NBN Co, Australia’s wholesale open-access broadband provider, completed a successful proof of concept of Infinera’s XR optics-based point-to-multipoint coherent optical technology. The trial demonstrated XR optics’ compatibility within the nbn Transit Network, a DWDM network spanning over 65,000 km across Australia.
Infinera said the trial highlighted the ability of XR optics to dramatically simplify transport network architecture while reducing CapEx and OpEx across diverse applications. Providing multiple 100 Gb/s of capacity efficiently subdivided into discrete subcarriers, XR optics enables dynamic capacity management and optical capacity optimization.
“The nbn Transit Network is our national backbone, supporting the growing data needs of Australians as they rely more on broadband for their work, education, social and entertainment needs. It is important that we keep track of new innovations to guide how we evolve our network to help meet changing needs in the future,” said Ray Owen, Chief Technology Officer at NBN Co. “Working with Infinera helps us to understand the options and design our pathways accordingly.”
“This trial with NBN Co provides a proof point illustrating how Infinera’s digital subcarrier-powered XR optics can be seamlessly integrated into existing networks and successfully applied in a variety of network applications from backhaul networks to data center interconnect,” said Dave Welch, Infinera Chief Innovation Officer and Co-founder. “The XR optics trials Infinera has conducted continue to represent a radical shift in the way future networks can be built, promising a dramatic reduction in TCO, helping to set a new benchmark in scalability, and increasing service flexibility and velocity.”
Press Release: Infinera Completes Successful Trial of XR Optics with NBN Co
Infinera’s XR Optics delivers coherent optical subcarrier aggregation
Infinera introduced a point-to-multipoint coherent optical subcarrier aggregation technology with the potential to significantly reduce the number of transceivers required in an access network while eliminating intermediate aggregation.
Infinera’s XR optics technology, which is optimized for hub-and-spoke traffic patterns, is powered by independently routable Nyquist subcarriers and coherent optical aggregation capabilities. With coherent subcarrier aggregation (CSA) capabilities, XR optics technology enables a single high-speed transceiver to simultaneously send and receive independent data streams to/from numerous low-speed transceivers.
Subcarriers can be flexibly sized. For example, 4 X 25G subcarriers defined in a 100G QSFP-28 transcrivers; or 16 X 25G subcarriers defined in a 400G QSFP-DD transceiver.
The company says that by leveraging these capabilities, network operators will be positioned to significantly reduce the number of transceivers in the network, eliminate the need for costly intermediate aggregation devices, and more efficiently optimize transport infrastructure for hub-and-spoke end-user traffic flows.
Initial areas of focus include DAA fiber deep networks, 5G X-haul, DSL/PON backhaul, and fiber-enabled business services.
XR optics is designed to be integrated into a variety of form factors, including industry-standard pluggables, from low-speed interfaces with a single subcarrier to high-speed (400G+) interfaces with numerous subcarriers.
https://www.infinera.com/innovation/xr-optics
