Lightconnect Adds New ROADM

NEWARK, Calif. -- LIGHTCONNECT, a leading global supplier of dynamic components and modules for optical networks, today introduced a MEMS based Dynamic Channel Equalizer (DCE) with a 100GHz ITU grid spacing and industry leading optical performance, including high extinction, low PDL and large useable bandwidth. The 100GHZ DCE complements and builds upon LIGHTCONNECT's successful 50GHZ DCE currently designed in at several major OEMs worldwide.

"The overwhelming customer acceptance of our 50GHz DCE in the long haul market validates the significant OPEX cost savings experienced by service providers when deploying fully reconfigurable OADM," said Yves LeMaitre President and CEO of LIGHTCONNECT. "This new architecture is becoming the preferred solution in metro networks as evidenced by several recent RFPs. With the introduction of the new 100 GHz DCE, LIGHTCONNECT enables optical system manufacturers to offer ROADM solutions with best-in-class optical performance at the price of older static OADM."

The LIGHTCONNECT 100GHZ DCE can independently equalize or block up to fifty DWDM channels on a 100 GHz grid and is the ideal building block for designing cost-effective Metro ROADM. These demanding applications require the most stringent optical performance, which the LIGHTCONNECT device is able to offer with an extinction of greater than 43 dB, useable bandwidth in excess of 55 GHz, and very low PDL, insertion loss and in-band ripple. The LIGHTCONNECT DCE is designed for reliability, ruggedness and low cost manufacturing.

The 100GHZ DCE communicates with the host system through either a Dual Port RAM or RS232 interface. For evaluation purposes, the DCE can be operated in automatic or manual mode with a user-friendly command set through a Graphical User Interface (GUI) running on a PC.

LightConnect Inc.