Telecom Lead Europe: France Telecom-Orange has deployed 400 Gbps wavelength optical link.
Alcatel-Lucent says this is world’s first such achievement. This is a major milestone for long-distance terrestrial network technology.
The 400 Gbps wavelength optical link is now operational between Paris and Lyon.
Alcatel-Lucent claims that with capacity four times higher than the maximum bandwidth currently available and using 44 wavelengths, the new optical link can transmit up to 17.6 Terabits per second (Tbps) of traffic in total.
Upgrades to network infrastructure make existing uses for business customers smoother and will encourage the emergence of new services, such as video (video on demand, telepresence), that require high bandwidth and seamless connectivity.
RENATER, a public interest group that manages the telecom network for technology, teaching and research institutions in France, will test the functionality.
Didier Duriez, senior vice president International and Backbone Networks Factory at France Telecom-Orange, said that by deploying a 400 Gbps link, France Telecom-Orange is continuing its investment in the development of super-fast infrastructure to support the emergence of new uses, such as multimedia content, social networking and the cloud, and to guarantee transmission quality while keeping costs down.
In September 2012, ZTE claimed a world distance record for 400G high-speed fiber transmission. It carried 400 gigabytes a second signals over 2,800 kilometres, beating the previous record of 1,200 kilometres. In the trial, the company transmitted 40 dense wavelength division multiplexing channels of 400 gigabyte signals, using single-carrier polarisation division multiplexing QPSK in standard single-mode fiber.
ZTE said that single-carrier transmission has simple transmitting and receiving structures and is easy to manage. The previous record for single-carrier 400G transmission was 1200 km, said the company, in which special expensive fibres and all-optical Raman amplification technology were used.
This experiment used 35 spans each of 80 kilometres, demonstrating the feasibility of deploying beyond 100G in the current fibre transmission system with an ultra-long haul optical reach, added the company.
