The long game: Acacia's coherent vision

In 2007, Christian Rasmussen made a career-defining gamble. After attending a conference featuring presentations on coherent optical transmission, he returned home, consulted his family, and quit his job at Mintera, then an optical networking equipment maker.

Christian Rasmussen

The technology he'd seen discussed promised to solve the transmission impairments associated with direct-detection-based optical transmission – chromatic dispersion and polarisation mode dispersion - that had stymied optical transport to go beyond 40 gigabits-per-second (Gbps).

"We came back and were completely excited that there was a technology that addressed all the problems that we had experienced firsthand," says Rasmussen, now Chief Technology Officer at Acacia.

His bet paid off. Acacia which he helped co-found in 2009, had a successful IPO in 2016 and would later be acquired by Cisco Systems for $4.5 billion in 2021.

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Steve Alexander's 30-Year Journey at Ciena

After three decades of shaping optical networking technology, Steve Alexander is stepping down as Ciena's Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

His journey, from working on early optical networking systems to helping to implement AI as part of Ciena’s products, mirrors the evolution of telecommunications itself.

The farewell

"As soon as you say, 'Hey guys, you know, there's an end date', certain things start moving," says Alexander reflecting on his current transition period. "Some people want to say goodbye, others want more of your time."

After 30 years of work, the bulk of it as CTO, Alexander is ready to reclaim his time, starting with the symbolic act of shutting down Microsoft Outlook.

"I don't want to get up at six o'clock and look at my email and calendar to figure out my day,” he says.

His retirement plans blend the practical and the fun. The agenda includes long-delayed home projects and traveling with his wife. "My kids gave us dancing lessons for a Christmas present, that sort of thing," he says with a smile.

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Marvell’s CTO: peering into the future is getting harder

CTO interviews part 4: Noam Mizrahi

In a wide-ranging interview, Noam Mizrahi (pictured), executive vice president and corporate chief technology officer (CTO) at Marvell, discusses the many technologies needed to succeed in the data centre. He also discusses a CTO’s role and the importance of his focussed thinking ritual.

Noam Mizrahi has found his calling.

“I’m inspired by technology,” he says. “Every time I see an elegant technical solution - and it can be very simple - it makes me smile.”

Marvell hosts an innovation contest, and at one event, Mizrahi mentioned this to participants. “So they issued stickers saying, ‘I made Noam smile’,” he says.

Marvell’s broad portfolio of products spans high-end processors, automotive Ethernet, storage, and optical modules.

“This technology richness means that every day I come to work, I feel I learn something new,” he says.

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How to shepherd a company’s technologies for growth

CTO interviews part 3: Dr Julie Eng

• Eng is four months into her new role as CTO of Coherent.
• Previously, she headed Finisar’s transceiver business and then the 3D sensing business, first at Finisar and then at II-VI. II-VI changed its name to Coherent in September 2022
• “CTO is one of these roles that has no universal definition,” says Eng

Dr Julie Eng

Julie Eng loved her previous role.

She had been heading II-VI’s (now Coherent’s) 3D sensing unit after being VP of engineering at Finisar’s transceiver business. II-VI bought Finisar in 2019.

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Lumentum’s CTO discusses photonic trends

CTO interviews part 2: Brandon Collings

• The importance of moving to parallel channels will only increase given the continual growth in bandwidth.
• Lumentum's integration of NeoPhotonics’ engineers and products has been completed.
• The use of coherent techniques continues to grow, which is why Lumentum acquired the telecom transmission product lines and staff of IPG Photonics.

Brandon Collings has been a CTO for over 13 years; first as CTO of the commercial optical products (CCOP) business within JDSU and then CTO of Lumentum when it spun out in 2015. In that time, the scope of his work has continued to grow.

Brandon Collings

"It has changed quite significantly given what Lumentum is engaging in," he says. "My role spans the entire company; I'm engaged in a lot of areas well beyond communications."

A decade ago, the main focus was telecom and datacom. Now Lumentum also addresses commercial lasers, 3D sensing, and, increasingly, automotive lidar.

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The Metaverse and the network

CTO interviews part 1: Stephen Alexander

"The inability to precisely predict how we'll use it [the Metaverse], and how it will change our daily life, is not a flaw. Rather, it is a prerequisite for the Metaverse's disruptive force."

The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything by Matthew Ball, 2022.

CTO Interview 

Stephen Alexander's trusty 20-year-old dishwasher finally stopped working during the pandemic.

Unfortunately, getting spare parts shipped to the US was impossible, so Alexander, the CTO of Ciena (pictured), resorted to 'how-to' YouTube videos and got bits from eBay.

It highlighted the power of the online experience, something set to ramp significantly with the advent of the Metaverse.

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Acacia looks to co-package its coherent PIC and DSP-ASIC

• Acacia Communications is working to co-package its coherent DSP and its silicon photonics transceiver chip. 

• The company is also developing a digital coherent optics module that will support 400 gigabit. 

Acacia Communications is working to co-package its coherent DSP and its silicon photonics transceiver chip. The line-side optical transceiver company is working on a digital coherent optics module that will support 400 gigabits.

Acacia announced last November that it was sampling the industry’s first CFP2 Digital Coherent Optics (CFP2-DCO) that supports 100- and 200-gigabit line rates. The CFP2-DCO integrates the DSP and its silicon photonics chip within a CFP2 module, which is half the size of a CFP module, with each chip packaged separately.

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