Verizon and Nokia Run 100G through 10G Cable

September 17, 2016

Big time players Verizon and Nokia Siemens Networks will have a surprise up their corporate sleeves at the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) taking place next week in Brussels.

The companies intend to showcase a joint venture in the form of a paper regarding the testing of 100 Gbit/s optical networking.

The test looked at the feasibility of transmission of wavelength channels carrying multiple data rates (10 Gbit/s, 40 Gbit/s, 100 Gbit/s).

This was also a long range test stretching some 1000 kilometres via deployed fibre and represents the first time that this has been attempted.

The companies completed the tests at the beginning of March and apparently proved that 111 Gbit/s channels in spectral positions that are adjacent to other channels carrying 10 Gbit/s and 40 Gbit/s data rates.

The big news part of the testing was that the tests were carried out with a line system that had only been designed for 10 Gbit/s transmissions.

The 111 Gbit/s test used advanced optical techniques allowing a 100 Gbit/s data channel to occupy a very narrow spectral width and to accommodate spacing between channels of only 50 GHz, resulting in a total useable capacity of 80 channels.

The trial also demonstrated that 100 Gbit/s traffic can be simultaneously transported with any mix of 10 Gbit/s and 40 Gbit/s on a typical 80-channel system.

As a result, current network configurations can support capacity upgrades to 100 Gbit/s on existing routes over similar distances without modification to the physical network.

If the system is commercially viable it could have far reaching effects, especially in the area of cost effectiveness of operations and avoiding the need to install still more new infrastructure.