JDSU’s agile optical network ‘Superblade’ combines a wavelength selective switch (WSS), pre-amplifier, post-amplifier and optical channel monitor (OCM). The new subsystem integrates what used to be four modules on four separate line cards onto a single slot blade.
“We have integrated all the major [optical] functions that used to require multiple blades,” claims David Gudmundson, president of optical communications at JDSU. “This is more than just a new product. We’re talking a fundamental functional integration to create completely new functionality.”
JDSU says the Superblade could be as much as 50% lower in cost compared to the total cost for all the separate components used today, and will offer network equipment manufacturers a faster route to market. On top of that, the four times reduction in space will open up expensive transmission real estate in their boxes, and the reduced number of parts will simplify inventory management.
It sounds compelling, but how was it achieved? For starters, JDSU is claiming that the nano WSS is the smallest WSS ever invented. In fact it contains the same technology as the micro WSS that was announced last month, which is based on micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) with free-space optics. But the parts have been stripped down and the board laid out more efficiently.
“We’ve re-portioned the optical, electrical and mechanical elements to make a higher density solution, allowing us to maximize the use of every square millimetre,” explains Jy Bhardwaj, vice president and general manager of the agile optical networks division at JDSU.
He points out that there is typically a lot of air inside optical modules because the biggest elements determine the size of the box. By doing the layout of the WSS, the erbium-doped fibre amplifiers (EDFAs) and OCM simultaneously, a lot of the dead space can be eliminated.
This integrated layout offers improved performance because it contains fewer connectors and splices, resulting in lower insertion losses. JDSU also says it has reduced the number of pump lasers in the EDFA from five to three by leveraging its 660 mW power pump.
The embedded operating system is also a key part of the Superblade. The software package controls the basic operation of the optical functions, and makes sure that the blade can talk to the customer’s backplane. This client interface needs to be customized to make sure the blade integrates seamlessly within the equipment makers system and the carrier’s network management system. The initial engagement takes time, but once the software has been customized for the particular customer, the next blade can be produced very quickly, and this offers the promise of a faster time to market.
Superblade will be offered with 100 GHz channel spacings initially, and an upgrade path to 50 GHz. It is expected to start shipping by the end of the year.
Stepping on toes?
Subsystems, which are modules that can be rack mounted, either directly or on a line card, and come with network management software, are not new of course. Avanex, Bookham, and JDSU have all introduced subsystems before. Capella and Red-C Optical Networks took this idea the furthest with a product containing their ROADM and amplifier along with an OCM that they introduced in 2006, but it appears the market wasn’t ready.
Red-C’s product was eventually killed because network equipment manufacturers preferred to control the amplifier and ROADM functions independently. Will equipment makers be more receptive to the Superblade?
Daryl Inniss, vice president of communication components at analyst firm Ovum RHK, believes some of them will be. “System vendors’ resources are strapped and their business models have changed,” he says. “They are spending a lot more time on software and interfaces. They are challenging optical components vendors to take their network level requirements and work out a solution.”
JDSU says that’s exactly what it’s been trying to do. “We know systems vendors so well that we can deliver solutions as if we were part of their R&D team,” Gudmundson claims. “With some customers they are effectively outsourcing the optics because they don’t see it as a core differentiator for their business.” But he admits that not all systems vendors buy into this philosophy.
Ovum RHK’s Inniss believes that the critical issue for mass-market adoption of transport subsystems like the Superblade is to have multiple suppliers in the market place. Network equipment manufacturers like to have different sources so that they can secure their supply and squeeze competing suppliers on price. Right now, JDSU appears to stand alone. Inniss expects ROADM and EDFA subsystem suppliers like Avanex, Bookham and Optium to follow JDSU’s lead.