Luminent announced the release of its bi-directional Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) product family, the SFPB. The SFPB product line supports the low cost infrastructure required for Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM), point-to-point solutions.
The pluggable, bi-directional SFPB family allows customers to seamlessly meet different data rate and distance applications with a simple field installment or replacement. The introduction of a simplex interface allows customers to operate a full duplex/bi-directional datalink over a single fiber instead of a fiber pair, dramatically reducing network infrastructure costs for point-to-point Fiber To The Home (FTTH) applications. The SFPB employs a simplex SC type connector that adapts all the functionality of traditional SFP form factor transceivers into a single fiber solution.
Luminent's initial release includes both a 100Mbps and a 1.25Gbps solution, with complementary transmit and receive wavelength pairs. This product line meets or exceeds the pending IEEE 802.3ah 100BASE-BX and 1000BASE-BX specification for 2-10km reaches. The SFPB product family is mechanically compliant with the SFP Multi Source Agreement (MSA) form factor. It is also compliant with power consumption and all other specifications with the exception of the simplex SC connector (instead of duplex LC connector). The SFPB product line can be ordered with or without digital diagnostic performance monitoring functionality, an attribute that enables monitoring and reporting of critical module characteristics. The digital diagnostic functionality complies with the SFF-8472 rev. 9.3 standard for measurement and reporting of received optical input power, transmit power, laser bias current, voltage and temperature.
Alexis Black, vice president of product management, commented, "Luminent has been a leading provider of single fiber, bi-directional transceivers to support fiber to the home applications in both the US and in Japan, with over 200,000 transceivers deployed. We are pleased to announce the pluggable, bi- directional SFP version to support Ethernet in the First Mile applications."
Modules are assembled using industry standard single-board design to meet Telecordia GR-468 reliability requirements for shock, vibration, accelerated aging, thermal cycling, as well as hot storage. Luminent SFPBs have been sampling since September 2003, with ongoing qualifications with 4 major customers. Volume production is scheduled for December 2003.
Luminent offers a complete set of SFP products for varying applications, such as SONET/SDH, Ethernet and Fiber Channel. Luminent offers a full portfolio of continuous mode and burst mode single fiber transceivers to support EFM, point to point, Fiber to the Home, and Passive Optical Network (PON) applications.