Oclaro and 3SPGroup Establish MSA Industry Standard Enabling Smaller and More Compact Pump Laser Packaging

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR), a tier-one provider and innovator of optical communications and laser solutions, and 3SPGroup, a leading provider of innovative optical products and solutions for lasers, sensors and telecommunications markets, today announced the establishment of a new Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) that defines a new industry-standard Small Form Factor (SFF) pump laser package.  This new industry standard will enable customers to design amplifiers based on MSA pump laser devices in a compact 10-pin butterfly package that is approximately 30% the size of the legacy 14-pin format package. 

The new 10-pin butterfly package represents a significant advancement in pump laser packaging.  The current standard for packaging is based on a 14-pin format that has changed little over the last 15 years.  As the driving forces behind the new 10-pin butterfly MSA standard, both Oclaro and 3SPGroup are enabling their customers to develop exciting, market-leading compact amplifiers with lower costs and reduced space requirement in network equipment.  In addition, by offering compatibility with the MSA, Oclaro and 3SPGroup can ensure next generation pump lasers meet a defined and agreed mechanical outline, footprint and electrical pin-out.   This is extremely important to amplifier customers who would otherwise have to deal with many different formats and form factors from their pump vendors.

"Lower-cost and space-efficient optical amplification with potentially higher component density is critical to implementing complex network solutions," said Simon Loten, Director of Product Management at Oclaro, Inc.  "Customers are looking for ways to reduce form factors and they also want to standardize on one format for all their needs – whether that be cooled and uncooled pump products or multi chip devices. This new MSA represents a significant advancement in the pump laser industry and we are pleased to deliver this innovative new format to our customers so that they can differentiate in the market with smaller and lower cost designs."

"We are excited to bring this new family of pump lasers (cooled or uncooled) that combine higher optical power into a small size into the market that will help our customers to evolve their next generation network solutions. This new product family complements our existing small size pump module offerings (MiniDIL)," said Didier Sauvage, CTO at 3SPGroup.  "The industry is trending towards smaller form factors and by establishing an MSA, customers now have a clear route and assurance that they will have multiple-vendor supply."

About the New MSA

The new SFF 10-pin butterfly package design represents a new industry standard package platform for pump lasers. The new package has the same pin-out, pin-pitch and front mounting hole centers as the existing legacy 14-pin so that it remains backwardly compatible with legacy applications. Electrical connections to laser, internal thermoelectric cooler (TEC), back facet monitor diode (BFM) and thermistor remain addressed to the same pin configuration.  The MSA provides customers and the market with assurance and security of multi-vendor supply and the backward compatibility only adds to this assurance.

Details of the MSA can be found at the following links:

• http://www.oclaro.com/980PumpMSA
• http://3spgroup.com/980PumpMSA   

About Oclaro

Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR) is one of the largest providers of lasers and optical components, modules and subsystems for the optical communications, industrial, and consumer laser markets.  The company is a global leader dedicated to photonics innovation, with cutting-edge research and development (R&D) and chip fabrication facilities in the U.S., U.K., Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Korea and Japan. It has in-house and contract manufacturing sites in China, Malaysia and Thailand, with design, sales and service organizations in most of the major regions around the world. For more information, visit http://www.oclaro.com.

About 3SPGroup

3SPGroup is a leading provider of innovative optical products and solutions for lasers, sensors and telecommunications markets. The Group designs, develops, manufactures and sells highly reliable active & passive optical components and modules for telecom, industrial, medical, CATV, scientific, security and defense applications. Also it develops ultra-reliable fiber-optic systems including high-power fused components, optical sensors, fiber laser components and a complete range of fiber lasers and amplifiers. Through its Solutions division, it  provides instrumentation and integrated solutions for process and environmental monitoring systems. For more information, visit http://www.3spgroup.com 

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Oclaro, the Oclaro logo, and certain other Oclaro trademarks and logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Oclaro, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the US and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Information in this release is subject to change without notice.

SOURCE Oclaro, Inc.