The use of a micro-ring resonator (MRR) to enhance the modulation extinction ratio and dispersion tolerance of a directly modulated laser is experimentally investigated with a bit rate of 25 Gb/s as proposed for the next generation data center communications. The investigated system combines a 11-GHz 1.55-mu m directly modulated hybrid III-V/SOI DFB laser realized by bonding III-V materials (InGaAlAs) on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer and a silicon MRR also fabricated on SOI. Such a transmitter enables error-free transmission (BER < 10(-9)) at 25 Gb/s data rate over 2.5-km standard single mode fiber without dispersion compensation nor forward error correction. As both laser and MRR are fabricated on the SOI platform, they could be combined into a single device with enhanced performance, thus providing a cost-effective transmitter for short reach applications.