October 01, 2020

COBO SiPh manufacturing poll

The Consortium for On-Board Optics (COBO) is a US-based but globally operative body that is working to develop specifications to permit the use of board-mounted optical modules in the manufacturing of networking equipment (i.e., switches, servers). You can read more about their exact agenda here.

As part of a recent webcast, involving IBM and GlobalFoundries, a survey was carried out among the participants to determine typical manufacturing horizons and the associated application spaces. You can view the results here.

There are several important take-aways:

• At least for this audience, it is clear where the applications priority is and in what timeframe (their individual) SiPh manufacturing capability needs to be in place – 65% indicate need of this requirement within a maximum 2 year timeframe.
• ficonTEC is already active in all of the market segments listed, be it either as a major machine systems supplier to major device developers and manufacturers, or by working with developers around the globe on pilot projects to help them realize their device performance. FWIW, our systems have long been co-packaged optics and LiDAR-ready. For volume manufacturing requirements, we can additionally supply an AI/ML-based Performance Services process control layer that is shown to help the customer ‘learn their machines’ and thus help reduce unscheduled downtime. Last but not least, we can present use cases based on real examples that illustrate the value proposition in particular segments, thus highlighting the benefits for TCO and the path to faster ROI – of course tuned to your application.
• I am sure most of you reading this are more than aware of the idea of a delivery lead time. At ficonTEC, generally speaking, once the design and performance specifications have been discussed and formalized (a process that requires its own individual timeframe), delivery lead time can be anywhere between 4 to 8 months. This obviously depends on the exact requirements, i.e. on the complexity of the machine system or indeed entire production line. Nonetheless, that said, those needing a solution in a shorter timeframe (tomorrow or even next year) are encouraged to contact us right away – while we can’t quite work miracles (yet), we can at least promise to do our best to realize the solution you need that still guarantees the performance you seek.

For more information on our systems, or delivery lead times as well as use cases for your application, please get in touch.