With the rise of cloud computing and virtualization, companies are embracing SDN to blur the boundaries between networks and computers, allowing enterprise data centers to create and configure virtual machines (VM) remotely.

Cyan is a global provider of software-defined networks (SDN) for service providers, data center operators and private networks. Blue Planet SDN software and Z-Series multi-layer packet-optical transport platforms are vital parts of Cyan’s solutions portfolio.

Recently, the company enhanced the Z-Series (P-OTP) with the addition of DTM-100G, a single-slot 100G coherent transponder.

The enhancement is aimed at allowing for the remote creation and configuration of virtual machines at large data centers. This in turn will allow the dynamic creation of 100G data center interconnect (DCI) circuits for large-scale backup and disaster recovery.

According to news statement, the DTM-100G will offer the service providers and data center operators three-fold benefits:

This will dramatically reduce the cost of delivering 100G transport services, and is expected to increase density for core applications.

With DTM-100G, service providers are expected to achieve a high level of flexibility in their deployments, as a result of integrated support for short, medium, long and extended reach C form-factor pluggable (CFP) client interfaces.

Great Plains Communications is one of the few U.S. companies that have deployed DTM 100G. The deployment has provided the organization with a single slot to address all its optical reach requirements.

The DTM-100G, says Cyan, is fully compatible with existing Z-Series DWDM components, including LAD modules and WSS-ROADM (News - Alert) modules. This allows for the mixing of 10G and 100G waves over the same fiber. The DTM-100G also provides integrated DSP-based chromatic dispersion (CD) and polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) compensation, eliminating the need for external dispersion compensation modules and effectively reducing network cost and complexity.

“The ability to deliver coherent 100G transport services in such a compact form factor is unprecedented. It is in keeping with the philosophy that has characterized Cyan from the beginning – harnessing the latest technical innovations to help our customers scale their networks while driving down costs. Reducing slot consumption, improving optical reach flexibility, and eliminating the need for external modules yields a 100G solution that can be deployed in scale,” Cyan president Michael Hatfield explained in a statement.

“The flexibility and form factor of the DTM-100G are perfect for our network. As we build out our network, we typically do not know how far our customers will be from our points of presence, and the optical reach flexibility inherent in the DTM-100G means that we don't have to,” added John Greene, chief network engineer at Great Plains Communications.

Cyan’s CTO participated on the panel, "Software-Defined Networking: The Future of the Network," at Metro Connect USA 2013 in Miami, Florida on February 20, 2013. Steve West joined panelists Tad Deriso, CEO at Mid-Atlantic Broadband; Prayson Pate, chief technologist at Overture Networks (News - Alert); and Michael Rouleau, senior vice president of Business Development and Strategy at TW Telecom.