ACADEMIA

Industry's Only FPGAs to Support SFI-5 Enable Next-Generation High-Speed Optical Communications -- Xilinx, the global leader in programmable logic solutions, today announced that its Virtex-4 FX FPGA has been chosen by NEC for its SFI-5-compliant 40 Gbps WDM optical communications systems. Xilinx high-performance Virtex-4 FPGAs are playing a major role in the building of cutting edge optical communications systems, as the only devices in the industry to comply with SFI-5. NEC's SpectralWave DW4200 series of WDM reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADM) is the world's first ROADM to achieve 40Gbps over existing fiber-optic infrastructure and multiplexing of up to 80 wavelengths. The SpectralWave DW4200 series provides a simplified and cost-efficient network platform, which can be easily adapted to address anticipated future operator bandwidth demands, and which should overcome some design limitations of conventional metro dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems. By enhancing applications, the complete 4200-series can add 'new dimensions' to what NEC calls generation free networking -- enabling networks to expand beyond traditional 'bounded' optical transport to enable a true multi-dimensional, agile environment. The Xilinx Virtex-4 FX60 device chosen by NEC supports all major serial standards including PCI Express, Serial RapidIO, Ethernet and Fibre Channel, enabling the design of multiple applications using the same device, thereby reducing total solution cost. Virtex-4 FX RocketIO ransceivers provide advanced equalization features, such as 3-tap Transmit Pre-emphasis, Linear Receive Equalization, 6-tap Decision Feedback Equalization (DFE), and Integrated AC-coupling capacitor, to enhance signal integrity at all speeds over the most stringent channels, making designs easier to implement the first time. "We selected the Virtex-4 FX for our digital processing module of the SFI-5 standard-compliant 40Gps WDM optical communications device based on its high performance serial connectivity features," said NEC Broadband Networks Operations Unit Optical Network Division Manager Nobuhiro Kawahara. "In addition to allowing us to meet the demanding SFI-5 specification requirements, it permitted us to build in sophisticated functions not possible with other available solutions."