Infinera
Encyclopedia
Infinera Corporation is a manufacturer of long-haul WDM optical transmission equipment for the service provider
market.
Infinera claims to have changed the world of optical telecommunications with its “Digital
Optical Networking”, a new approach enabled by photonic integration.
Infinera is a vertically integrated company. It has its own Fab in Allentown and design and manufactures
the chip to the system in house.
The company claims to be Number 1 in market share for backbone DWDM in North America
in indium phosphide.
Infinera went public in 2007, raising $182 million.
A Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) is conceptually very similar to an electronic IC. While the latter integrates many transistors, capacitors and resistors, a PIC integrates multiple optical components such as lasers, modulators, detectors, attenuators, multiplexers/de-multiplexers and optical amplifiers. Large-scale PICs, like their electronic counterparts, extend the scope of integration so that upwards of dozens or more distinct optical components are integrated into a single device.
Passive and Active PICs
Photonic integrated circuits can be further characterized into passive and active PICs. Passive PICs, typically built using silica materials, integrate functions such as filters, wavelength multiplexers, couplers, and photonic switches. They don't generate or amplify light, but are "light in, light out." Active PICs, by contrast, integrate optoelectronic functions such as lasers, modulators, PIN detectors, and amplifiers. They may include passive devices as well. Active PICs, which can be used to convert between electronic signals and optical signals, are built using compound semiconductor materials such as Indium Phosphide (InP) so that they may generate, amplify, or detect light.
Infinera uses both active and passive PICs in its products.
Hybrid vs. Monolithic Integration
As in electronics, photonic integration can include both hybrid and monolithic integration. In a hybrid PIC, multiple single-function optical devices are assembled into a single package, sometimes with associated electronic ICs, and inter-connected to each other by electronic and/or optical couplings internal to the package. Many integrated photonic devices available today utilize hybrid integration to consolidate packaging.
However, the assembly of hybrid integrated components can be highly complex, as many discrete devices must be interconnected internal to the package with sub-micron tolerances required for aligning optical components. Adding to the packaging challenge is the fact that different materials may require different packaging designs due to differences in optical, mechanical and thermal characteristics. For example, if two materials have different coefficients of expansion, they can become misaligned at different operating temperatures and require different thermo-electric coolers, thus compounding packaging complexity and cost. In practice, this has limited hybrid PICs to integrating at most three to four optical components into a common package.
In contrast, monolithic integration consolidates many devices and/or functions into a single photonic material. As in electronic ICs, the fabrication of monolithic PICs involves building devices into a common substrate so that all photonic couplings occur within the substrate and all functions are consolidated into a single, physically unique device.
The term photonic integration has also sometimes been incorrectly applied to sub-system modules, for example the 300-pin 10Gb/s transponder multi-source agreement (MSA) modules. This is misleading as such modules are actually composed of individually packaged single-function components, connected by external fiber couplings and electronic traces. Thus the only "integration" actually achieved is the incorporation of all devices into one module, and this is generally not considered true integration.
Infinera's Terrabit vision
With network traffic continuing to expand at exponential rates, the world is entering the Terabit Age. New applications and the growing popularity of digital communications worldwide are placing increasing challenges on the world's networks. Network operators must be able to build and deploy these Terabit-class networks, and soon.
From Super-Channels to FlexChannels
Gridless, phase-based transmission with coherent detection will form the basis of high capacity, Terabit class systems of the future. But a single combination of super-channel data rate and modulation technique is unlikely to satisfy every optical transmission link budget. For this reason Infinera has combined its unique, FlexCoherent™ modulation technology with the ability to flexibly adapt super-channel spacing to maximize the combination of optical capacity and reach. The result is a dynamic, FlexChannel – implemented in a single module that can be switched into the appropriate mode of operation. By implementing this in a single Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) Infinera claims to simplify the design complexity and spares management processes for the service provider.
What is the best way to implement a super-channel architecture?
Infinera's approach is to use a large-scale PIC that supports multiple carriers to implement a Terabit FlexChannel, using anywhere from five to ten carriers on a single, monolithic chip. These FlexChannels can be built using a FlexCoherent modulation technique to optimize the reach versus the spectral efficiency for a given FlexChannel, over a given route. Note that the FlexChannel architecture does not require that all channels on an individual PIC belong to the same super-channel. The number of channels, the data rate for each channel, and the modulation technique used are all flexible. The FlexChannel architecture also delivers savings in spectral efficiency of up to 25%, opening the way for up to 25 Tb/s of total capacity on a fiber
Telecommunications Service Provider
A telecommunications service provider or TSP is a type of communications service provider that has traditionally provided telephone and similar services...
market.
Infinera claims to have changed the world of optical telecommunications with its “Digital
Optical Networking”, a new approach enabled by photonic integration.
Infinera is a vertically integrated company. It has its own Fab in Allentown and design and manufactures
the chip to the system in house.
The company claims to be Number 1 in market share for backbone DWDM in North America
History
Infinera was founded in 2000 as Zepton Networks, and raised its first round of funding in April 2001. The startup remained in stealth mode until first products were launched in 2004, although a few early media articles did describe the company's component technology - a photonic integrated circuitPhotonic integrated circuit
A photonic integrated circuit or integrated optical circuit is a device that integrates multiple photonic functions and as such is analogous to an electronic integrated circuit...
in indium phosphide.
Infinera went public in 2007, raising $182 million.
Management
- Tom Fallon, Chief Executive Officer
- Drew D. PerkinsDrew D. PerkinsDrew D. Perkins is a founder of Infinera and is one of the authors of the Point-to-Point Protocol .-See also:Carnegie Mellon University...
, Chief Technology Officer - David F. Welch, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer
- Ita Brennan, Chief Financial Officer
- Fred Kish, Ph.D., Vice President, PIC Development and Manufacturing
- Ron Martin, Vice President, Worldwide Sales
- Howard Lukens, Vice President, Strategic Sales
- Scott Chandler, Vice President, Strategic Sales
- Lonny Orona, Vice President, Worldwide Customer Service and Technical Support
- Michael O. McCarthy III, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer
- Paul Whitney, Vice President of Human Resources
Technology
Infinera is a pioneer in design and manufacture of large scale Photonic Integrated Circuits or PIC.A Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) is conceptually very similar to an electronic IC. While the latter integrates many transistors, capacitors and resistors, a PIC integrates multiple optical components such as lasers, modulators, detectors, attenuators, multiplexers/de-multiplexers and optical amplifiers. Large-scale PICs, like their electronic counterparts, extend the scope of integration so that upwards of dozens or more distinct optical components are integrated into a single device.
Passive and Active PICs
Photonic integrated circuits can be further characterized into passive and active PICs. Passive PICs, typically built using silica materials, integrate functions such as filters, wavelength multiplexers, couplers, and photonic switches. They don't generate or amplify light, but are "light in, light out." Active PICs, by contrast, integrate optoelectronic functions such as lasers, modulators, PIN detectors, and amplifiers. They may include passive devices as well. Active PICs, which can be used to convert between electronic signals and optical signals, are built using compound semiconductor materials such as Indium Phosphide (InP) so that they may generate, amplify, or detect light.
Infinera uses both active and passive PICs in its products.
Hybrid vs. Monolithic Integration
As in electronics, photonic integration can include both hybrid and monolithic integration. In a hybrid PIC, multiple single-function optical devices are assembled into a single package, sometimes with associated electronic ICs, and inter-connected to each other by electronic and/or optical couplings internal to the package. Many integrated photonic devices available today utilize hybrid integration to consolidate packaging.
However, the assembly of hybrid integrated components can be highly complex, as many discrete devices must be interconnected internal to the package with sub-micron tolerances required for aligning optical components. Adding to the packaging challenge is the fact that different materials may require different packaging designs due to differences in optical, mechanical and thermal characteristics. For example, if two materials have different coefficients of expansion, they can become misaligned at different operating temperatures and require different thermo-electric coolers, thus compounding packaging complexity and cost. In practice, this has limited hybrid PICs to integrating at most three to four optical components into a common package.
In contrast, monolithic integration consolidates many devices and/or functions into a single photonic material. As in electronic ICs, the fabrication of monolithic PICs involves building devices into a common substrate so that all photonic couplings occur within the substrate and all functions are consolidated into a single, physically unique device.
The term photonic integration has also sometimes been incorrectly applied to sub-system modules, for example the 300-pin 10Gb/s transponder multi-source agreement (MSA) modules. This is misleading as such modules are actually composed of individually packaged single-function components, connected by external fiber couplings and electronic traces. Thus the only "integration" actually achieved is the incorporation of all devices into one module, and this is generally not considered true integration.
Infinera's Terrabit vision
With network traffic continuing to expand at exponential rates, the world is entering the Terabit Age. New applications and the growing popularity of digital communications worldwide are placing increasing challenges on the world's networks. Network operators must be able to build and deploy these Terabit-class networks, and soon.
From Super-Channels to FlexChannels
Gridless, phase-based transmission with coherent detection will form the basis of high capacity, Terabit class systems of the future. But a single combination of super-channel data rate and modulation technique is unlikely to satisfy every optical transmission link budget. For this reason Infinera has combined its unique, FlexCoherent™ modulation technology with the ability to flexibly adapt super-channel spacing to maximize the combination of optical capacity and reach. The result is a dynamic, FlexChannel – implemented in a single module that can be switched into the appropriate mode of operation. By implementing this in a single Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) Infinera claims to simplify the design complexity and spares management processes for the service provider.
What is the best way to implement a super-channel architecture?
Infinera's approach is to use a large-scale PIC that supports multiple carriers to implement a Terabit FlexChannel, using anywhere from five to ten carriers on a single, monolithic chip. These FlexChannels can be built using a FlexCoherent modulation technique to optimize the reach versus the spectral efficiency for a given FlexChannel, over a given route. Note that the FlexChannel architecture does not require that all channels on an individual PIC belong to the same super-channel. The number of channels, the data rate for each channel, and the modulation technique used are all flexible. The FlexChannel architecture also delivers savings in spectral efficiency of up to 25%, opening the way for up to 25 Tb/s of total capacity on a fiber