Oclaro Launches the Industry's First Commercially-Available Dual-Chip Uncooled Pump Lasers for ROADMs

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR), a tier-one provider and innovator of optical communications and laser solutions, today announced the industry's first commercially-available dual-chip uncooled pump laser that features a smaller form factor, reduced cost, improved performance, and lower power consumption compared to competing cooled pumps.  The dual-chip pump laser also features the new industry-standard 10-pin MSA butterfly advanced package format that delivers a smaller footprint compared to conventional 14-pin packages and - for the first time - includes two uncooled 500mW pump lasers in a single package.  Designed for flexible grid ROADM architectures, these uncooled pumps will be on display at the OFC/NFOEC conference on March 19-21 in Anaheim, California in the Oclaro Booth #2701.

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Featuring a 2X reduction in footprint while delivering 60 percent lower power consumption, the Oclaro new dual-chip uncooled pumps will enable customers to deliver cost effective, power efficient add/drop arrayed amplifiers targeted at 4 or 8-degree CDC-Flex node architectures.  These amplifiers will provide network operators with the increased bandwidth, capacity and flexibility that they need to support rapid provisioning of new services while reducing the cost of owning and operating the network.  Typically, pump lasers represent a significant portion of the total cost associated with optical amplifiers, and this cost can be further compounded when considering arrayed amplifiers.  However, with these new pumps, Oclaro can offer reduced optical amplifier costs, a smaller form factor and lower power consumption, while also maintaining fast transient control and industry-leading reliability.  This will provide amplifier designers and manufacturers with a comprehensive advantage in their next generation ROADM architectures.

"By developing a dual-chip uncooled pump laser, Oclaro is expanding its current leadership position in the pump laser market where the company has shipped more than 500,000 units externally in the last 3 years alone," said Robert Blum, Director of Product Marketing for the Oclaro Photonic Components Business Unit.   "This continued success in the pump market is based on more than two decades of pump expertise and our ability to incorporate the most innovative technologies that enable our customers to achieve lower power consumption, smaller footprint and higher performance while continuing to manage costs."

About the Dual-Chip Uncooled Pumps
The new Oclaro dual-chip uncooled pump is designed for amplifier arrays, multi-stage and mid-stage access amplifiers, ROADM on blade and amplifier based line cards.  These dual 500mW pumps enable smaller amplifier form factors by reducing the footprint required to accommodate the pump lasers within a multi-stage amplifier by a factor of more than 2X.  This obvious size reduction can be further improved if customers are replacing cooled pumps, since additional components, such as TEC driver circuits, will no longer be required. The pumps feature two dynamically independent, co-packaged lasers that are individually addressable and wavelength stabilized and also deliver negligible thermal and optical cross-talk through proprietary design.

In addition to the form factor reduction, this new pump laser also lowers the total module power consumption by approximately 60% compared to the power consumption of two discrete cooled pumps running at a nominal output power of 500mW, and the uncooled design enables customers to further reduce their cost through simplified control electronics and reduced component count.

Availability
Oclaro expects to be sampling the dual-chip uncooled pump in the third quarter of CY2013.  For more information, customers can contact their local Oclaro representative or visit www.oclaro.com.

About Oclaro
Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR) is one of the largest providers of lasers and optical components, modules and subsystems for the optical communications, industrial, and consumer laser markets.  The company is a global leader dedicated to photonics innovation, with cutting-edge research and development (R&D) and chip fabrication facilities in the U.S., U.K., Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Korea and Japan. It has in-house and contract manufacturing sites in China, Malaysia and Thailand, with design, sales and service organizations in most of the major regions around the world. For more information, visit http://www.oclaro.com.

Copyright 2013. All rights reserved. Oclaro, the Oclaro logo, and certain other Oclaro trademarks and logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Oclaro, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the US and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Information in this release is subject to change without notice.

SOURCE Oclaro, Inc.