- March 2002 -

March 26th, 2002

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DigiLens announces Wavechip™ tunable optical IC

SUNNYVALE, Calif., - DigiLens, Inc., launched its unique tunable optical integrated circuit at the Optical Fiber Communications (OFC) conference in Anaheim.  Visitors to the DigiLens booth #2980 in Hall C were able to try out the first-of-its-kind chip in an interactive demonstration of a Dynamic Gain Equalizer (DGE) module set in a Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical system.

In the demonstration, the DigiLens DGE130 Module compensates for imbalances in channel power caused by dynamic add/drops and the non-linear effects of successive optical amplifiers. Unlike today's solutions which demultiplex a DWDM optical signal and attenuate individual channels, the Wavechip™ powered DGE provides variable attenuation across a continuous spectrum making it both independent of channel count and spacing. Being solid state, the Wavechip™ is also both lower in insertion loss and extremely robust, making it immune to vibration or other interference. 

"System architects have clearly defined DGEs as being critical to agile DWDM optical network performance," commented Jonathan Waldern, President & CEO of DigiLens, Inc., "but current assumptions regarding the ratio of DGEs to amplifiers, specification and price could be upset with this breakthrough. In fact several customers have told us they foresee replacing industry standard fixed Gain Flattening Filters (GFFs) with dynamic versions - potentially making Wavechip™ DGEs ubiquitous".

Preliminary specifications for the module show an insertion loss of less than 4dB and power consumption of below 4 Watts at 15dB attenuation. The DGE130 incorporates a powerful 155mips DSP housed inside the smallest plug-and-play module to date. Since the Wavechip™ consumes only a fraction of the fully packaged module power, it could eventually be tightly integrated into an "intelligent amplifier", replacing Gain Flattening Filters (GFFs) and sharing processor and other system functionality. DigiLens is on schedule to ship samples from its recently completed 8" wafer capable manufacturing line, with volume production by year end. 

About DigiLens: www.digilens.com
DigiLens is an optical components company dedicated to meeting customer needs for agile optical networks. Drawn from the photonics, semiconductor and materials industries, the Company has developed a breakthrough technology platform called Wavechip™ , which is a "tunable" Optical Integrated Circuit manufactured on silicon wafers. With almost 100 patents issued or filed, the Company's products target solutions that lead to significant network cost reductions through integration, manufacturing cost, size and power advantages over today's discrete optical component assemblies. These products range from tunable lasers to R-OADMs. The Company recently completed installation of a state-of-the-art 8"-capable wafer fabrication line and will be in full production later this year.

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