Apogee Photonics' uncooled lasers target 100 GbE optical standards

December 5, 2006, Allentown, PA--Apogee Photonics, supplier of 10 and 40 Gb/s laser sources for the communications industry, is introducing new sources targeting the cost-effective transmission of the emerging class of "triple-play" applications--Internet, voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), and interactive video services--that are driving the future need for data link transmission speeds approaching 100 Gb/s.

In support of standards currently under development by the IEEE 802.3 Higher Speed Study Group, Apogee Photonics is developing a family of uncooled CWDM lasers that will support aggregate data rates of more than 100 Gb/s. Two product variations, both under consideration by the IEEE study group, will be available: first, a 20 Gb/s 1310 nm EML used in a five-channel CWDM configuration and, alternatively, a 25 Gb/s EML in a four-channel configuration. The lasers are based on Apogee's uncooled 10 Gb/s 1310 nm EML sources (deployed at tier-one OEM and module customers), which have excellent mask margin and the ability to operate uncooled over temperature ranges of -20 to 90 degrees Celsius.

"The key advantage of Apogee Photonics' 10 Gb/s uncooled 1310 nm EML is that the bandwidth can be significantly increased beyond 10 Gb/s, unlike directly modulated DFB's that are challenged at data rates above 10 Gb/s," said Milind Gokhale, CTO of Apogee Photonics. "In addition, the 20 Gb/s and 25 Gb/s EML sources support the 10 km link distance targeted by the 802.3 Study Group." These lasers will be available for sample evaluation in early 2007 and, subject to ratification of the 100 GbE IEEE standard, generally available as early as the second half of 2007.

For more information, visit www.apogeephotonics.com.