Avago 16 Gigabit Fibre Channel transceiver now in production /MEL plans mechanically locked tunable SFP optical transceiver

Avago Technologies (Nasdaq:AVGO) says its new AFBR-57F5PZ SFP+ transceivers for 16 Gigabit Fibre Channel applications have reached production status. The transceivers support industry-standard signaling rates up to 14.025 GBd.

Avago expects the modules to find application in switches, routers, host bus adapters, RAID controllers, tape drives, and video switching, as well as inter-switch and inter-chassis aggregated links.

While the AFBR-57F5PZ SFP+ transceiver offers twice the capacity of 8 Gigabit Fibre Channel devices, it operates at “essentially” the same power level, Avago asserts. The SFP+ module’s transmitter and receiver can operate at different data rates, as is often required during Fibre Channel speed negotiation. The module maintains compatibility with legacy 8 Gigabit and 4 Gigabit Fibre Channel devices as well, Avago says.

Avago also touts the following additional features:

    Operating temperature range of 0° to 70° C and supply voltage of 3.3 V ± 5%
    Lead-free and RoHS-compliant
    Digital diagnostic features per SFF-8472
    LC Duplex optical connector interface conforming to ANSI TIA/EIA604-10 (FOCIS 10A)
    Enhanced EMI performance for high port density applications.

The AFBR-57F5PZ transceiver incorporates Avago’s 850-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and PIN detector technology. This combination ensures that the multi-rate SFP+ module is compliant with FC-PI-5 and 16G/8G/4G Fibre Channel specifications, the company states. The module will respond to both rate select pin and control bit inputs, which simplifies Fibre Channel host auto-negotiation algorithms, layout, and software, Avago adds.

The AFBR-57F5PZ 16 Gigabit Fibre Channel transceiver is priced at $215.35 each in 100-piece quantities. Samples and production quantities are available now through the Avago direct sales channel and via worldwide distribution partners.


MEL, a startup founded in 2009, announced plans for a low-power, tunable DWDM SFP transceiver (TRx) that will leverage its patent-protected chirped fiber Bragg grating and its athermal structure technology. The transceiver, which MEL has dubbed MLT (for “Mechanically Locked Tunable”), will consume half the power of existing EML-based transceivers and one third of the new tunable transceivers, the company asserts.

The company did not say when the MLT optical transceiver would be available.

The transceiver will offer a tuning range of 40 wavelengths with 100-GHz spacing over the C- or L-Band. Technicians will tune the MLT SFP transceiver by typing in a wavelength number on the panel of an electro-mechanic tuner. Although the wavelength is mechanically locked for the end of transceiver life, if necessary, the wavelength can be re-tuned at different wavelengths repeatedly.

According to Dr. B.W. Kim, the CEO of MEL, "Today's tunable transceivers are the products of lab engineers who had a fixation of changing wavelengths as many [times] as possible, but in reality and practice, you need to seldom change wavelength while in operation for broadband data transport and access networks."

MEL will display the MLT SFP transceiver TOSA, without the actual tuner, at the forthcoming ECOC in Geneva, September 19-21.