Verizon (News - Alert) announced it has worked with both Juniper and Ciena in order to send a 400 Gigabit Ethernet signal over its network. It utilized a 400-gigabit optical wavelength to carry the signal in a trial exhibiting multivendor interoperability. It particularly showcased the interoperability of standardized 400 GbE client signals.
“[400GbE] Interoperability with the client side has been the long pole in the tent – and continues to be,” says Glenn Wellbrock, director, optical transport network, architecture, design and planning at Verizon. “This was trial equipment, not generally available equipment.”
The trial also allowed for Verizon to show the working of a dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) flexible grid as well as a baud rate almost twice the 32-35Gbaud in wide use for 100 and 200 gig wavelengths. Wellbrock adds that Verizon can now deploy the complete system, as opposed to being stuck with the 50GHz channel spacing.
The set-up for trials started with Juniper Networks’ (News - Alert) PTX5000 packet transport router and Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform. These equipment is already in Verizon’s network and was housed close to Dallas, Texas.
“For us, it was simply creating a demo 400-gigabit pluggable line card to go into the line card Verizon has already deployed,” says Donyel Jones-Williams, director of product marketing management at Juniper Networks.
Ciena anticipates the creation of further hardware for general deployment down the line, according to senior director at Ciena, Helen Xenos. She adds that the company is in search of smaller form-factor pluggables for 400 Gig Ethernet transport.
Edited by Erik Linask