Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: VTSS), a leading provider of advanced IC solutions for Carrier and Enterprise networks, today announced its latest laser and modulator driver, the VSC7982-40. Targeted at high bandwidth applications in SONET, Ethernet, and Fibre Channel networks, the four-channel device can support emerging 40G and 100G optical networks, ideal as building blocks for service providers upgrading networks to offer premium data services to subscribers.

While some Enterprise networks are directly upgrading from 10G to 100G Ethernet support, the 40G interface is seen as a necessary stepping stone to 100G in the public-network environment from both a cost and component availability perspective, with fewer board-level and semiconductor components available to support direct 100G links today. In fact, a recent study in Lightwave indicates that most metro and long-haul service providers began upgrades for backbones in 2010 and 2011 based on existing components for 40G line cards.

The new 4 x 10G VSC7982-40 leverages the IP of Vitesse's popular single-channel 10G laser driver and modulator (VSC7982) and offers unprecedented integration by incorporating bias transistors. The device is highly flexible and agnostic to communication protocol and laser type. In addition to bias T's, the 3.3V VSC7982-40 integrates AC coupling capacitors, significantly reducing the bill of materials in typical designs.

"Vitesse's new VSC7982-40 quad driver builds on a reliable, field-proven architecture. With hundreds of thousands of single-channel devices deployed worldwide, Vitesse continues to innovate for higher bandwidth, higher capacity Ethernet networks," said Aditi Vaghashia, product marketing at Vitesse. "Working closely with global Tier 1 leaders in 40G optics, we're able to bring to the market a solution that OEMs in all market sectors can leverage."

Vitesse