Global Internet traffic is growing tremendously thanks to increase in the usage of mobile devices that use the Internet for many applications. Consequently, the need for bandwidth has also increased tremendously. This in turn has driven the need for large-scale network upgrades that require higher density and lower power optical networks.

In an effort to help system engineers and manufacturers to develop higher density and lower power optical networks, Altera Corporation - a provider of programmable solutions for the semiconductor companies - announced that it has successfully demonstrated interoperability with a 100-Gbps optical module using its 28-nm Stratix V GT field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

Tailored to support the most bandwidth-intensive communications systems, the Stratix V GT FPGAs are capable of supporting 25- to 28-Gbps data streams for next-generation 100-Gbps pluggable fiber-optic modules, line cards and direct-attach copper cables using the 25G-QSFP+ and CFP2 form factors.

The Stratix V FPGAs feature 28-Gbps integrated transceivers and provide high system reliability with the lowest jitter. Apart from delivering the highest system bandwidth at the lowest power consumption, under 200 mW per channel at 28 Gbps, it can support backplane, optical module and chip-to-chip applications through 28-Gbps transceivers, and up to 66 full-duplex 14.1-Gbps transceivers.

Officials with Altera (News - Alert) said in a press release that Stratix V GT devices are the industry's first FPGAs with 28-Gbps transceiver technology that enable next-generation 100-Gbps networks. In other words, this is the first time an FPGA has demonstrated interoperability with a 100-Gbps optical module. The demonstration tested 28-Gbps transmission technology over 2 km of single-mode (SM) fiber by leveraging Molex's (News - Alert) zQSFP+ Interconnect System.

The demonstration included four channels of PRBS31 data generating within the Altera's Stratix V FPGA. Then, the data is transmitted over a Gennum VSR host channel with 12 dB of insertion loss, through a Molex zQSFP+ connector to Gennum clock and data recovery (CDR) integrated circuits.

Officials with Altera said that the demonstration will be showcased at the upcoming Optical Fiber Conference (OFC) to be held at the Los Angeles.

Earlier in September 2011, Altera and Gennum together had demonstrated 4x25Gb/s ICs for next-generation 100Gb/s networks.