Intel, Picolight and Infineon Announce Multisource Agreement for 10 Gigabit Optical Modules
Source/Type: Company News Releases

March 19, 2002... ANAHEIM, California USA... Intel Corporation, Picolight Inc., and Infineon Technologies North America Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Infineon Technologies AG, have established a multisource agreement (MSA) to define a smaller, more cost-effective form factor for 10 Gigabit fiber optic modules optimized for enterprise, storage area network (SAN) and switching center market segment applications.

The new form factor, named XPAK, provides new levels of density, power efficiency, and ease of integration to network equipment OEMs implementing 10 Gigabit links up to ten kilometers. These features allow deployment of 10 Gigabit Ethernet to move from today’s aggregated uplink applications to high-volume server-to-switch and storage-to-switch links.

The XPAK design increases density for enterprise, SAN and switching center applications by enabling up to 20 devices to be installed on a single, 17-inch printed circuit board. Its small size also enables PCI card applications, such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet network interface cards. XPAK can support 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel optical links from 2 meters to 10 kilometers, which represents the majority of connection requirements for these market segments. XPAK also can be plugged directly into the front panel of optical devices while the devices are still operating, which increases OEM manufacturing yields, reduces inventory costs and enables devices to be replaced or upgraded in the field.

Other 10 Gigabit optical module designs available today are either not pluggable, too large, or are too expensive to implement because they are designed to include large, power-intensive transport optics not needed in enterprise and SAN applications. XPAK allows network equipment OEMs to easily migrate their first-generation 10 Gigabit designs to higher density, lower power implementations using their existing interface components and software.

"The XPAK MSA provides multiple, reliable sources for a 10 Gigabit pluggable optics module designed for the needs of high-volume market segments," said Warner Andrews, vice president of marketing at Picolight. "As 10 Gigabit Ethernet begins to be deployed in POPs, enterprise backbones, and storage area networks, smaller, high-density platforms are required, and XPAK enables these."

The hot-pluggable XPAK uses a standard 10 Gigabit Ethernet XAUI electrical interface over a 70-pin RFT-style connector in its initial implementation. Its small footprint and capability for mounting on both sides of a printed circuit board offer very high densities to switch and router manufacturers. Its low height, limited depth and single-side mounting allow it to comply with PCI requirements. Shortwave (850 nm) implementations will support links up to 300 meters, while longwave (1310 nm) versions will reach up to ten kilometers.

"The market segments addressed by the XPAK MSA represent the largest users of 10G technology, with almost 80 percent of those applications being 10 kilometers or less," said Bob Pierce, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Communications Products at Infineon. "We believe that the XPAK MSA is an ideal solution for devices that need to meet the small form factor requirements of the SAN and enterprise market segments, and is a welcome complement to the more powerful but larger devices that serve longer-reach networks."

“For 10 Gigabit Ethernet to be widely implemented in servers, a smaller optical module form factor is required to fit on adapter cards for current and future bus architectures,” said Tim Dunn, general manager of Intel’s LAN Access Division. “Intel is helping to drive XPAK as a both a supplier and customer of 10-Gigabit Ethernet optical modules.”

A draft of the XPAK specification will be available in April, and the MSA will be opened for other optical transceiver vendors and network equipment suppliers to join at that time. For more information on the MSA, visit http://www.xpak.org/. Customers may also contact the following XPAK group representatives by e-mail:
· Infineon: Rami Kanama rami.kanama@infineon.com
· Intel: Bob Zona robert.zona@intel.com
· Picolight: David Kabal david.kabal@picolight.com

About Intel
Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at http://www.intel.com/pressroom.

About Picolight Inc.
Picolight is a rapidly growing, private, venture-backed company that has been shipping product since 1999. The company designs and manufactures high-speed optoelectronic components and subsystems for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of networking equipment. The company provides transceiver subsystems for short-reach (1-meter to 20-kilometer) optical-networking connections, including optical switch interconnect, optical enterprise and storage area networks (SANs), and optical metro/access networks. From rack-to-rack and to the network edge, Picolight’s fiber link technology is delivering cost-effective bandwidth for capacity-constrained networking equipment. Picolight is located in Boulder, Colo. and employs a staff of 120. For more information, see www.picolight.com or sales@picolight.com.

About Infineon
Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for applications in the wired and wireless communications markets, for security systems and smartcards, for the automotive and industrial sectors, as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In the fiscal year 2001 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 5.67 billion with about 33,800 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.

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