CANARIE, a vital component of Canada’s digital infrastructure supporting research, education and innovation, and the StarLight International/National Communications Exchange Facility Consortium completed an optical transport trial that carried 300 Gbps capacity using the latest coherent optical modulation available via Ciena’s WaveLogic 3 Extreme chipset.
Specifically, the trial carried 150 Gbps per wavelength with 8QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) on a live research network that connects Ciena’s labs in Ottawa with StarLight’s Chicago-based R&E communication services exchange facility — a distance of more than 1,440 km.
Ciena said 8QAM modulation means more flexibility for the network operator, providing higher capacity than QPSK, and greater optical reach than 16QAM. All three programmable modulations will be generally available on Ciena’s any-haul Data Center Interconnect (DCI) Waveserver this summer.
Twelve provincial and territorial network partners, together with CANARIE, collectively form Canada’s National Research and Education Network (NREN).
