Nortel Networks has unveiled the industry's first commercially available 100G solution and announced that Verizon has deployed the solution in its live customer network in Europe.
Nortel's 100G solution uses technology that allows service providers to increase the bandwidth of today's typical 10G infrastructure by ten times without the need to rip and replace major parts of the network. This removes a significant cost barrier for today's service providers with constrained CAPEX budgets, according to Nortel.
Analyst firm Ovum estimates that global demand for 100G line side DWDM transponders will grow rapidly over the next five years, reaching US$455 million by 2014.
"Nortel's 100G optical solution uses groundbreaking technology that allows service providers to meet the demands that high bandwidth applications like HD video on demand, online gaming and cloud computing are putting on their network," said Philippe Morin, president, Metro Ethernet Networks, Nortel. "Our 100G solution is the result of years of dedicated research and development into this cutting-edge technology, and builds on two decades of innovation leadership in the optical industry."
Using Nortel's solution, Verizon has today become the world's first service provider to deploy 100G technology in a live commercial network. Using its existing network, Verizon is carrying live enterprise customer Private IP traffic over a 100G wavelength on an 893km link between Paris and Frankfurt.
Nortel's 100G solution is based on technologies such as coherent detection, DP QPSK modulation, and advanced electronic digital signal processing techniques, all of which Nortel says it’s the first and only vendor to successfully commercialize to date. More than 50 service providers and operators worldwide already rely on these technologies in live deployments of Nortel's 40G solution, which has been generally available since May 2008. In addition to Verizon's industry-first live 100G deployment, Nortel has previously conducted eight successful trials of its 100G solution with service providers around the world.
Earlier this month, Ciena landed court approvals to buy Nortel’s optical networking assets.
