1625 nm capability is particularly relevant for measuring bending losses and increases the versatility of the instrument for fibre installation applications, claims Yokogawa. The new module is designed for measurements on singlemode fibres, and offers a 2 m (typical) event dead zone plus enough dynamic range to measure the optical fibre cable length. There are 10 pulse-width ranges available, between 10 ns and 20 µs.
www.yokogawa.com
Metro Ethernet switch slashes time-to-market
Xelerated and Dune Networks have jointly developed a production-ready metro Ethernet switch. The carrier-class switch uses two Xelerated X11 data-flow network processors and two of Dune's FAP20V traffic managers connected back-to-back. The US firms claim that the Ethernet switch will shorten time-to-market for equipment makers by delivering a production-ready platform with a programmable architecture.
The metro Ethernet switch comes in two versions: the fibre model has 24 SFP and 2 XFP interfaces, while the copper model has 24 RJ-45 and 2 XFP interfaces. Both models allow four of the Gigabit Ethernet ports to be used for either copper or fibre, creating a high degree of flexibility. Prototypes will be available in September, with volume production in Q4 2006.
www.xelerated.com
www.dunenetworks.com
Compact test platform eyes Gigabit Ethernet
EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering of Canada has launched the FTB-8510 Packet Blazer Ethernet test module for its FTB-200 compact platform. The Packet Blazer's features include RFC 2544 testing, multiple-stream generation and analysis, Ethernet quality-of-service testing and packet jitter measurement. EXFO says that the new module provides field technicians with "powerful Ethernet testing capabilities in a lightweight and compact form factor". The FTB-8510 test module can also be housed inside EXFO's FTB-400 universal test system (UTS).
www.exfo.com
Jitter/wander test gear delivers best accuracy
JDSU claims that its ONT-506 and ONT-512 testers now offer "the most accurate solution on the market for measuring 2.5/2.7 Gbit/s SDH/SONET jitter". By combining existing optical and electrical interfaces with a new 2.5/2.7 Gbit/s jitter/wander feature, the testers can generate and analyse jitter/wander at 155 and 622 Mbit/s, and 2.5 and 2.7 Gbit/s. JDSU says that this feature helps equipment manufacturers and network operators to address the bandwidth demands placed on metro and long-haul networks by the deployment of triple-play services.
www.jdsu.com
Transport platform is optimized for the edge
Ciena has unveiled the CN 4200 MC, a compact version of its CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform. Designed for deployment at enterprises and carrier locations with space restrictions, the CN 4200 MC extends the US network specialist's FlexSelect architecture to the network edge and reduces the cost of delivering service backhaul and metro transport applications.
The CN 4200 family offers individual, remotely programmable ports that support any optical service type and can function as either client or network interfaces.
The new CN 4200 MC supports Ciena's entire family of CN 4200 line cards and C/DWDM channel plans and operates in point-to-point, linear add-drop or ring topologies.
www.ciena.com
Low-loss module will deal with dispersion
Avanex's low-loss dispersion-compensation module (DCM) reduces the optical power loss of a fibre-based DCM by almost 50% compared with previous products, according to the US optical component and subsystem manufacturer. Suitable for both singlemode and LEAF transmission fibres, the new DCM maintains all of the critical optical specifications of Avanex's standard dispersion-management systems while reducing the optical loss. This allows for longer span lengths without the need to redesign existing network architectures. Avanex says that the low-loss DCM can be deployed in the network at every other node, instead of at every node, significantly reducing costs.
www.avanex.com
POF transceiver pair shrinks cost per node
Firecomms' resonant cavity LED-based 650 nm fibre-optic transceiver (FOT) pair is designed to provide a Fast Ethernet communication link over plastic optic fibre (POF). Rated for modulation at 250 Mbit/s, Firecomms' fully-integrated FOT is said to be ideal for 100 Mbit/s Ethernet. The device is compatible with current-mode logic differential voltage swing levels and is said to provide seamless integration into Ethernet hubs.
According to the Irish compound semiconductor company, the Fast Ethernet transceiver provides a simpler interface to an Ethernet PHY than has previously been available, and is designed for use with ultra-low-cost connectors. Combined, these features could significantly reduce the cost-per-node for applications such as home, office and industrial Ethernet networks, claims Firecomms. The series EDL300 Fast Ethernet FOT is currently shipping in volume quantities.
www.firecomms.com
Platform converts 10G LAN PHY to WAN PHY
Ekinops of France has added a 10 Gbit/s transponder and protocol converter to its PM series of advanced multiservice aggregation and transport platforms. The PM 1001 is a DWDM transponder with embedded forward-error correction technology that can transport any protocol from 9.95 to 10.709 Gbit/s, as well as converting 10 Gbit/s protocols.
"Ekinops' 10G protocol converter enables direct connectivity of 10G LAN PHY equipment, such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches, to SDH/SONET networks," said chief executive officer Didier Bredy. "Converting 10G LAN PHY to WAN PHY allows service providers
to use their installed base of SDH/SONET and DWDM networks for the transport of 10G Ethernet."
www.ekinops.net
Ethernet switches eye triple-play and VLANs
Zarlink Semiconductor of Canada has expanded its ClassSwitch Ethernet platform with two new devices that lower the cost and speed the deployment of network access equipment for triple-play and carrier-grade Ethernet virtual local-area network (VLAN) applications. Zarlink says that its ZL33032 and ZL33050 chips are the industry's first Ethernet classifier switches to integrate embedded memory with protection switching and quality-of-service features for passive optical networks.
The ZL33032 embedded memory switch is a fully featured device with 24 Fast Ethernet and four Gigabit Ethernet ports. The ZL33050 delivers the same features and port configurations, with the option to add external memory to support applications requiring additional traffic burstiness, more complex congestion control and advanced traffic shaping. The ZL33032 and ZL33050 are available now, priced at $74 and $80.91, respectively, for 10K volumes. Other port configurations will be available soon.
www.zarlink.com
Fibre assemblies ramp LAN, SAN installation
Nexans of France has introduced a range of pre-terminated fibre assemblies, dubbed LANmark-OF Pre-Term. The assemblies combine high-bandwidth fibres with enhanced-performance connectors to significantly reduce installation time and cost, while guaranteeing full scalability and lasting reliability. All LANmark-OF Pre-Term assemblies are fully terminated and tested in a quality-assured factory environment. Every assembly is developed and manufactured by optical engineers to individual customer requirements. Suggested applications include Ethernet local-area networks and Fibre Channel storage-area networks.
www.nexans.com
GPON access system offers Tbit/s switching
Huawei Technologies' latest gigabit passive optical network (GPON) platform offers up to 1 Tbit/s switching capacity. Designed to help operators provide more flexible and reliable services, the SmartAX OFA5920 GPON platform complies with ITU-T G984.1/2/3/4 standards and is said to be the industry's first GPON access platform with terabit non-blocking switching capability and full redundancy design. The SmartAX OFA5920 GPON enables operators to provide users with reliable voice, data and video services at downlink and uplink rates of up to 2.5 and 1.25 Gbit/s, respectively.
www.huawei.com
• This article originally appeared in FibreSystems Europe in association with LIGHTWAVE Europe June 2006 p25.