10+ Years of Pioneering Coherent Pluggable Innovation
The Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC) is celebrating 50 years of optical networking and communications this year. The milestone highlights decades of innovation from companies such as Acacia that have delivered optical networking technology enabling network operators to continually expand their bandwidth, deliver faster networks, and offer more services.
One of those innovations that we believe will be a dominant topic at OFC this year is coherent optics. Coherent pluggable modules have been critical for enabling network operators to keep up with bandwidth demands over the last decade, and according to Cignal AI, they will account for most of the future bandwidth growth driven by applications such as generative AI and machine learning. Acacia pioneered the coherent pluggable more than 10 years ago with the introduction of the industry’s first 100G CFP module in 2014 and has been a market leader ever since having shipped half a million 400G ports based on the Greylock DSP, including more than 25,000 Bright 400ZR+ ports.
Acacia continues to innovate and will illustrate its industry-leading optical networking advancements through the following demonstrations and speaking sessions:
Demonstrations:
- 200G per lane optical engine products – Demonstrating the recently announced 200G/lane silicon photonics optical engine with transmitter and receiver designs supporting DR4, DR8 and 2xFR4 configurations.
- Delphi DSP-based Coherent Pluggable Portfolio including new L-Band 400G ULH – Showcasing Acacia’s broad 400G module portfolio powered by Acacia’s 9th generation DSP Delphi including 800ZR, 800G ZR+ with interoperable Probabilistic Constellation Shaping (PCS), and 400G Ultra Long Haul. 400G modules in QSFP-DD form factor and 800G modules in both OSFP and QSFP-DD form factors are available with C and L-Band versions.
- OIF multi-vendor interoperability (Booth #5745) – Showing interoperability of 800ZR, 400ZR, OpenZR+ and Multi-Span Optics enhancing multi-vendor interoperability in high-capacity, long-distance optical networks and Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) standardizing the management of optical and electrical devices to simplify scalability.
- OpenROADM compliant 800G ZR+ coherent modules – Featuring a link between the OIF booth (#5745) and OpenROADM booth (#5128) demonstrating the high-performance interop PCS interface which expands the market for 800G pluggables beyond metro DCI into regional and even long-haul networks. Acacia’s award-winning 800G ZR+ modules were the first in the industry to support the OpenROADM specification.
- Ethernet Alliance (Booth #5173) – Showing interoperability of Acacia 800G ZR interconnects.
Speaking Sessions:
Monday, March 31
- Optica Executive Forum: Status of Photonic-enabled Modules and Interconnects
— Speaker: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
— Time: 10:35-11:50 am
— Location: Marriott Marquis - Multi-rate PAM4 Silicon Photonic Based Receiver Assembly with -10dBm iFEC Sensitivity at 226Gb/s/λ and 125mW/Ch CMOS TIA
— Speaker: Mahdi Parvizi, Principal Engineer
— Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
— Location: Rooms 211-212 (Level 2)
Tuesday, April 1
- Market Watch: Optical Modules, Transceivers and Applications
— Speaker: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
— Time: 2:15 – 3:45 pm
— Location: Theater I
Wednesday, April 2
- Network Operator Summit: Interoperation of Optical Pluggable Transceivers and IP/Optical Integration
— Moderator: Anuj Malik, Director, Product Management and Strategy
— Featured speakers from Cignal AI, Arelion, Cox Communications, Deutsche Telekom Technik GmbH, Telefonica
— Time: 10:45 – 12:15 pm
— Location: Theater I - Coherent Optics Unleashed: 400ZR Success to 800ZR/LR Advancements and 1600ZR/ZR+ Kick-Off
— Speaker: Doug Cattarusa, Technical Marketing Engineer
— Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm
— Location: Theater I
Thursday, April 3
- Market Watch: Optical Network Evolution for AI/ML, Architectures and Drivers
— Speaker: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
— Time: 10:15 – 11:45 am
— Location: Theater I - Demonstration of 400G Optical Interoperability in IP Over WDM Network Scenarios Over Single Span WDM System with and Without Optical Amplifiers
— Speaker: Anuj Malik, Director, Product Management & Strategy
— Time: 10:30 am - Coherent Moving to Client Optics
— Moderator: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
— Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm
— Location: Theater II
Come See us!
If you are attending OFC 2025 and would like to discuss any of these topics, contact us to request a meeting.
