NEWS TECHNOLOGY
TE Connectivity seeks partners for 100G MSA
TE Connectivity wants to create a standard for a new 100G pluggable optical module for data centre connectivity, with the functionality of QSFP28 in a thermally enhanced package approximately the size of the SFP form factor, by way of creating a new multi-source agreement (MSA) group. ‘Customers are looking for a
smaller form factor that will offer increased faceplate density and higher aggregate bandwidth, while still maintaining superior thermal performance,’ said Nathan Tracy, technologist, TE Data Communications. ‘By defining a standard that provides significant thermal management improvements and increased density over existing form factors in both short and long reach applications, our MSA group will meet those customer needs.’ ‘As the industry develops the
next-generation data centre equipment, there is value in an improved pluggable form factor that can support higher-density designs and still meet high bandwidth requirements,’ said Brad Booth, principal network engineer of Microsoft’s Global Networking Services. ‘Thermal management becomes more of an issue as form factors get smaller, and this new MSA is an innovative step to address these design and power challenges.’ In the coming months, the
MSA will define the electrical connector, cage system and module dimensions that will establish this new form factor. TE is inviting connector manufacturers, optical module makers and communication equipment manufacturers to join the MSA and bring their areas of expertise to help ensure this system delivers on the goals of broad industry adoption and standardisation. The new form factor is
intended to support direct-attach copper cables, active optical cables (AOCs) and transceivers with MPO and LC optical connections.
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www.fibre-systems.com
University of York to head Quantum Communication Hub
Researchers from UK universities and industry have come together in a unique
collaboration to develop secure quantum communication technologies. Led by the University of York, the project has bid successfully for government funding from the new £155 million National Network of Quantum Technology Hubs. The national network is financed by the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) from the £270 million investment in the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme announced by the Chancellor, George Osborne, in his Autumn Statement of 2013. Other hubs in the network include quantum
sensors and metrology, quantum enhanced imaging, and quantum information processing. The £24 million, five-year quantum communi-
cations project involves eight universities – Bristol, Cambridge, Heriot-Watt, Leeds, Royal Holloway, Sheffield, Strathclyde and York – each of which will contribute world-class expertise and facilities. Private sector partners include BT, the National
Physical Laboratory, and Toshiba Research Europe Ltd, all of whom are world leaders in advanced research and development in quantum communications. The main focus of the Hub will be on secure
communications, with emphasis on quantum key distribution (QKD) – one of the first quantum information technologies with market potential. The Hub is aiming to make breakthroughs in
affordability and integration that will lead to widespread use of the technology. Developments will include chip-scale integration of QKD, and the design and manufacture of prototype hand-held QKD devices. The Hub will also build the UK’s first quantum
communications network. This will be based initially on the National Dark Fibre Infrastructure Service (NDFIS), which currently links a number of the Hub’s university partners. The new network will be extended to other sites over time, providing a geographically distributed test-bed outside the lab for developing, testing and demonstrating new quantum technologies and services. Announced in April 2014, the NDFIS is based
on software defined network (SDN) control principles and, as such, will be fully programmable by experimenters and end users. University College London (UCL) won the five-year contract to operate the network, which is jointly funded by EPSRC and Jisc, which also funds UK research and education network, JANET. In addition to connecting project partners, the
Quantum Communications Hub will make the new network available to groups of users as trialists and early adopters. Potential users include major commercial and industrial business clusters, as well as groups of consumers. These geographical clusters and groups, in and around Cambridge, Martlesham and Bristol, will be supported by Hub partners local to them – Cambridge Network, BT and Bristol City Council, respectively.
EU project to develop ‘smart thermal’ photonic devices
An EU-funded project plans to develop intelligent circuits that will allow photonic devices to regulate their own temperature, making them up to five times more efficient. The three-year Thermally
Integrated Smart Photonics Systems (TIPS) project, led by the Tyndall National Institute in Ireland, has secured €5.2 million in funding under Horizon 2020’s call for Smart Integration Systems. The TIPS project aims to develop
and demonstrate a scalable, thermally-enabled 3D integrated optoelectronic platform for high-speed data transmission. TIPS will heterogeneously integrate micro-thermoelectric coolers and
10 FIBRE SYSTEMS Issue 7 • Spring 2015 Dr Kafil Razeeb and Dr Cian
O’Murchu of Tyndall National Institute in Ireland
micro-fluidics with optoelectronic devices to precisely control device temperature. ‘We will seek to develop an
intelligent circuit that can thermally control its own operations, making it up to five times more efficient,’
explained Dr Kafil M Razeeb, senior research scientist at Tyndall National Institute and coordinator of the project. ‘By precisely self-tuning its own temperature, the device can produce a more precise wavelength, meaning faster data transmission at a lower cost.’ Tyndall National Institute will
work with industry and research partners from Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and France. These include III-V Lab, University of Hamburg, Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs Ireland, CNRS Institutes (INL, ILM and IMN), Stokes Institute at University of Limerick, LioniX BV, Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs France, and Communicraft.
Tyndall National Institute
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