Finisar Demonstrates Board Mount Parallel Optics for Optical Backplanes at OFC/NFOEC 2012

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 6, 2012) - Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR), a market leader in high-speed optical communications, today announced several technology and product demonstrations at OFC/NFOEC 2012. These include a demonstration of optical backplane technology using Finisar board-mounted optics, a 28 Gb/s VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) for 32G Fibre Channel applications, and a GPON Stick providing complete GPON ONT functionality in a compact SFP package. These multiple demonstrations will take place in Finisar's booth #1703 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, March 6-8, 2012.

Board Mount Optical Assemblies for Optical Backplane Applications
The Board Mount Optical Assembly (BOA) is a new transceiver form factor that fundamentally changes the way optics are deployed in network, storage and high-performance computing systems. Finisar's family of BOAs provides an optical solution with the highest bandwidth and density, and lowest power available for parallel I/O across backplanes or between systems. Finisar is the first to offer a family of devices with various transmitter and receiver configurations up to 24 channels of 10 Gb/s in a single board-mounted package.

The demonstration at OFC/NFOEC, in collaboration with vario-optics (www.vario-optics.ch) and HUBER+SUHNER, brings together key technologies required for practical optical backplane implementations. The set-up includes Finisar's BOA transceivers providing parallel transmit and receive channels at aggregate data rates of 240 Gb/s, embedded optical flex circuits which enable complex and high density routing of optical signals within the PCB from vario-optics, and robust, passive optical backplane connectors from HUBER+SUHNER.

Board Mount optics are being deployed in a wide range of applications including:

• Front panel I/O in switching and routing systems: where front panel port density exceeds that which is achievable with pluggable MSA transceivers;
• Optical backplanes in servers, storage and switching: where data rate, power consumption or bandwidth density exceeds the capabilities of electrical interfaces; and
• High density active optical cabling: for chassis to chassis interconnect of multi-lane protocols (e.g. 40/100G Ethernet, PCIe, SAS, and InfiniBand).

28 Gb/s VCSEL Demonstration for Next Generation 32G Fibre Channel
Finisar's 32 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology demonstration will show VCSEL capability up to 28.05 Gb/s over multi-mode fiber (28.05 Gb/s is the chosen line rate for the next generation 32G Fibre Channel standard for storage area networks). Continuing the focus on higher data rates for in-house VCSEL technology, Finisar demonstrates a critical building block for the next generation of several markets, addressing both increasing data rate and the need for reduced package sizes. These markets include 32G Fibre Channel, InfiniBand Extended Data Rate (EDR), 100GE and OTU4, as well as high bandwidth optical interconnects.

GPON Stick (SFP-ONT) for FTTx and Wireless Backhaul Applications
During OFC/NFOEC, Finisar will demonstrate the industry's first GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) Stick product, a GPON ONT in an MSA SFP package. The GPON Stick provides a pluggable GPON interface for FTTx and wireless backhaul applications with a compact size and lower power consumption. Any standard Ethernet SFP switch port can simply convert to a GPON ONT port and interconnect to an existing GPON network with the insertion of this module. It is built in compliance with ITU-T G.984 specifications, an industry standard which defines GPON access networks. The live demonstration will show high-definition video streaming over a GPON system consisting of Finisar's GPON Stick, passive splitter and OLT transceiver products. The GPON Stick is sampling now.

Introduction of New Passive Splitters for Next Generation PON
This week Finisar is expanding its passive product portfolio with the introduction of two new optical splitters designed for next generation PON (NG-PON) and 10G EPON. The 1x128 and 2x64 Optical Power Splitters divide optical signals from one or two input ports uniformly into multiple output ports. These products offer low insertion loss, high channel uniformity, and are Telcordia 1209/1221 compliant with 3rd party certification. Both optical power splitters are sampling.

"The technology demonstrations and product introductions we displayed at OFC/NFOEC this year, including our board mount parallel optics and GPON Stick, provide compelling examples of the exciting new applications and markets enabled by optics technology," said Rafik Ward, vice president of marketing at Finisar. "Finisar remains firmly committed to our customers in the data and telecommunications industries by providing leading-edge solutions that reach across multiple applications and differing optics technologies."

Beyond these demonstrations, Finisar will display its wide portfolio of optical communication products including transceivers, transponders, wavelength selective switches, active cables, advanced optical components, and passive devices.

About Finisar
Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR) is a global technology leader of fiber optic subsystems and components that enable high-speed voice, video and data communications for networking, storage, wireless, and cable TV applications. For more than 20 years, Finisar has provided critical optics technologies to system manufacturers to meet the increasing demands for network bandwidth and storage. Finisar is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA with R&D, manufacturing sites, and sales offices worldwide. For additional information, visit www.finisar.com. Stay up to date with Finisar by reading the Lightspeed blog and following us on Twitter and Facebook.

SAFE HARBOR UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based upon information available to Finisar as of the date hereof, and Finisar assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Examples of such risks include those associated with: the uncertainty of customer demand for Finisar's products; the rapidly evolving markets for Finisar's products and uncertainty regarding the development of these markets; Finisar's historical dependence on sales to a limited number of customers and fluctuations in the mix of products and customers in any period; ongoing new product development and introduction of new and enhanced products; the challenges of rapid growth followed by periods of contraction; and intensive competition. Further information regarding these and other risks relating to Finisar's business is set forth in Finisar's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly SEC filings.

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