Molex develops world's first 100Gb/s silicon photonics active optical devices

The Molex silicon photonics based active optical devices were developed in collaboration with Luxtera and comprise four 28Gb/s transmit and receive channels powered from a single laser for an aggregate data rate of more than 100Gb/s. "Our strategic collaboration with Luxtera has yielded significant benefits and made it possible to blend scalability and high reliability, regardless of speed or channel count," said Tom Marrapode, director of marketing, fibre optic products, Molex. "In working closely with system architects, signal integrity engineers and hardware designers to solve the many challenges of 25Gb/s+ I/O within and across customers' next generation systems, we have reaffirmed the value cmos photonics based interconnect devices can deliver." According to Molex, the devices are targeted for 100Gb/s Ethernet, OTN and InfiniBand applications, in addition to emerging OIF Short Reach and Very Short Reach electrical interconnect to host systems. They will include direct board mounted solutions and complete end to end interconnect systems. "The elusive promise of silicon photonics is finally being realised as Molex continues to ship volume of silicon photonic based active optical cables, recognised widely for their best in class power consumption, performance and reliability," added Marek Tlalka, director of marketing, Luxtera, pictured. "Due to the fundamental advantages and performance headroom offered by silicon photonics, scaling to 100Gb/s and beyond on a single piece of silicon is a straightforward migration. We plan to drive aggressively to terabit and multi-terabit single chip connectivity and are excited by the opportunities ahead for this partnership." Molex and Luxtera are currently sampling evaluation platforms to strategic partners and lead customers.