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Finisar Meets Luxtera at Gilder Telecosm

Regarding Luxtera technology as a panacea for 100G, as noted they currently have some deficiencies such as (a) operate at only 1550nm wavelength, (b) Si modulators have no capability to offer phase control necessary for phase shift keying or other modulation techniques, (c) modulator technology does not offer good extinction ratio for longer distance signal propagation, (d) laser chips must be custom designed to correctly mount to their IC platform. The Luxtera technology is very interesting, but as the entire communications industry revolves around published standards, Luxtera is in a bit of a bind -- their tech does not line up well with any of the existing standards. Luxtera will sell custom interfaces as they try to manipulate their technology and the emerging standards to line up better with one another.

FNSR is in the midst of a squeeze as low cost high volume optical module shops from Asia provide constant pressure, while at the high end they have had little to no success at 10G modules. This is why it is critical for them to continue to invest in 10G and other markets. Of course good companies tend to use challenges such as this as a mechanism to develop new expertise and remain market leaders -- it remains to be seen if FNSR can do this, but they have a better chance than other public optical module companies.