We can’t think of a better way to start off 2022 than to have our latest product innovation – the Coherent Interconnect Module 8 (CIM 8) – receive the highest score possible from Lightwave’s well-respected Innovation Reviews Program.   Thank you to the esteemed and experienced panel of judges from the optical communications community for recognizing Acacia’s CIM 8 product among the best this year.

Delivering leading capacity and reach with maximum fiber utilization, the CIM 8 is the industry’s first 1.2 terabits per second (1.2T) faceplate pluggable coherent module, highlighting a new 8th generation Coherent Interconnect Module family, powered by Acacia’s Jannu 5nm CMOS digital signal processor (DSP) ASIC.

The CIM 8 solution delivers industry-leading performance with single carrier 1.2T operation, combining the Jannu DSP with our 3D Siliconization packaging technology, which includes the silicon photonics integrated circuit (SiPh PIC), high-speed modulator driver and transimpedance amplifier (TIA) in a single opto-electronic package. The Jannu DSP is designed to offer network operators the ability to maximize transmission data rate across a wide range of network applications including DCI, metro, long-haul and subsea.

“On behalf of the Lightwave Innovation Reviews, I would like to congratulate Acacia on receiving our highest score of 5.0,” said Lightwave Associate Publisher and Editorial Director, Stephen Hardy. “This competitive program enables Lightwave to celebrate and recognize the most innovative products that will bring the most benefit to the optical communications community each year – and our judges indicate that the CIM 8 certainly has the potential to do just that.”

The architecture of the (CIM 8) solution builds upon the success of the Acacia AC1200 Pico DSP based product family and is well-aligned with traffic demands as networks transition to 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). The CIM 8 is designed to enable network operators to double their transmission capacity over even greater reaches. The CIM 8 family can address transmission of multiple 400GbE client interfaces over virtually any transport network application, delivering 1.2T per carrier capacity for high-capacity DCI interfaces and 800 gigabits per second per carrier capacity over most optical links using 4 bits/symbol (~16QAM) modulation.

Continued Coherent Innovation
Acacia has been a pioneer of silicon photonics since 2012 when it was the first coherent module vendor to envision silicon as the platform for the integration of multiple discreet photonic functions while increasing the density and reducing cost of optical interconnect products. Since then, Acacia has been working towards a clear vision of how to cost-effectively scale network capacity.

The Jannu DSP builds on the performance and architectural benefits that have made Acacia’s Pico DSP such a successful coherent solution, having been deployed in more than 100 networks around the globe and by 3 of the 4 largest hyperscalers.

For more information on the CIM 8 and to learn more about how coherent technology has evolved in response to growing bandwidth demands, refer to this recent article.

Acacia has many reasons to be excited about this year’s European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) and one of the top ones is demonstrating our new AC1200-SC² (SC ‘squared’) coherent module, the first single-chip coherent module to deliver 1.2 Terabit (1.2T) on a single-channel. Not only did we announce the details around the AC1200-SC² today, but we also had four customers participate in our press release by providing supporting quotes. Thank you to ADVA, Cisco, ECI Telecom, and ZTE for your continued support of our product innovations. Everything we develop is to make you and our other customers successful, and we’re proud to once again have the opportunity to help you solve your greatest optical networking challenges.

Powered by Acacia’s 1.2T Pico DSP chip, the AC1200-SC² was designed to enable network operators to support today’s 100GbE clients, as well as emerging 400GbE clients, across key network segments such as DCI edge, metro, long-haul and submarine in an efficient, scalable, and cost-effective manner. The module’s high-performance and flexibility make the AC1200-SC² module ideally suited for multi-haul applications ranging from high- capacity 1.2T DCI edge to the most challenging terrestrial and submarine networks that require 400G channels and QPSK modulation.

Optimize your Network

The AC1200-SC² leverages Acacia’s 3D shaping technology designed to optimize fiber capacity and reach by filling gaps in margin and spectrum. Fine-tune adjustment of the modulation order and baud rate

provides network operators with the ability to adapt the transmission characteristics to meet the requirements of both greenfield and brownfield deployments. Capable of adapting to any channel spacing up to 150 GHz, the AC1200-SC² provides network operators with a straightforward channel plan roadmap.

The single-chip, single-channel AC1200-SC² supports 3 x 400G transmission using 64QAM modulation for DCI edge applications, as well as 1 x 400G transmission using QPSK modulation for long-haul and submarine applications. This application flexibility facilitates network savings by enabling common hardware to address multiple deployment scenarios, including 100GbE/400GbE, as well as reducing the need for costly regeneration nodes for long-haul and ultra-long-haul links.

The software intelligent AC1200-SC² coherent module supports 1.2T in a footprint that is 40% less than the size of 5” x 7” modules supporting transmission speeds of 400G today.

Come See us at ECOC

If you are attending the show, we’d love to see you and show you a demonstration of our new AC1200-SC². To set up a meeting, contact us.

Achieving network optimization with 600G era coherent technology

The latest innovations in digital signal processing (DSP), optical, and mixed-signal component technologies have enabled the achievement of 600G-per-wavelength transmission speeds. High modulation orders (e.g., up to 64QAM) and high baud rates (e.g., up to ~70Gbaud) are now possible. In addition to this high speed achievement, these technologies also introduce advanced capabilities that allow the flexible fine-tuning of the optical transmission resulting in capacity optimization. Today’s coherent technology enables common optical hardware to achieve the high-performance finesse of a long-distance link, the sheer raw capacity for shorter DCI/edge links, and everything in between. This is the reason why some refer to 600G era coherent technology as multi-haul technology since the same set of hardware can address long-haul, metro, and DCI/edge networks.

Recently introduced, the Acacia AC1200 coherent module, powered by Acacia’s Pico DSP, a low-power solution based on 16 nm CMOS technology incorporates algorithms and processing power to address a wide range of applications. The AC1200 also includes a silicon photonics integrated circuit (PIC), and high-speed RF electronics to achieve 1.2Tbps capacity by using two wavelengths operating at 600Gbps each. The AC1200 is a leading product in the 600G era offering key capabilities that feature high-performance and high-flexibility, with the goal of enabling network operators to improve efficiency and maximize capacity utilization while reducing network costs.

Acacia recently published a white paper – Network Optimization in the 600G Era – that looks at long-haul, metro, and DCI/edge application and how the AC1200 provides benefits for each of these applications. Check it out to learn more.

For instance, 3D Shaping is a key feature in the recently introduced Pico-powered AC1200, a 1.2Tb coherent transceiver module which supports two wavelengths up to 600G each. There are three elements to 3D shaping, with each providing a real-world benefit. There’s shaping of probability, shaping of location, and shaping of spectral width.

Senior Manager of Technical Marketing, Eugene Park, breaks down the elements of 3D shaping and what it means to Acacia’s technology. Learn more in our video.

Tom and Stephen discussed how network operators can turn unused margin gaps into usable capacity with Acacia’s innovative technology. As technological advances enable solutions approaching the theoretical Shannon capacity limit, gains are becoming more incremental, and reducing cost-per-bit is becoming more challenging. Acacia’s innovative technology and feature set enables a path to breaking through the optical terabit barrier allowing users of the technology to deliver optical networks with high performance while lowering cost and power for various network applications including long haul, metro, and DCI-edge.

In this video, Tom discusses how 3D Shaping enables fine-tune adjusting of the line-side coherent modulation characteristics helping network operators optimize capacity and reach for their network. This is enabled by Acacia’s Pico DSP which powers our AC1200 coherent module. You can watch Tom and Stephen’s full conversation below.

This interview was just one of the many conversations the Acacia team took part in at ECOC this year. We had a full schedule of thought leader presentations, AC1200 1.2T demonstration and customer and partner conversations. Check out our pre-ECOC blog post to learn more about what we were up to at the show.

Stay tuned to the blog for more updates on Acacia’s Pico DSP, AC1200 coherent module, and the rest of our technology portfolio.