SAN JOSE, Calif., August 2 -- Fiber optic component manufacturers Bookham Technology, JDS Uniphase, North Light, T-Networks Inc. and TriQuint Optoelectronics have announced a new multisource agreement (MSA) for standardizing 1550-nm, 2.5-Gb/s cooled transmitter optical subassemblies (TOSAs). The Cooled TOSA MSA group said a standard cooled, wavelength-specific TOSA would be a key component in building transmission systems capable of serving multiple market segments, which would reduce system developers’ costs while expanding performance and offering new functionality. "After co-existing for many years, the high-performance and proprietary telecom world is converging with the manufacturing focused datacom world," said Tom Hausken, director of optical components at the research firm Strategies Unlimited. "Making high-performance yet standards-based subcomponents is necessary for this convergence, but it is hard to do in practice. The cooled TOSA MSA, led by JDS Uniphase, offers this remarkable opportunity for the industry to reach that goal." The new standard for a miniature, high-performance cooled TOSA enables several advanced capabilities, according to the TOSA MSA group. Systems developers can integrate dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) in 2.5 Gb/s small form factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers. This will permit network equipment and transceiver/transponder manufacturers to build a single platform serving both datacom and telecom applications, including 2.5 Gb/s DWDM SFP and line cards. The new MSA also enables optical transmission up to 640 km, rather than the traditional 80 km, and employs pluggable optics for easier, less costly manufacturing, the group said. A butterfly package design has been the historical choice for DWDM applications. The cooled TOSA MSA specification is one-fifth the size and consumes one-quarter to one-third the power of legacy butterfly packages, the companies said. "It is clear that the industry needs a unified form factor in this area," said Cooled TOSA MSA group chair Kushant Uppal of JDS Uniphase. "The market has been very challenging for the last several years. Due to the convergence of the various communications markets, customers need expanded product functionality with greater emphasis on lower costs of manufacturing and materials. Creating an MSA for this important technology is one way in which we will help our customers achieve their cost and performance targets." The Cooled TOSA MSA group said it welcomes application for membership from both component manufacturers and sponsoring members. The members of the MSA forum will continue to develop this platform for future applications in transponders, transceivers and as discrete components. This new form factor will serve as a platform for further enhancements that can be used in a wide variety of applications, the group said. For more information, visit: www.cooledtosamsa.org