Ignis Boosts Transceiver Diagnostics

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Ignis Optics has taken a major step in advancing remote diagnostics for the optical transceiver industry. Ignis Optics' industry leading enhanced digital diagnostics capability is now augmented by the addition of a fault interrupt alert feature for reporting system link problems. Through existing diagnostics, Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) transceivers can detect laser condition, optical power, module temperature, and supply voltage. Now, customers are given real-time warning of any degradation or parameter failure without the need for special polling software. This feature reduces system CPU bottlenecks making it especially cost effective for high port density systems. "Our modules now use an electrical I/O signal to report module faults and link problems," explained Chris Simoneaux, Ignis Optics SFP marketing manager. "Also, users can temporarily or permanently 'mask' the transmit fault interrupt." Simoneaux added that "dynamic masking allows selected fault interrupts to be ignored during routine maintenance or planned testing, such as Rx power low conditions during optical cable disconnecting." Other advantages of the masking feature include allowing users to squelch the transmit fault interrupt for any fault condition that is non-consequential to link stability and to enable fault isolation during an event where two or more fault conditions occur. Ignis Optics introduced its IO-PKG design in March 2002. Through innovative manufacturing techniques, Ignis Optics is able to relax the tolerances required in single-mode optical packages without sacrificing performance. This allows the use of standard multimode assembly equipment in a single-mode transceiver production line. It also enables Ignis to offer products at a price point that allows system vendors to break their cost barriers. This technology scales from OC-48, used in their SFP (Small Form-Factor Pluggable) products, to 10Gbps, as in their recently introduced XFP module. Ignis Optics