Coherent to Showcase Award-Winning 100G and 400G Coherent Transceivers at OFC 2023

Coherent will premiere its 100ZR transceiver enabled by the internally developed Steelerton™ digital signal processor (DSP), the first purpose-built DSP for 100ZR applications, optimized for the lowest power dissipation and smallest size.

PITTSBURGH, March 1, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Coherent Corp. (NYSE: COHR), a leader in transceivers for optical communications, today announced that it will showcase its award-winning 100G and 400G digital coherent optics (DCO) transceivers across a live network and in multiple locations in the exhibition area at OFC 2023 in San Diego, March 7-9, booth #3815.

“These transceivers will fundamentally change how optical transport networks are deployed, simplifying network architectures by eliminating unnecessary layers of equipment,” said Dr. Beck Mason, Executive Vice President, Telecommunications, for Coherent. “This will translate into a tremendous savings for network operators, both in capital outlays and operational expenditures.”

“Coherent transceivers need low power dissipation and form factor compatibility with shorter-reach 100G transceivers for volume deployment at the network edge,” said Andrew Schmitt, Founder and Directing Analyst at Cignal AI. “We expect that the demand for 100ZR coherent pluggable transceivers will emerge in 2024 as operators upgrade to higher speeds in optical access networks.”

100ZR QSFP28-DCO Demonstration

The live demonstration at the Coherent booth will showcase the 100ZR QSFP28-DCO transceiver operating over more than 100 km of fiber. Coherent expects to start shipping samples of the 100ZR QSPF28-DCO to customers shortly after OFC.

The 100ZR transceiver is the industry’s first DCO transceiver available in a QSFP28 form factor, the most commonly used form factor for shorter-reach 100G transceivers. The Steelerton™ DSP, developed by Coherent, is the first purpose-built DSP for 100ZR applications. It is optimized for the lowest power dissipation and smallest size. In the 100ZR module, the DSP is paired with a highly efficient silicon photonics optical front-end and a power-optimized tunable laser, resulting in a typical module power dissipation of below 5W, less than half the power dissipation of competing solutions.

400G QSFP-DD-DCO Demonstrations

In a separate demonstration, Coherent will showcase its DCO transceivers operating on an Adtran/ADVA reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) network as part of OFCnet. This will include an interoperability demonstration of Coherent’s and Acacia’s high transmitter output power 400G transceivers using the OpenZR+ protocol.

Coherent will also be participating in the OIF 400ZR and Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) interoperability demonstrations at the OIF booth. Coherent’s 400ZR transceivers will be part of the largest demonstration to date of the 400ZR ecosystem. The CMIS demonstration will showcase how a variety of networking equipment can use a common and extensible management interface to control and operate various transceivers and cables, including Coherent’s high transmitter output power 400G ZR+ transceiver as well as a selection of Coherent’s shorter-reach 400G transceivers and active optical cables.

Award-winning Optical Communications Products

In September 2022, the 400G ZR+ QSFP-DD-DCO transceiver won the 2022 ECOC Exhibition Industry Award for Optical Integration. In February 2023, the 100ZR transceiver was awarded a top rating of 5.0 by Lightwave Innovation Reviews.