LAS VEGAS, Nev. " A week before the NxtComm trade show, Tpack A/S introduced a 20-Gbit/sec device called the TPOX3203 Packet Optical Engine. On the show floor, product managers demonstrated its capabilities at error recovery in 10-Gbit optical networks using Ethernet over OTN.
Daniel Joseph Barry, director of marketing at Tpack, said that the first generation of TPOX is intended for OTN and PON applications where Sonet framing is not used. But the 3203 is not the end of the line. Tpack will offer a TPOX 4214 next year which combines switching, OTN mapping, and Sonet/SDH framing in a single chip.
At the core of the module is an Altera Stratix-III FPGA. Altera is Tpack's strategic partner for programmable designs. Optimizing an FPGA for OTN transport makes the Packet Optical Engine ideal for Reconfigurable Optical Add-drop Multiplexers, or Roadms.
Tpack's business model calls for bringing programmable, customized functions to optical transport, though the company now is offering the equivalent of ASSP chips through its SoftSilicon program. Barry said that Tpack hopes to gain more custom design customers by starting them on SoftSilicon program, and moving to a second-generation optimized design.
In this video demonstration, Tpack senior product manager Michael A. Sidenius shows the impact on video quality when using the new TPOX3203.
