OPTOBUS/sup TM/ I: a production parallel fiber optical interconnect

Abstract

Parallel fiber interconnects have received considerable attention recently due to the potential systems level advantages offered by optics. Designers of large computer systems and central office equipment are attracted by the advantages of size, EMI, electrical isolation and the performance at distances not achievable by traditional copper solutions. In spite of these advantages, designers do not want to pay a premium for optical solutions at comparable data rates and distance to copper. Therefore, it is critical to optical product implementation that there be a large added performance over copper for the same cost. OPTOBUS/sup TM/ I is a solution that addresses the tradeoffs between manufacturing cost and system design. It is a simple, low cost, 400 Mb/s 10-bit bidirectional optical data link for distances up to several hundred meters.