Datacom: Data traffic typically transmitted using Fibre Channel or Ethernet protocols.
Telecom: Telecommunications traffic transmitted using SONET/SDH protocols or WDM interfaces.
Datacenter: Facility in a data communications network housing switches, servers and related datacom equipment.
Central Office (CO): Facility in a telecommunications network housing switching, transmission, and related telecom equipment.
Access: Portion of a telecommunications network connecting end-users using typically Ethernet, SONET/SDH or GPON
protocols at distances <80 km.
Metro-Regional: Portion of a telecommunications network connecting suburbs or cities using WDM interfaces at distances between 80 and 600 km.
Long Haul: Portion of a telecommunications networkconnecting cities using WDM interfaces at distances between 600 and 2000 km.
LAN: Local Area Network (using Ethernet protocol), typically within <500 meters for enterprise or datacenter applications.
SAN: Storage Area Network (using Fibre Channel protocol), typically within <300 m for datacenter applications.
PIN-THRU HOLE OPTICS: Transceivers with pins that are directly soldered into mounting holes on the host board (e.g. SFF—Small Form Factor transceivers).
Hot-Swappable/Pluggable: Modules that can be manually inserted or removed from cages or sockets in host systems that are running (i.e. powered up and in operation).
Optical transceivers/Transponders: Integrated modules incorporating optical laser transmitters and photodiode receivers. These modules convert physical signals from electrical to optical and vice-versa in a network and couple the optical signals into (and out of) optical fiber. Transceivers have serial electrical interfaces on the host board. Transponders have parallel electrical interfaces to the host board.
Active Optical Cable: Active optical cables combine optical transceivers with passive cables in order to provided a highperformance integrated interconnect solution. Unlike separate, interchangeable transceivers and cables, active optical cables form a closed system around the optical link, and host systems can employ a simple electrical connection to the active optical cables.
Ethernet: Dominant communications protocol for networking over copper or optical fiber.

SONET /SDH: Synchronous Optical Network/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy. SONET is the widely used protocol for telecommunications carriers in North America to transport data and voice traffic over optical fiber, while SDH is predominately used outside North America.
Fibre Channel: Dominant protocol for transmitting storage data over optical fiber in enterprises.
EPON/GPON: Protocols for Passive Optical Networking (PON). Passive optical networking is a method of deploying Fiber to the Home (FTTH) using a passive splitter and single fiber interfaces to each home.
PARALEL OPTICS: A parallel optical interface is a form of fiber optic technology aimed primarily at communications and networking over relatively short distances (less than 300 meters), and at high bandwidths. Parallel optic interfaces differ from traditional fiber optic communication in that data is transmitted and received over multiple, parallel fibers which are bundled together in a single ribbon. Different methods exist for splitting the data over this high-bandwidth link. In the simplest form, the parallel optic link is a replacement for multiple data communication links.
WDM: Wavelength Division Multiplexing. Enables multiple data streams of varying wavelengths (“colors”) to be combined into a single fiber, significantly increasing the overall capacity of the fiber. WDM is used in applications where large amounts of traffic are required over long distances in carrier networks. There are
two types of WDM architectures: Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM), typically handling up to 8 wavelengths, and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), supporting 40, 80, or even 160 wavelengths.
Tunable: DWDM transceiver/transponder that can be electronically tuned to a specific wavelength. This has the advantage of significantly reducing the required inventory of products for a provisioned DWDM system or for inventory sparing applications.
DIGITAL DIAGNOSTICS: Developed and patented by Finisar, this functionality enables real-time monitoring of 5 parameters critical to transceiver operation: transmitter output power, received optical power, laser bias current, transceiver input voltage and transceiver temperature.
High-performance computing (HPC): Applications using supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems.
InfiniBand: A switched fabric communications link used in high-performance computing and enterprise data centers. Its features include high throughput, low latency, quality of service and failover, and it is designed to be scalable.