Acacia Strengthens Edge and Access Network Portfolio with New Coherent Bi-Directional Pluggables for Cable and 5G Wireless X-Haul Applications

Enables Network Providers to Easily Meet Rising Bandwidth Demands in Fiber-Limited Networks

MAYNARD, Mass., Oct. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acacia Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACIA), a leading provider of high-speed coherent optical interconnect products, today announced it is sampling new coherent bi-directional pluggable optical module solutions that were designed to transmit and receive data in both directions on a single fiber for 100G and beyond. Offered in a pluggable CFP2-DCO form factor, Acacia’s coherent bi-directional module is designed to deliver an operationally efficient and cost-effective way for telecommunications and cable operators to increase capacity in fiber-limited networks.

“With the addition of this coherent bi-directional solution to our recently announced 100G point-to-point and DWDM coherent solutions, Acacia is now able to offer a portfolio of products to address a wide variety of requirements in the edge and access market,” said Fenghai Liu, Vice President of Product Line Management at Acacia Communications. “In fiber-limited networks, optical waves are transmitted in a single fiber medium from both directions. In these networks, coherent receivers can efficiently help to eliminate the crosstalk from back reflections when it operates at a different wavelength than its transmitter. Acacia’s coherent bi-directional CFP2-DCO module is purpose-built for these applications.”

In cable networks, particularly Remote PHY and fiber deep applications, providers often run into situations where only a single fiber is available. Historically, these networks have been served by 10G bi-directional optical modules. To meet growing bandwidth demands, a coherent bi-directional solution can provide these networks with an upgrade path to 100G and beyond. When wireless networks are migrating from 4G LTE to 5G, fibers are more often constrained because of a large number of remote nodes and some fibers are utilized by existing services. In these instances, coherent bi-directional modules can alleviate both bandwidth and fiber constraints.

“Cignal AI recognized an opportunity for 100G coherent in the edge and access market back in 2018, and Acacia is the first to aggressively pursue it,” said Scott Wilkinson, Lead Analyst at Cignal AI. “The time is right for network operators, such as cable MSOs, to bring coherent technology to their fiber constrained networks, where Acacia’s bi-directional module can help them increase capacity.”