HPCwire: Luxtera Launches Blazar Active Optical Cable

Since 1986 - Covering the Fastest Computers
in the World and the People Who Run Them

Translation Disclaimer

Subscribe | Sign In

Visit additional Tabor Communication Publications

Leading HPC
Solution Providers

March 23, 2009

Luxtera Launches Blazar Active Optical Cable

40 Gigabit Ethernet-ready four kilometer cable provides datacenters with virtually unlimited reach for ease of installation to maximize layout, performance, flexibility

CARLSBAD, Calif., March 23 -- Luxtera today launched the world's longest Active Optical Cable (AOC), Blazar. Extending up to four kilometers, this 40 Gigabit InfiniBand and Ethernet-ready cable meets the growing demand from datacenters for long range connectivity. By providing virtually unlimited reach, Blazar maximizes layout options and simplifies installation, including the ability to easily set up larger clusters and deploy across multiple floors, rooms and buildings.

Blazar utilizes Luxtera's Silicon CMOS Photonics technology and low cost single-mode fiber to break through the reach restrictions associated with existing vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and multi-mode fiber technologies that are currently on the market. These multi-mode fiber solutions are limited up to 100-meter reach with conventional OM-2 fiber at more than twice the cost of single-mode fiber.

Unlike traditional optics that utilize VCSELs and multi-mode fiber for short connections, and edge-emitting lasers and single-mode fiber for long reach, Luxtera's Silicon CMOS Photonics-based single chip transceivers support any distance from one meter to four kilometers utilizing the same low cost transceiver.

"There is an increasing need in datacenters for low cost, longer reach cables that provide layout design flexibility and yet maintain the multi-lane, multi-gigabit capability of today's fastest interconnect fabrics," said Bob Ciotti, chief architect of NASA's Advanced Supercomputing center. "We have an immediate need for optical active cables that economically deliver the reach required to interconnect systems in large computing rooms, between different floors and multiple buildings in a campus environment."

A recent report by Information Gatekeepers, Inc. (IGI) forecasts that the cable market will exceed $8.5 billion from 2009 through 2013. Another recent market forecast by LightCounting states that, "the active optical cable is a rare market that will grow throughout the forecasting period as AOCs increasingly replace copper links." With its low cost Silicon CMOS Photonic transceivers and long reach capability, Luxtera is well positioned to claim a large share of this market.

"Active optical cable has made significant inroads in the datacenter in the last 18 months, being lighter, cheaper and often more reliable than copper links connecting equipment," said Brad Smith, senior vice president and analyst at LightCounting, LLC. "Luxtera's extended-reach Blazar shows how the optical industry is meeting the IT industry's growing requirements for active optical cable."

"As the demand for longer reach and high performance interconnect increases, Luxtera is leading the industry by meeting these evolving needs of datacenters. With its Silicon CMOS Photonics technology-based Blazar, Luxtera is delivering active optical cable connectivity which extends the reach well beyond that of traditional VCSEL and multi-mode fiber technologies at lower cost points," said Marek Tlalka, vice president of marketing for Luxtera. "We're excited to deliver solutions that can service any reach in the datacenter."

Luxtera is now shipping Blazar Active Optical Cables in multiple lengths from two meters to four kilometers.

Luxtera will demonstrate the extended reach of Blazar at the OFC/ NFOEC conference in San Diego, March 22-26, 2009, booth number 3518.

About Luxtera

Luxtera, Inc. is the world leader in Silicon CMOS Photonics. Its mission is to fulfill the world's insatiable demand for bandwidth by uniting the high performance of fiber-optic communications with the low cost and high volume manufacturing advantages of mainstream Silicon CMOS fabrication. Headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., Luxtera is a fabless semiconductor company that was founded in 2001 by a team of industry-renowned researchers and technology managers drawn from the communications and semiconductor industries. Luxtera has received funding from leading venture capitalists including August Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Sevin Rosen Funds. More information can be found on the company's Web site at www.luxtera.com.

-----

Source: Luxtera, Inc.

Share Options

Subscribe

Subscribe to HPCwire

Discussion

There are 0 discussion items posted.

Join the Discussion

Become a Registered User Today!

Registered Users Log in join the Discussion

RSS Feeds

Feeds by Topic

Feeds by Industry

Feeds by Content Type

Subscribe to All Content

All

May 23, 2012

May 22, 2012

May 21, 2012

May 18, 2012

May 17, 2012

May 16, 2012

May 15, 2012

May 14, 2012

Feature Articles

NVIDIA Works On CPU Co-Dependency Issues with Kepler GPU

NVIDIA is telling everyone that the GK110, its new Kepler GPU aimed at supercomputing, is all about improving performance per watt. But the other driving theme behind the new architecture is reducing the GPU's reliance on its CPU host. How well it accomplishes both these goals areas could determine the success of the new chip in high performance computing.
Read more...

OpenACC Starts to Gather Developer Mindshare

PGI, Cray, and CAPS enterprise are moving quickly to get their new OpenACC-supported compilers into the hands of GPGPU developers. At NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference this week, there was plenty of discussion around the new HPC accelerator framework, and all three OpenACC compiler makers, as well as NVIDIA, were talking up the technology.
Read more...

NVIDIA Launches Kepler Into HPC

NVIDIA has introduced its first Kepler-generation GPU product for high performance computing, and revealed some of the inner working of the new architecture. The announcement took place at the kickoff of the company's GPU Technology Conference taking place this week in San Jose, California.
Read more...