Inphi claims first ever OIF-compliant 100G coherent TIA

        January 16, 2010

By Paul Buckley



Analog Designline Europe
(01/16/2010 7:54 AM EST)

Winchester, UK - High-speed analog semiconductor company, Inphi Corporation, (West Lake Village, California, USA) plans to unveil what the company claims is the industry's first OIF-compliant 100G coherent transimpedance amplifier (TIA) and highest sensitivity 40G linear TIA at the upcoming Fiber Optics Expo (FOE).

Addressing the emerging demands for next-generation 100G, Inphi has developed the Inphi 2850TA, an OIF-compliant 100G coherent transimpedance amplifier (TIA). Inphi is also extending its line of 40G solutions, with the introduction of Inphi's 2251TA, the highest sensitivity linear TIA for 40G DQPSK applications. Engineering samples will be made available immediately.

The demand for 100G solutions - a 10x leap in data rates - puts demands on the underlying technologies in the transceivers and line cards of next generation networks. Inphi's 2850TA claims to offer exceptional performance, superior linearity, low power consumption, and unparalleled signal integrity, ensuring error-free data transport.

The Inphi 2850TA is the first 100G coherent transimpedance/variable-gain amplifier (TIA/VGA) available that is compliant with the Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF) rigorous standards. Coherent detection is a breakthrough approach to achieving 100G serial bit rate transmission over existing metro and backbone networks and has been adopted by the OIF. With the availability of the Inphi 2850TA, receiver makers can now build 100G coherent receivers for long-haul and metro regional networks.

"The pervasive use of the internet, and subsequent evolution of cloud computing, has led carriers and data centers to scale their core networks to the next level, rapidly ramping from 10G to 40G networks and embarking on 100G solutions," said Young K. Sohn, president and CEO of Inphi Corporation. "Inphi's new 2850TA and 2251TA components provide crucial technologies needed by our customers to enable the build-out of 40G and 100G networks, paving the way for the continued evolution of cloud computing and improvements in bandwidth, capacity and power."

"u²t recognizes Inphi as one of the leading companies providing high speed TIAs," said Andreas Umbach, CEO and Co-Founder at u²t Photonics AG. "We have worked closely with Inphi and have designed in their 100G coherent amplifier in our best-in-class optical receivers for 100G. Inphi's commitment to develop the 2850TA helped us to develop a coherent receiver compliant to the rigorous OIF-standards."

The dual-differential linear 2850TA TIA/VGA offers the following benefits:

• Highest bandwidth (greater than 25 GHz) available, offering customers more margin in 100G system design
• Superior linearity for coherent receivers, at less than 5 percent THD (total harmonic distortion), exceeding OIF requirements
• Low power dissipation (250 mW/channel) to conserve energy

Loi Nguyen, Inphi's vice president, networking and communications products, said: "Drawing on our unique analog design skills, Inphi's 2251TA tackles a major limitation on transmission distance - signal distortion."

Inphi's 2251TA, the highest sensitivity linear TIA/VGA for 40G DQPSK (differential quadrature phase-shift keying) applications allows customers to extend their reach, by addressing the challenges of Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD). PMD, a common problem faced by carriers operating at 40 Gbps, causes signal distortion and limits the reach of 40G networks. Inphi's 2251 TA addresses these challenges by delivering the:

• Highest sensitivity over a wide range of Optical Signal to Noise Ratio (OSNR), which improves link margins.
• Greater linearity (<5 percent Total Harmonic Distortion), which makes possible the use of electrical dispersion compensation (EDC) technology, to combat distortion due to PMD
• Lowest power dissipation available

When combined with Inphi's recently introduced 2811DZ differential driver in surface-mount technology, customers will have a cost-effective, complete transmit and receive solution for next-generation 40G DQPSK systems.

Availability

Engineering samples of the Inphi 2850TA dual-differential linear TIA/VGA for 100G Coherent applications and the Inphi 2251TA high sensitivity linear TIA/VGA for 40G DQPSK applications are available now.

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