Zarlink, Agilent to Create Transceiver Standard

OTTAWA, Canada and PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 4 -- Zarlink Semiconductor and Agilent Technologies Inc. announced today that they have signed a multisource agreement to create a common standard for pluggable 4-channel parallel optic transceiver modules that offer an aggregate bandwidth of up to 10 Gb/s.

Known as pluggable optics 4-channel (POP4), the agreement promotes flexible and reliable system design by ensuring that customers have access to multiple, reliable sources for 4-channel transceivers used for high bandwidth, optical interconnections in next-generation switches, routers and other networking equipment.

Agilent and Zarlink will design standardized packaging, optical and electronic interfaces for their respective 4-channel transceiver modules, which are under development. The companies will also work to encourage the POP4 specification as the global industry standard for 4-channel parallel optic transceivers.
For more information, visit: www.zarlink.com