Intel’s Silicon Photonics is a small form-factor chip for data communications applications

Intel and Microsoft claims silicon photonics will be key enabling technology to address networking challenges in the future

Intel and Microsoft claims silicon photonics will be key enabling technology to address networking challenges in the future (Source: Intel)

Intel has announced that it has achieved volume production and shipping in the form of 100G optical transceivers. The products, also called Silicon Photonics, are basically small form-factor, high speed and low power consumption products for use in data centers.

Intel’s Silicon Photonics 100G PSM4 (Parallel Single Mode fiber 4-lane) and Silicon Photonics 100G CWDM4 (Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing 4-lane) are targeted for use in data communications applications for switch-to-switch optical interconnects. Intel and Microsoft claims silicon photonics will be key enabling technology to address networking challenges in the future.

The commercialisation and volume deployment of silicon photonics has been anticipated by the data centre industry for years and with the new announcement, most optical networking vendors and operators can aim to integrate optics into silicon CMOS technology.

While it won’t be a big deal for an average consumer, the technology does promise high-speed connectivity impossible to achieve through copper wires. Silicon Photonics also consume less power in comparison to copper wire implementation. Intel claims its silicon photonics technology can revolutionise the data center.

With Silicon Photonics technology, Intel says it will be possible to move large amounts of information at 100 gigabit-per-second over long distances of up to several kilometers on fiber optic cables. Currently, Intel Silicon Photonics based products are being deployed to connect switches to switches in large data centers and will eventually connect optical network with servers.

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