Xilinx to demo 40-Gb OTN muxponder with partial reconfiguration

Xilinx Inc. plans to demonstrate 40-gigabit optical transport network (OTN) developments for integrated multiplexer/transponder (muxponder) applications at next week's 2010 Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) conference and exposition, the company announced.

The demonstration will combine Xilinx' partial reconfiguration technology with OTN IP solutions from Avalon Microelectronics Inc. to reduce downtime and lower the bill of materials cost and power consumption of multi-port networks, according to Xilinx (San Jose, Calif.).

The company said the technology enables network operators to reduce capital expenditures and operating expenses with "on-the-fly" reconfiguration of a selected port or multiple ports. Using the partial reconfiguration capabilities available with Virtex FPGAs, developers can also reduce muxponder size by 30 to 40 percent and lower power consumption as compared to devices without partial reconfiguration, Xilinx said.

Demonstrations by Xilinx and Avalon can be seen at OFC 2010 in San Diego from March 23 to 25, Xilinx said.