5G meet 100G. Intel Corporation announced expansion of its portfolio of 100G silicon photonics transceivers into the market this week. The receivers are optimized to meet the bandwidth requirements of next-generation communications infrastructure while withstanding harsh environmental conditions.
At the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Rome, Intel unveiled specifics on new silicon photonics products that are optimized to accelerate the movement of massive amounts of data, being generated by 5G use cases and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
“Our hyperscale cloud customers are currently using Intel’s 100G silicon photonics transceivers to deliver high-performance data center infrastructure at scale. By extending this technology outside the data center and into 5G infrastructure at the edge of the network, we can provide the same benefits to communications service providers while supporting 5G fronthaul bandwidth needs,” said Dr. Hong Hou, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Silicon Photonics Product Division.
Intel thinks it’s the right product at the right time as the move to 5G, along with a ramp-up in existing network traffic such as video streaming, is straining the network. Existing infrastructure must support an expanded spectrum range including mmWaves, massive MIMO and network densification.
Intel says its latest 100G silicon photonics transceivers meet the bandwidth demands of 5G wireless fronthaul applications. These transceivers are designed to meet the harsh outdoor conditions of cellular towers with the capability to support optical transport to the nearest baseband unit or central office (up to 10 km).
September 28, 2018
