The tunable XFP module that JDSU unveiled today will bring the benefits of tunability to a huge number of XFP slots in the installed base of metro access equipment for the first time.
The transceiver can be tuned to any wavelength as desired, eliminating the need to hold and manage stocks of up to 32 different wavelength-specific transceivers. And once installed, it can be reconfigured to a new wavelength if the network configuration changes.
The advent of a tiny tunable transceiver — JDSU says it's 85% smaller than the 300-pin module — will also give equipment vendors the opportunity to design tunable lasers into more compact boxes.
The new transceiver has been with customers a couple of months now, and is on track for volume production in 2009. JDSU also says it is engaged in 12 designs with nine of its customers.
"The current device replaces fixed XFPs," explained Sinclair Vass, EMEA director for JDSU. "What we are trying to do now is ascertain how much of the 300-pin, long-haul type application we can encroach upon."
In other words, JDSU believes it could also stake a claim in the 10 Gbit/s long-haul market, where Bookham is currently the only supplier of tunable and pluggable modules albeit in a larger format (see Tunable lasers key to Bookham turnaround).
If JDSU can customize the optics inside its tunable XFP to suit long-haul transport, it would be a big deal for equipment makers. Not only does the tunable XFP offer much higher density, it also has 60% lower power consumption than its 300-pin predecessor.
That power efficiency is mostly due to the silicon chip inside the module, which integrates functions to drive the laser and control the monitoring of the optics.
The other key innovation inside the module is optical transmitter subassembly ILMZ chip (integrated laser Mach—Zehnder modulator) that the company announced in 2007, and packaged as a transmitter optical sub-assembly about a year ago (see JDSU shrinks tunable transmitter).
"This is the first product in quite a while that has generated a degree of real customer excitement," Vass commented.
In separate news this week, Emcore announced that has a tunable XFP in the works, but didn't give a time scale for delivery of the product.