MultiPhy unveils 100G single-wavelength PAM-4 chip

A chip to enable 100-gigabit single-wavelength client-side optical modules has been unveiled by MultiPhy. The 100-gigabit 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-4) circuit will also be a key building block for 400 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces that use four wavelengths.

Source: MultiPhy

Dubbed the MPF3101, the 100-gigabit physical layer (PHY) chip is aimed at such applications as connecting switches within data centres and for 5G cloud radio access network (CRAN).

“The chip has already been sent out to customers and we are heading towards market introductions,” says Avi Shabtai, CEO of MultiPhy.

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MultiPhy raises $17M to develop 100G serial interfaces

Start-up MultiPhy has raised U.S. $17 million to develop 100-gigabit single-wavelength technology for the data centre. Semtech has announced it is one of the companies backing the Israeli fabless start-up, the rest coming from venture capitalists and at least one other company.

MultiPhy is developing chips to support serial 100-gigabit-per-second transmission using 25-gigabit optical components. The design will enable short reach links within the data centre and up to 80km point-to-point links for data centre interconnect. 

Source: MultiPhy

“It is not the same chip [for the two applications] but the same technology core,” says Avi Shabtai, the CEO of MultiPhy. The funding will be used to bring products to market as well as expand the company’s marketing arm.

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MultiPhy readies 100 Gigabit serial direct-detection chip

MultiPhy is developing a chip that will support serial 100 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) transmission using 25 Gig optical components. The device will enable short reach links within the data centre and up to 80km point-to-point links for data centre interconnect. The fabless chip company expects to have first samples of the chip, dubbed FlexPhy, by year-end.

Figure 1: A block diagram of the 100 Gig serial FlexPhy. The transmitter output is an electrical signal that is fed to the optics. Equally, the input to the receive path is an electrical signal generated by the receiver optics. Source: Gazettabyte

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MultiPhy eyeing 400 Gig after completing funding round

MultiPhy is developing a next-generation chip design to support 100 and 400 Gigabit direct-detection optical transmission. The start-up raised a new round of funding in 2013 but has neither disclosed the amount raised nor the backers except to say it includes venture capitalists and a 'strategic investor'. 

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MultiPhy targets low-power coherent metro chip for 2013

MultiPhy has given first details of its planned 100 Gigabit coherent chip for metro networks. The Israeli fabless start-up expects to have samples of the device in 2013. 

"We can tolerate greater [signal] impairments which means the requirements on the components we can use are more relaxed"

Avi Shabtai, CEO of MultiPhy

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Dan Sadot on coherent's role in the metro and the data centre

Gazettabyte went to visit Professor Dan Sadot, academic, entrepreneur and founder of chip start-up MultiPhy, to discuss his involvement in start-ups, his research interests and why he believes coherent technology will not only play an important role in the metro but also the data centre.

"Moore's Law is probably the most dangerous enemy of optics"

Professor Dan Sadot 

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100 Gigabit direct detection gains wider backing

More vendors are coming to market with 100 Gigabit direct detection products for metro and private networks. 

The emergence of a second de-facto 100 Gigabit standard, a complement to 100 Gigabit coherent, gained credence with 4x28 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) direct detect announcements from Finisar and Oclaro and likely backing from system vendor, ECI Telecom.

 

"We believe that in some cases operators will prefer to go with this technology instead of coherent"

Shai Stein, CTO, ECI Telecom 

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