AppliedMicro launches industry's first 100G fully-integrated CMOS ICs for next-gen optical modules

SUNNYVALE, USA: Applied Micro Circuits Corp. or AppliedMicro announced S28010 Gearbox integrated circuit devices for 100 Gigabit Ethernet CFP client optical interfaces. As the industry’s first single-chip CMOS offering, the S28010 enables cost-effective, power-efficient 100GBASE-R4 optical modules to expand connection speeds from 10Gbps to 100Gbps for high-end switching and routing equipment.

AppliedMicro’s Gearbox translates a 10-lane, 10Gbps CAUI electrical interface to 4-lanes operating at 25Gbps and represents the company’s first product in a family of 100G ICs for the client market.

“There is a genuine need for cost-effective, power-efficient Gearbox semiconductors to enable 100-Gigabit-per-second Ethernet and OTU-4 client interfaces,” said George Jones, AppliedMicro's VP of Marketing and Business Development. “Deployment of CFP modules in enterprise and core router applications has been limited by inadequate supply. This new product from AppliedMicro will enable service providers to meet the bandwidth requirements that customers demand.”

The S28010 covers a broad frequency range up to 28.1Gbps for applications including 100G Ethernet, Fibre Channel, Infiniband and OTU-4 optical transport. It is also the first CMOS device to comply with IEEE802.3ba and CFP MSA standards.

“Telecom, datacom and cloud provider industries are all asking for 100 Gigabit Ethernet links. Just the 100G optical transport line card market alone will exceed $3 billion by 2016,” said Karen Liu, Principal Analyst, Components at Ovum. “At this high speed, the widely needed 10 km interface has been challenging in terms of cost, size and power consumption. AppliedMicro’s Gearbox IC is designed to address all three factors.”

The S28010 is designed to break barriers of high power, high cost and low reliability in the CFP market by enabling volume deployments of 100G modules in high-end switching and routing applications by providing key advantages:

* Fully-integrated single-chip solution reduces module bill of materials and allows module vendors to meet the CFP module MSA specification.
* Lowest power – Power consumption below 4 Watts is less than 50 percent of comparable 2-chip BiCMOS solutions and results in reduced system heat and lower operational costs.
* First-to-market – Module developers seeking scalable products can finally move to an integrated CMOS solution.

AppliedMicro’s Gearbox device offers the highest level of integration including MDIO and I2C support and extensive diagnostic features, including loopback. Sample availability is scheduled for September.