Verizon has successfully deployed what it is calling the first office application of 200G technology. The 200G wavelength was provisioned in early December over approximately 200 miles on Verizon's ultra-long-haul production network between Boston and New York.
This demonstration highlights that 200G technology works with existing network infrastructure without impacting live customer traffic carried on the same network removing the need to make costly modifications to existing fibre or network equipment.
Ed Chan, senior vice president of network infrastructure planning at Verizon said: ‘As more and more of our lives are performed online - by consumers and businesses alike - the need for flexible and more efficient ways to carry traffic is essential. Moving toward 200G technology is critical to stay ahead of traffic growth driven by activities such as online video, LTE 4G and cloud usage.’
Like the successful 200G trial Verizon completed in 2013 with Ciena, this deployment used advanced WaveLogic coherent optical processors. This technology allows more information to be carried on a single wavelength while increasing the distance it can be sent without additional loss of signal quality.
This application also validated Ciena's ability to double spectral efficiency by using 16QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) on a single wavelength at the typical 50GHz channel spacing to increase the amount of traffic carried on a single fiber. The 16QAM technology doubles the number of bits per wavelength, allowing for twice the data to be encoded when compared with standard 100G technology.
Francois Locoh-Donou, senior vice president, global products group, Ciena said: ‘Building on the success of last year's 200G trial, this is a significant step in Verizon's ongoing efforts to deploy leading-edge optical capabilities across its network to deliver on-demand, high-bandwidth services.’
High-bandwidth technology continues to evolve quickly. Verizon points out that it was the first global carrier to deploy 100G technology on an ultra-long-haul route in 2009.
