Apogee Photonics and Vitesse Offer Breakthrough Optical Transmission Performance for 10 Gbps Optical Module OEMs.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. & CAMARILLO, Calif. -- The Vitesse Low-power VSC7982 Driver with Apogee Photonics' Next-generation 1310 nm Uncooled EML Enables Industrial Temperature for 10 km XFP, XENPAK, X2 and XPAK Designs

Apogee Photonics and Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ:VTSS) today announced a joint reference design that extends 10 Gbps transceiver performance to an industrial temperature range. The new reference design allows customers to quickly and confidently deploy high-speed optical links in the most demanding environmental conditions, including the outside plant associated with PON backhaul applications, while maintaining exceptional XFP transceiver SONET eye mask margins of 20 percent average over case temperatures ranging from minus 40 degrees C to +85 degrees C.

Apogee Photonics, a pioneer in the development of advanced photonic integrated circuits and high-speed lasers for next-generation optical transceivers, and Vitesse, a provider of innovative integrated circuit designs for optical communications, are leading the industry in the development of more robust performance for 10 Gbps optical modules. The joint Vitesse and Apogee Photonics reference design offers transceiver manufacturers reduced product development costs and significantly higher scalability and throughput in manufacturing due to simplicity of calibration over the temperature range.

Since the initial deployment of 10 Gbps optical modules, industry demand for higher module performance over industrial temperature ranges is rapidly growing. At elevated temperatures, directly modulated laser (DML) technology has proven asymmetrical performance resulting in reduced eye mask margin and degradation in overall link budget even with increased signal amplitude. Module manufacturers now look to Electroabsorption-Modulated-Laser (EML) technology to provide the stable and symmetric performance they require based on the robust temperature insensitivity of EML bandwidth.

"We are pleased with the performance of the combination of the Apogee EML and Vitesse driver IC under extreme temperature conditions," commented Dr. Rang-Chen Yu, vice president of Datacom/Telecom PLG at Fiberxon Inc., one of the world's leading suppliers of opto-electronic components, modules, and subsystems for communication networks. "Our system OEM customers are increasingly deploying high-speed optical broadband solutions closer to customer premises, and require environmentally hardened high-speed optical transmission performance. Our i-temp 10G XFP transceiver product is an excellent fit to meet their demanding requirements."

The joint reference design solution includes Vitesse's proven XFP PRO(TM) PCB layout with its VSC7982 Driver IC and the Apogee Photonics 10T3081 EML TOSA. The VSC7982 supports case temperatures up to 100 degrees C and the 10T3081 up to 95 degrees C TOSA case temperature. Industrial XFP solutions using the above combination, together with the Vitesse VSC8239 dual signal conditioner and VSC7978 transimpedance amplifier IC, achieve less than 2.5W total power consumption, lower than comparable DML solutions.

The Apogee Photonics 10T3081 EML is built using the company's patented Asymmetric TwinGuide(TM) (ATG) technology, a highly scalable platform for monolithic photonic integration, enabling uncooled EML manufacturing with high chip and TOSA yields and lower cost than competing uncooled DML platforms. The Apogee Photonics 1310 nm EML platform also provides industry-leading reliability in an uncooled 10 Gbps laser source.

"The Vitesse XFP PRO chipset was designed and characterized to support the natural progression to industrial temperature range operation. By working closely with Apogee Photonics we have been able to offer customers a solution that meets the rising performance demands of extended temperature 10 km modules," said Richard Interrante, manager of applications engineering for the Networks Products Division at Vitesse.

Aaron Bond, vice president of Marketing and Business Development at Apogee Photonics, said, "Customer demand for industrial temperature range products is growing and is a logical next step in our product roadmap. With the new reference design, customers can now upgrade their modules to support industrial temperatures, without altering existing designs based on the Vitesse chipset and Apogee Photonics uncooled 1310 nm EML."

The Vitesse VSC7982 XFP PRO driver is in production and available now, along with an evaluation board and the reference design with the Apogee Photonics 10T3081 TOSA. The Apogee Photonics 10T3081 TOSA with LC-receptacle is sampling now and will be generally available in commercial quantities in the fourth quarter of 2005. Apogee Photonics is offering the TOSA in a Telcordia-qualified, low-cost, TO-41 based package that will also be available in a RoHS compliant option.

A joint white paper is available through the Vitesse Web site XFP Technology Center (http://www.vitesse.com/xfp) that details the SONET and 10 GbE data over temperature measurements taken with the driver and TOSA solution. Both Apogee Photonics and Vitesse will be exhibiting at the China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE) in Shenzhen, China, September 6 - 9, 2005, in booths B122 and B070, respectively, located in Hall 1.

About Vitesse Semiconductor

Vitesse designs, develops, and markets a diverse portfolio of high-performance, cost-competitive semiconductor solutions for communications and storage networks worldwide. Engineering excellence and dedicated customer service distinguish Vitesse as an industry leader in Gigabit Ethernet LAN, Ethernet-over-SONET, Advanced Switching, Fibre Channel, Serial Attached SCSI, Optical Transport, and other applications. Vitesse innovation empowers customers to deliver superior products for Enterprise, Access, Metro, and Core applications. Additional company and product information is available at www.vitesse.com.

About Apogee Photonics Inc.

Apogee Photonics, an ISO9001 registered, privately held corporation, designs, develops, and produces integrated Indium Phosphide solutions for optical transmission systems that exceed the distance-extinction-power (DEP) product for other optical semiconductor technologies. A leading supplier of integrated high-speed optical sources to the communications industry, Apogee Photonics provides wide variety of cooled, semi-cooled, and uncooled products for 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps transmission to tier-one system OEMs and module vendors. Apogee Photonics' Asymmetric TwinGuide (ATG(TM)), EAMP(TM) (amplified EA modulator) and arrayed waveguide (AWG) technologies provide a highly-scalable platform for monolithic photonic integration that delivers unprecedented levels of functional integration, low cost, and world-class optical performance. Additional company and product information is available at www.apogeephotonics.com.