Microchip and Acacia Communications Enable First Flexible-Rate Optical Transmission Up to 600G
We are supporting a critical transition with an established ecosystem that leverages the demonstrated interoperability between our PM6010 DIGI-G5 OTN Processor and Acacia's AC1200 Coherent Module.
To support hyper-connected architectures for the cloud and 5G mobile transport era, Optical Transport Networks (OTNs) are transitioning from 100G to flexible transmission rates that scale up to 600G. The Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF) Flexible Ethernet (FlexE) protocol enables service providers to deploy higher-bandwidth Ethernet connectivity at a faster rate and at a lower cost. FlexE was designed to provide up to 30 percent greater bandwidth efficiency with fewer limitations as compared to traditional Ethernet Link Aggregation (LAG). When FlexE is combined with the "Beyond 100G" (B100G) protocol—which is known as OTUCn—and tunable fractional Dense Wavelength Division multiplexing (DWDM) transmission, service providers can potentially improve their OTN network capacity by up to 70 percent.
Designers need new flexible, multi-rate optical transmission devices and software to help them create 200G, 400G, 600G and flexible-rate OTNs that are built with the FlexE and OTUCn protocols. Microchip and Acacia Communications, Inc. are supporting this critical transition with an established ecosystem that leverages the demonstrated interoperability between Microchip's PM6010 DIGI-G5 OTN Processor and Acacia's AC1200 Coherent Module, which is powered by Acacia's Pico Digital Signal Processor (DSP) ASIC.
As the first OTN processor to support FlexE and OTUCn protocols, Microchip's PM6010 DIGI-G5 processor delivers the silicon and software required to launch new terabit-scale line cards with flexible-rate optical interfaces for packet optical transport platforms. Next-generation architectures that combine the PM6010 DIGI-G5 and AC1200 solutions will be in better position to support the market's growing demand for metro and data center interconnect networks requiring 100G+ connectivity that can be rate adjusted to maximize bandwidth.
While the PM6010 DIGI-G5 processes client traffic into OTNs, the 1.2T AC1200 on the line card will enable the OTN connections over two 600G tunable DWDM wavelengths with flexible transmission three-dimensional (3D) shaping features. These features, which include fractional Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and adaptive baud rate, optimize transmission reach and capacity to approach theoretical limits on a wide range of network configurations in a power-efficient manner.
To discover more resources for developing next-generation OTN applications, visit the OTN page on the Microchip website. Contact your local Microchip sales office or send an email to sales.support@microsemi.com for information on purchasing the PM610 DIGI-G5 OTN processor.