Cirrex automates module manufacturing

by Pauline Rigby

April 12, 2001 —

Start-up Cirrex Corp. recently joined the fray of components vendors trying to produce small-footprint, highly integrated optical modules. On March 6 the company unveiled its first product: an add-drop multiplexer targeting metro networks.

The nature of its first product indicates Cirrex is not following the well-worn path to optical integration set by manufacturers of silica-based arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG). According to Mike Wach, Cirrex's founder, president and CEO, the start-up has developed a platform that allows it to reach higher levels of integration right at the start.

It calls the technology platform "OCHIP," for Optical Communications Hybrid Integration Platform. Hybrid simply means that the optical chip is built up using several materials. In fact, there are quite a lot of materials: a ceramic substrate, electronic integrated circuits, silicon "optical benches" to hold the active optical components in place, and silica waveguides that guide light from one component to another. Cirrex puts it all together using automated, assembly techniques borrowed from the microelectronics industry. It's very similar to making multichip modules, Wach says.

It's worth pointing out that at least one other start-up, LightLogic Inc., appears to be pursuing a rather similar mix of materials. However, LightLogic is using lenses to couple light between components, rather than silica waveguides, so it can't claim to be integrating passive components.

Wach acknowledges that competition is going to heat up considerably, going forward. Right now, however, he sees the components divisions of the big players, like Nortel Networks, as the main competition.

OCHIP 1000 is a family of products that delivers a two-way communications channel to a single subscriber. It’s designed to replace dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) hubs that "drop" every wavelength or channel regardless of their ultimate destination. Instead, the OCHIP 1000 only drops and adds connections to and from local subscribers. The remainder of the wavelengths pass through the module without being converted back into electricity.

The "drop" wavelength is separated using filtering provided inside the module, and the "add" channel is introduced using an on-board laser stabilized at the appropriate wavelength.

"The current approach is analogous to a rail system in which all the passengers must disembark and reboard at each station even though only a few are actually bound for that station," Wach says. "The Cirrex OCHIP 1000 allows carriers to drop only the traffic bound for a particular subscriber."

That's the plan, although Cirrex must learn to walk before it can run. So far, the start-up has only released the first member of the product family, the OCHIP 1012, which operates at 2.5G bit/sec and has electronic interfaces. Future versions of the product will have optical interfaces, Wach says.

Cirrex is backed by Lucent Venture Partners, H.I.G. Capital, Imlay Investments and Transamerica Technology Finance. Total funding to date is $9.2 million.

Network World