The Third Time Will Be The Charm For Broadcom Switch Co-Packaged Optics
If Broadcom says that co-packaged optics is ready for prime time and can compete with other ways of linking switch ASICs to fiber optic cables, then it is very unlikely that Broadcom is wrong.
The company that is the modern Broadcom has a long and deep – and acquired – expertise in optical communications.
- The lineage runs on one branch from the original Hewlett Packard to its Agilent Technologies spinoff, which a bunch of private equity companies acquired a chunk of and called Avago Technologies.
- Another line of optical expertise comes out of AT&T Bell Labs through the Lucent Technologies spinout in 1996, which runs through Agere Systems, which was bought by LSI Logic and which was in turn acquired by Avago.
Broadcom has a long and deep expertise in optical communications.
Author's summary: Broadcom's co-packaged optics is ready for prime time.