Nistica launches high port-count building blocks for NGNs

OFC/NFOEC 2012, BRIDGEWATER, USA: Nistica, a leading supplier of agile optical networking modules, announced its entry into high port-count wavelength selective switches with the launch of its 15-port waveblocker array. The new product line, named FOURIER, is part of Nistica’s FULL FLEDGE family of products, allows 25 GHz channel spacing and delivers gridless performance with sub-5 GHz granularity.

The FOURIER modules are being used as building blocks to create network nodes that satisfy the upcoming needs for colorless, directionless, contentionless and gridless applications. Several key customers have designed the FOURIER modules into their system architectures with high volume production expected to begin in the next quarter.

Each Nistica FOURIER module offers up to 15 waveblockers in a parallel array and can be configured as 1xN wavelength selective switches for colorless, directionless add-drop nodes. The true waveblocker nature of the individual switches allows these ports to be used as both single-channel add/drop ports and multi-channel WDM ports for inter-ring connectivity.

In addition, any of the waveblockers can be converted to gridless optical channel monitors (OCMs) that track the health of individual wavelengths. The gridless features enable the modules to be used in future-proof networks requiring support for channels with greater than 100Gb/s capacity.

“The launch of our FOURIER series of products positions us as the most cost- and space-effective solution in the high-port-count wavelength selective switch market,” remarked Ashish Vengsarkar, CEO of Nistica. “Our customers are impressed with the optical performance and the versatility of these building blocks to generate various colorless add-drop configurations.”