Achieves Spectral Efficiency of 6.41 b/s/Hz
MAYNARD, Mass., Dec. 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Acacia Communications (NASDAQ: ACIA), today announced the first 400G single carrier DWDM transmission on the 6,600 km Marea submarine cable between Virginia Beach, Virginia and Bilbao, Spain. The field demonstration was conducted by Acacia in collaboration with Microsoft and Facebook, and helped to demonstrate that improvements in capacity and spectral efficiency can enable increased utilization of deployed fiber and improved network capacity.
The growth of cloud and internet services are driving the need for increasing subsea network capacity. Meeting these demands requires advanced coherent transmission systems that support higher data rates that weren’t possible in prior transatlantic systems. The Marea submarine cable, a joint project between Microsoft, Facebook, and global telecommunications infrastructure company Telxius, features an “open” design that allows it to evolve with technology and enables adoption of new technologies, such as the Acacia AC1200 coherent module.
The field demonstration was performed with Acacia’s AC1200 coherent module, which is powered by its Pico digital signal processor. Acacia’s AC1200 supports a combination of high baud rate, flexible modulation formats and enhanced performance features that enable improvements in capacity and reach. Utilizing Acacia’s patented Fractional QAM modulation, the field demonstration achieved 400G transmission using approximately 4 bits/symbol, with a baud rate of nearly 70G baud. Additionally, modulation formats greater than 4 bits/symbol were utilized to achieve a spectral efficiency of 6.41 b/s/Hz on the same 6,600 km cable.
“Transmission of 400G over 6,600 km is a significant milestone and demonstrates what can be achieved with higher performance transmission optics combined with a well-designed line system,” said Mark Filer, Principle Optical Engineer, Azure Networking, Microsoft Corp. “This field demonstration of an advanced solution that is just becoming commercially available highlights the value of Marea’s open architecture to evolve with the latest technology. By allowing early adoption of new technologies such as Acacia’s AC1200, we are able to increase the utilization of our deployed fiber, maximize our investment and improve network capacity.”
“We are excited to have completed this field demonstration on the Marea cable, with the first transmission of 400G on a single carrier, highlighting the performance and features of our AC1200 coherent module,” said Christian Rasmussen, Founder and Vice President of Digital Signal Processing and Optics at Acacia Communications, “We believe the benefits of our AC1200 module will help network operators improve their network utilization in a range of applications from edge DCI to submarine.”
Acacia’s AC1200 coherent module is currently in qualification with several network equipment manufacturers.
About Acacia Communications
Acacia Communications develops, manufactures and sells high-speed coherent optical interconnect products that are designed to transform communications networks through improvements in performance, capacity and cost. By leveraging silicon technology to build optical interconnects, a process Acacia Communications refers to as the “siliconization of optical interconnect,” Acacia Communications is able to offer products at higher speeds and density with lower power consumption, that meet the needs of cloud and service providers and can be easily integrated in a cost-effective manner with existing network equipment. For more information visit www.acacia-inc.com or follow on Twitter at @AcaciaComms.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release includes statements concerning Acacia Communications and its future expectations, plans and prospects that constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose, any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words “may,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “will” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Acacia Communications has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that the company believes may affect its business, financial condition and results of operations. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions including, without limitation, the company’s expectations regarding the demand for its products, including its AC1200 coherent module, and its ability to meet such demand, expectations regarding growth in cloud and internet services driving the need for increasing subsea network capacity the ability of advanced coherent transmission systems and technologies to meet such capacity requirements and/or increase the utilization of and improve subsea network capacity, and other risks set forth under the caption “Risk Factors” in the company’s public reports filed with the SEC, including the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the three month periods ended March 31, 2018, June 30, 2018 and September 30, 2018 filed with the SEC and in other filings that the Company may make with the SEC in the future. Acacia Communications assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For further information:
Public Relations Contact:
Jackie D’Andrea
Office: (781) 966-4143
Email: PR@acacia-inc.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Monica Gould
Office: (212) 871-3927
Email: IR@acacia-inc.com
Lindsay Savarese
Office: (212) 331-8417
Email: IR@acacia-inc.com