White Papers

Since the introduction of coherent technologies, the cost of high speed optical transport has declined at a rate unsurpassed in the history of the industry. One of the benefits of coherent technology is that it allows high speed channels to operate over links that, in the past, have not even be able to support 10G, giving it an enormous advantage from a cost / performance standpoint. In today’s market, 100G transport is available at the cost of what 10G was only a few short years ago while 200G is beginning to make inroads into metro-access and even metro-regional networks. This paper explains how Ekinops, a leader in deploying high speed 100G and 200G “alien wavelengths” on existing line systems, can boost the transport capacity of your existing network without impacting existing services at a cost point that makes advances your business case from concept to reality.

Aerial fiber plays an important role in the global fiber infrastructure. While cheaper to deploy compared to buried fiber, an obvious challenge for aerial fiber is the exposure to harsh environmental conditions, including thunderstorms. While legacy direct detect transmission technology such as 10Gbps is inherently immune to perturbations caused by severe weather, coherent technology with bit rates exceeding 100Gbps presents new challenges. This white paper discusses the physics of fiber perturbations due to lightning strikes, the resulting challenges for coherent transponders, and how new technology solutions deliver superior resilience to adverse conditions.