Acacia Communications and Lumentum Demonstrate 200G Interoperability in CFP2-DCO Form Factor

MAYNARD, Mass. and MILPITAS, Calif., March 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Acacia Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIA), a leading provider of high-speed coherent optical interconnect products, and Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE), a market-leading designer and manufacturer of innovative optical and photonic products, today jointly announced that they have successfully demonstrated interoperability between their respective CFP2-DCO modules operating at 200G. The modules, based on Acacia's Meru DSP ASIC, demonstrated 200G transmission over an amplified link with greater than 1,000 km of standard single mode fiber, using high-performance 8QAM and 16QAM operating modes. This demonstration validates 200G interoperability between Lumentum and Acacia CFP2-DCO modules for new deployments, as well as with Acacia's CFP2-DCO modules already deployed in the field.

The modules from Acacia and Lumentum were designed for plug-and-play compatibility, providing customers with two proven coherent optics suppliers for CFP2-DCO modules, and to enable these customers to quickly and cost-effectively deploy 200G networks. The companies have worked together to develop and validate a common specification that provides optical interoperability, as well as a common host interface. The CFP2-DCO form factor has been adopted by multiple network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) in switch, router, and transport platforms. Providing four times higher density than 100G CFP-DCO solutions by doubling the data rate in a smaller form factor, Acacia's and Lumentum's Meru-based CFP2-DCO modules offer interoperability without sacrificing capacity or performance.

"This demonstration of interoperability at 200G highlights the value that we intended to create through our collaboration with Lumentum on the CFP2-DCO," said Benny Mikkelsen, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Acacia Communications. "Historically, interoperability in commercially available products has been limited to lower performance at 100G data rates. We believe that Meru-based modules are the only commercially available CFP2-DCO modules supporting 8QAM and 16QAM modulation at 200G."

CFP2-DCOs are becoming increasingly important for higher-speed optical networks because they integrate the coherent DSP into the pluggable module. The digital host interface enables simpler integration between module and system resulting in faster service activation for telecommunication providers, and a pay-as-you-grow deployment model whereby the cost of additional ports can be deferred until additional services are needed. 

"Industry trends are moving toward increasing multi-vendor interoperability, motivated by the needs of network operators," said Beck Mason, Senior Vice President, General Manager, Telecom Transmission at Lumentum. "Our CFP2-DCO module, based on our proven Indium Phosphide PIC technology, supports both standards-based interoperability at 100G, as well as higher performance modes at 100G and 200G.

About Acacia Communications

Acacia Communications develops, manufactures and sells high-speed coherent optical interconnect products that are designed to transform communications networks through improvements in performance, capacity and cost. By implementing optical interconnect technology in a silicon-based platform, a process Acacia Communications refers to as the "siliconization of optical interconnect," Acacia Communications is able to offer products at higher speeds and density with lower power consumption, that meet the needs of cloud and service providers and can be easily integrated in a cost-effective manner with existing network equipment. For more information about Acacia, visit www.acacia-inc.com or follow on Twitter at @AcaciaComms.

About Lumentum

Lumentum (NASDAQ: LITE) is a market-leading designer and manufacturer of innovative optical and photonic products enabling optical networking and laser applications worldwide.  Lumentum's optical components and subsystems are part of virtually every type of telecom, enterprise, and data center network.  Lumentum's lasers enable advanced manufacturing techniques and diverse applications including next-generation 3D sensing capabilities.  Lumentum is headquartered in Milpitas, California with R&D, manufacturing, and sales offices worldwide.  For more information, visit www.lumentum.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes statements concerning Acacia Communications and Lumentum and their respective future expectations, plans and prospects that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose, any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," "will" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Acacia Communications and Lumentum have based these forward-looking statements largely on their respective current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that the companies believe may affect their respective businesses, financial condition and results of operations. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions including, without limitation, the companies' expectations regarding the value created by their collaboration on Meru-based CFP2-DCO modules and industry trends moving toward solutions that provide for multi-vendor interoperability, and other risks set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in Acacia's and Lumentum's public reports filed with the SEC, including each companies' Annual Reports on Form 10-K for their fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and June 30, 2018, respectively, and Lumentum's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended September 29, 2018 and December 29, 2018 filed with the SEC and in other filings that each of the companies may make with the SEC in the future. Acacia Communications and Lumentum assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information:

Acacia Public Relations Contact:
Kelly Karr
Office: (408) 718-9350
Email: [email protected]

Lumentum Public Relations Contact:
Greg Kaufman
Office: 408-546-4593
Email: [email protected]

Acacia Investor Relations Contact:
Monica Gould
Office: (212) 871-3927
Email: [email protected]

Lindsay Savarese
Office: (212) 331-8417
Email: [email protected]

Lumentum Investor Relations Contact:
Jim Fanucchi
Office: (408) 404-5400
Email: [email protected]

The Acacia name and logo and the Acacia logo are registered trademarks of Acacia Communications, Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries.  The Lumentum name and logo and the Lumentum logo are registered trademarks of Lumentum, Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries.  Any other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.

SOURCE Lumentum

Related Links

https://www.lumentum.com