ThreeFive Debuts Receiver

HOUTEN, The Netherlands -- The Netherlands based chipmaker ThreeFive Photonics, developer of breakthrough opto-electronic technology, today disclosed details about the second member of the Argo product family of multiwavelength receivers: the Argo A4D10. The Argo A4D10 is an integrated multiwavelength receiver with 4 channels of 10 Gbps capacity each that beats equivalent hybrid and discrete solutions in terms of footprint, pricing and ease of assembly. It will allow network systems OEMs to increase their network capacity with a minimum of investments.The Argo A4D10 is based on the successful design of the A4D2.5, announced earlier this year. It illustrates the product philosophy of ThreeFive Photonics, which aims at meeting the requirements of its customers by tuning generic solutions to their particular needs. The A4D10 multiwavelength receiver specifically addresses the demands of system integrators/OEMs needing to provide high-capacity interconnections in metropolitan networks, where space and power consumption are limiting factors. With four channels at 10 Gbps the new multiwavelength receiver realizes a fourfold capacity increase over its predecessor without requiring any additional space."At the higher bitrate of 10 Gbps, crosstalk between the channels becomes the critical factor", says Chrétien Herben, ThreeFive Photonics' CTO. "We have made it a point to deal with that challenge by refining the design of the original 4-channel 2.5 Gbps chip and package, completely in line with our product roadmap. While the A4D2.5 chip was packaged in a 14-pin butterfly package, A4D10 comes in a 26-pin package of the same dimensions with a coplanar RF output. The fact that we have been able to realize a satisfying performance at 10 Gbps proves that we are on track to our final goal: a complete telecommunication subsystem on a single chip."ThreeFive Photonics B.V.