Verizon Communication Inc. has beat others to the punch in the ultra big-pipe game by lighting up a 100 gigabit-per-second link in its core for live traffic.
The system was deployed on the company’s European optical core network between Paris and Frankfurt. This is the first time for deployment of ultra long-haul 100G using a single channel on a production network.
Verizon is using Nortel Networks’ commercially available 100G solution to carry live Private IP traffic between Verizon’s core routers over the 555-mile route without modifying the system. The 100G equipment enables Verizon to carry increasing amounts of IP backbone traffic in an economic fashion when compared with an equivalent number of 10G links – the current speed for the majority of backbone traffic today.
Verizon says customers will benefit from increased network capacity, improved transmission quality and greater network efficiencies, particularly applications such as collaboration, security services, data file transfer and video on demand drive bandwidth demand.
“This latest 100G-first gives Verizon the edge in meeting the growing bandwidth demands of our customers,” said Mark Wegleitner, senior vice president of technology at Verizon, in a statement. “By consolidating traffic onto one large pipe rather than several smaller ones, customers will benefit from increased network capacity, improved transmission quality and greater network efficiencies.”
He added, “we see other applications coming, such as increased pixel TV and three-dimensional video, that will continue to push the bandwidth curve, not only in the U.S., but around the world.”
“The optical industry’s challenge is to commercialize 100G as soon as possible while making it economically viable,” said Sterling Perrin, senior analyst with Heavy Reading. “Verizon’s live 100G link, an industry first, has implications well beyond the Verizon network. This marks a big step forward on the road to wide-scale 100G transport.”
Verizon sent a true 100G signal by using the same spacing between wavelengths that is used for a single wavelength, promoting 100G in a serial fashion on just one information channel. The 100G transmission was conducted on a Verizon ultra-long-haul optical system carrying other live 10G wavelengths.
The carrier installed the advanced optics and electronics on the existing network facilities, with the objective of implementing a plug-and-play approach that avoids any changes to embedded network equipment and facilities.
Verizon has been on the 100G path for some time. It completed the industry’s first field trial of 100G optical traffic on a live system in Nov. 2007. Verizon followed with a second trial that extended the reach of the 100G signal to more than 1,000 kilometers – the longest distance over field fiber at that time. In October 2008, the company proved that reliable signal quality could be achieved with 100G transmission.
