GigOptix announces shipment to tier-1 customers of 14G parallel VCSEL drivers and receiver amplifier arrays

SAN JOSE, USA: GigOptix Inc. has started high volume production and shipment to Tier-1 customers of its parallel VCSEL drivers and receiver amplifier arrays for short reach 14Gb/s serial optical interconnects.

GigOptix is now in full production with their 4- and 12-channel 14Gb/s link chipset solutions for next generation Infiniband Fast Data Rate (FDR) Active Optical Cables (AOC) operating up to 168Gb/s as well as 40G and 100G Ethernet transceivers. The easy-to-use, compact designs address the datacom, avionics, and consumer markets.

GigOptix’s high performance chip set is comprised of a 4-channel HXT5104 VCSEL driver and HXR5104 receiver amplifier chip set and a 12-channel HXT5112 VCSEL driver and HXR5112 receiver amplifier chip set. These chip sets are designed to enable ultralow power consumption of less than 450mW for a 40G link over 100m as well as minimize the components required to implement a transceiver, which results in lower costs. The HXT/R5 family incorporates programmable equalization and pre-emphasis circuitry to facilitate various trace lengths in addition to providing full programmable control via fully integrated Analog to Digital Convertors (ADC) and Digital to Analog Convertors (DAC) through an industry standard 2-wire interface.

Dr. Raluca Dinu, GM and VP of the Optics Product Line at GigOptix, stated: “This year has brought exciting progress of our parallel optics line. After successful design wins into major Tier 1 customers, we have finally gone into full production with the HXT/R51 series chipset. The requirements from our customers for reliable, high performance, low power, and cost effective solutions have been fulfilled by our unique chip set solution that addresses current and future datacom short reach needs.”

Lightcounting forecasts AOC volume shipment of 250,000 units in 2012 and 400,000 units in 2014. Production HXT/R51 series chipset is available for evaluation with VCSEL and photodiodes on an evaluation board.