Altera showcases optical fpga prototype

The optics extends the reach of the chip's transceivers to 100m. Such a device, once commercially available, could be used to connect high speed electronics on a line card without using expensive pcb materials. The device could also find use in data centres, linking equipment such as Ethernet switches and servers. "It is solving a problem the industry is going to face," said Craig Davis, product marketing manager at Altera. "As you go to faster bit rate transceivers, the losses on the PCB become huge." Altera;s fpgas, with their high speed electrical transceivers, already implement the 10GBASE-KR backplane standard at spans of up to 40in. With a move to 28Gbit/s transceivers, the distance is reduced to a few inches. The optical fpga prototype combines a Stratix IV EP4S100G5 with two Avago MicroPod 12 x 10Gbit/s optical engines. The 100G5 fpga has 28 x 11.3Gbit/s electrical transceivers, 12 of which are connected to the MicroPods: a transmitter optical sub assembly (TOSA) and a receiver optical sub assembly (ROSA). Altera stresses that its optical fpga is a technology demonstrator only and will not say when its first optical fpga might be launched or even what speed transceivers – 11.3, 14.1 or 28Gbit/s – the optics will interface to. * Meanwhile, Avago is expected to make an announcement in this area later this year.