NEWS: Two New OIDA Interest Groups

January 8, 2008

Ciena/Cisco lead formation of two OIDA interest groups

Ciena and Cisco have requested that OIDA form two special interest groups or Communities of Interest intended to reduce costs and improve performance of the communications value chain. The groups will address two specific topics: improved test and measurement for reduced component cost, and electronics for optics. The two groups will be charged with developing topics of interest for a workshop to be held in the second half of the year. The workshop will be jointly sponsored by Cisco and Ciena.

The first group: Test and Measurement for Optical Components (TMOC) will address specifically the high cost of testing in the optical component space. The range of discussion topics will cover equipment cost, test time and automation, lifetime and burn-in testing and the extensive retest usually involved in component manufacture. The COI will bring together interested parties primarily from test equipment manufacturers, component and subsystem makers, and system OEMs to align an acceptable but lower cost test methodology and process for high performance optical components.

The second group: Electronics for Optics (EFO) will look at issues regarding electrical components for next generation high performance optical subsystems, specifically involving complex modulation formats and higher speed transmission.

OIDA communities of interest are free to OIDA members and open to all interested parties. Please see www.oida.org/coi for more details.