Sierra unveils world’s first 100G multiplexer

March 18, 2017

Sierra Monolithics this week unveiled the world’s first 100G multiplexer with clock multiplier unit (CMU) and demultiplexer with clock and data recovery (CDR).

The US-based supplier of high-speed analogue and RF applications said the Theta-100G multiplexer will help to unclog congested network routes and reduce the cost per bit of transporting data.

A single 100G wavelength is dense enough to support up to 800,000 simultaneous Internet phone calls.

“This chipset will relieve carriers’ increasingly congested network routes and significantly lower their transport costs per bit, while also increasing throughput in data centre networks,” said Javed Patel, CEO and President at Sierra.

It is Sierra’s first release in a planned family of 100G solutions that will enable more effective delivery of IPTV, Internet video, video conferencing, on-line gaming, online storage, and mobile video.

The Theta 100G is designed to be as low-cost, small, and power efficient as possible.

It includes the SMI10021 10:4 MUX/CMU and SMI10031 4:10 CDR/DEMUX devices.

All of these devices use fourth generation (4G), 130-nanometer IBM 8HP bipolar complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) silicon germanium (SiGe) process technology.

In designing the Theta 100G, Sierra has built on its experience with 40G solutions.

Analysts believe that although many carriers are only now beginning to upgrade to 40G, they will quickly upgrade again to 100G technology.

“Even as 40G begins to take hold, carriers already are anticipating a migration to 100G,” said Sterling Perrin, senior analyst at Heavy Reading.