SOMERSET, N.J. -- EMCORE Corporation (NASDAQ: EMKR), a leading provider of semiconductor technologies for global communications, has announced the commercial production of its new high speed, cost-effective parallel optical array transmitter/receiver modules to accommodate the soaring demand for network capacity. This technology exemplifies the new age of optical interconnects for switches and routers for datacom and telecom equipment manufacturers. The new transmitter/receiver modules, which provide a data rate of 1.25 Gbps over 12 channels, are the initial offering in a new family of products from EMCORE designed to provide customers with the speed, performance and reliability required to drive their data throughput. Designed for use in parallel optical data communications links, the modules offer an aggregate bandwidth of 15 Gbps and can be used in high-speed data links, very short reach OC-192 optical links, and board-to-board and shelf-to-shelf high-speed interconnects for optical backplanes. The modules perform logic-to-light and light-to-logic conversions for data transmission over multimode fiber ribbon cable, at a wavelength of 850nm and a power consumption of typically just 2 watts for the pair. According to Dr. Robert Bryan, Vice President of EMCORE's Fiber Optics division, "In providing the market with a replacement for expensive serial interconnects, we have endeavored to ensure maximum manufacturing flexibility for our datacom and telecom customers. The use of a ball grid array (BGA) in EMCORE's new offering will ensure significantly easier manufacturing for customers. Each module connects to external electrical circuitry using a compact BGA pattern on its underside, and therefore is one of the first optics that does not require special handling for insertion onto circuit boards. One of the many applications for these optics is to construct VSR transponders, which offer datacom and telecom equipment manufacturers significant cost and functionality advantages." Emcore Corp.