Verizon and Nokia Siemens team up to deliver next-gen 100 Gbps optical
In what appears to be a first for carriers, Verizon Business, working with Nokia Siemens Networks, has announced successful transport trials carrying 100 Gbps throughput. The test set new records, according to Verizon, for both distance, at more than 1,040 km over field fiber, and performance, transmitting the full 100 Gbps payload over a single wavelength. Moreover, the field trial, conducted in north Dallas, mixed 10 and 40 Gbps signals on the same system with better results than with “conventional transmission.”
The test’s lynchpin platform is the Nokia Siemens hiT 7500 ultra-long-haul DWDM unit, which uses multi-level modulation, polarization multiplexing and coherent detection to carry signals over breakthrough distances at higher speeds, reducing chromatic dispersion and polarization-mode-dispersion tolerance than previously available. The system provides up to 80 channels, each able to carry a variety of 10, 40 or 100 Gbps, for a total capacity of 8 Tbps in a serial configuration. That number seems to be consistent with other leading-edge optical vendors claims for their platform’s capacity.
One of the big selling points for the technology is its ability to enhance existing technology platforms, paving a graceful migration path to the latest cutting-edge optical switches such as the hiT 7500. With its ability to carry multi-rate signals over the same channel, the hiT 7500 can support capacity upgrades to 100 Gbps per channel on existing, lower-speed links over similar distances, without requiring modification to the physical network, reducing implementation times and costs. Verizon has also stated its desire to use GMPLS for inventory management as well.
The announcement comes on the heels of other optical news from the Verizon camp, made earlier this week. The carrier demonstrated its ongoing commitment to GMPLS, which sets up a command plane for the optical layer, with GMPLS interoperability tests, incorporating gear from Ciena, Fujitsu Network Communications, and Tellabs. Verizon claims it’s the first such successful trial run over a commercial network.
Specifically, Verizon is working on creating point-and-click provisioning capabilities for optical channels and an external network-to-network interface that will enable traffic to cross carrier boundaries, or even separate domains of a single carrier, while maintaining key service parameters such as QoS and security.
It’s still very early days, but Verizon’s GMPLS technology is not entirely restricted to field trials. The carrier is currently using a GMPLS control plane to deliver a broadband-on-demand service in New York City. That service was announced just last month, though, so it’s hard to know how well network performance has fared thus far.