Padtec partners with coherent chip maker ClariPhy
Created April 14, 2014Padtec S.A., an optical systems vendor based in Brazil, and ClariPhy Communications, a developer of systems on chip (SoCs) for optical networking, have entered into a strategic partnership to develop and deploy 100G and 200G coherent optical transport systems to address the “tremendous data traffic growth” in the Americas and other regions.
Padtec will deploy products based on ClariPhy’s recently announced LightSpeed-II family of SoCs. To complement the partnership, Padtec has invested $10 million (€7.2 million) in ClariPhy, which ClariPhy will use to accelerate its development of coherent technologies addressing data rates of 400G, 1T and beyond.
Padtec says it has already deployed systems containing ClariPhy’s 40G LightSpeed-I coherent technology, and seems very happy with the product. “We utilized ClariPhy’s 40G coherent technology in the past and were impressed with the company’s strong IP portfolio and the team’s execution capability,” said Jorge Salomao, CEO of Padtec.
He continued: “ClariPhy is uniquely positioned to help us deliver solutions our customers are asking for. Through our partnership and investment, we have formed an excellent relationship with ClariPhy’s leadership team and have driven tight alignment of roadmaps for coherent products at rates of 100G, 200G and beyond, spanning metro to long haul to submarine applications.”
LightSpeed-II family of devices currently has two members. The LightSpeed-II CL20010 supports single-carrier 200-Gbps transmission via 16-QAM modulation; two devices can be used to support dual-carrier 400G superchannels on 75-GHz DWDM grid spacing. The LightSpeed-II CL10010-Z is targeted at 100-Gbps CFP module applications.
Padtec plans to employ LightSpeed-II in future products for the cost-sensitive metro networks as well as performance-driven long-haul and submarine applications. The vendors says that exploiting LightSpeed-II’s versatile SoC platform will help the company to minimise development cost while offering a rich feature set not achievable with previous generation 100G coherent technology.
Padtec hopes the partnership will help it expand into other markets around the world. Interestingly, the Brazilian vendor already has connections in Israel through its subsidiary Civcom, which was purchased in 2008. Civcom makes tunable DWDM transponders include those that support coherent transmission at 40G and 100G.
Founded in 2004, ClariPhy’s previous investors include Norwest Venture Partners, Allegis Capital, Onset Ventures and Pacific General Ventures. It has also received strategic investments from Oclaro and Coriant (then Nokia Siemens Networks).
By Pauline Rigby
See Also: Press release: Padtec and ClariPhy Enter into Strategic Partnership for Coherent Technology
Press release: ClariPhy Announces Industry’s First Standard Product Coherent SoC Enabling 100G, 200G and 400G Optical Transmission
