Ekinops, a start-up headquartered in Lannion, France, introduced a long-haul optical transport platform that can carry 80 WDM channels a distance of 2,000 kilometers.
The foundation of the Ekinops 360 platform is its firmware programmable T-Chip. The new long haul solution also uses Ekinops’ “DynaFEC” forward error correction technology, which boosts performance, enabling longer transmission distances with lower-power transmitters and amplifiers. DynaFEC offers a number of FEC options that can be programmatically made available to Ekinops line cards allowing for up to a 10 to 12 dB gain, enabling the longest transmission distances between amplifiers. Ekinops can transmit 300 kilometers without any in-line amplification, with full channel counts and its new FEC capabilities significantly reduce the number of in-line amplifiers needed for long reach routes up to 2,000 km.
Ekinops said its 360 transport platform is capable of aggregating and transporting Ethernet (LAN Phy, WAN Phy), Fibre Channel, SONET/SDH, Escon, HD-SDI video, SD-SDI video, and ASI video client protocols. The new client protocol could also be supported thanks to the dynamic firmware programmable T-Chip.http://www.ekinops.net
- In October 2007, Ekinops announced US$20 million in venture capital for its optical transport and DWDM solutions. Ekinops offers optical transport, WDM and aggregation solutions for service providers and enterprise networks. It uses TDM technology to enable the wire-speed aggregation and transport of multiple high-speed data channels over standard 2.5G and 10G wavelengths. Ekinops’ carrier-grade solutions leverage expertise in 10G transmission, aggregation, and Forward Error Correction.
- Ekinops’ technical team is led by Jean-Luc Pamart, an FEC expert who has been awarded 7 patents in optical transmission. Before joining Ekinops, Mr. Pamart was Director of Hardware Development at Corvis-Algety in Lannion, France. Previous to that, he held various R&D positions at Alcatel within its Submarine and Terrestrial Division, and Optical Network Transmission business unit.