France Telecom-Orange has activated a 400 Gbps wavelength over its live network between Paris and Lyon using equipment from Alcatel-Lucent.
Alcatel-Lucent said its optical transmission platform could carry up to 44 wavelengths at 400G, representing a total capacity of up to 17.6 Terabits per second (Tbps).
RENATER, the Public Interest Group that manages the telecommunications network for “Technology, Teaching and Research” institutions in France and that is a customer of Orange Business Services, will be the first to test the functionality of this technological development in a real-life situation.
“As part of our innovation programme, we plan to test this optical fiber link in real conditions by using it to route traffic across one of our main backbone arteries between Paris and Lyon. This link transports the bulk of France’s scientific data that passes through our network. This pilot phase also aims to test the latest switching equipment supplied by major OEMs on a network running at this capacity and will enable us the anticipate the architecture of RENATER’s network in the coming years. A 400 Gbps network is an important step forward for the networks and research projects of tomorrow,” stated Patrick Donath, Managing Director of RENATER.
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- In March 2012, Alcatel-Lucent unveiled its Photonic Service Engine (PSE), a new chip for coherent optical networking that supports data rates of 400 Gbps. Alcatel-Lucent said its 400G PSE chip can be deployed in a broad range of network configurations – from metro to regional to ultra-long haul – and transmit wavelengths over existing or new photonic lines. It is designed specifically for use in a family of line cards in the Alcatel-Lucent 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS). Specifically, the company is planning to use the PSE in a 100G muxponder card, a 100G transponder and a 100G backplane uplink. Alcatel-Lucent is also pushing ahead with a 400G line card for the 1830 Photonic Service Switch.
