Chalk up another 100-Gbit/s demo, this one showing off a single-wavelength method

Craig Matsumoto, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

December 8, 2008

2 Min Read
Ciena Pushes 100-Gig

The 100-Gbit/s throwdown continues, as Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) says it's completed a demo of fully 100-Gbit/s wavelengths.

The demo took place at the SC08 supercomputing show just recently. For those of us who weren't there, Ciena announced the news today. (See Ciena Shows Off 100G.)

The single-wavelength claim sets Ciena apart from some recent efforts, as companies like Infinera Corp. (Nasdaq: INFN) and Nortel Networks Ltd. have focused on using multiple wavelengths to carry 100 Gbit/s of data in total. (See 100-Gig Demo and Verizon Adds Nortel to Its 100G Club.)

Moreover, Ciena says it put its transponder into a slot of its CN 4200 RS platform. This, the company claims, sets it apart from single-wavelength demos by Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and Nokia Networks . (See OFC: Hero Experiments and Verizon Talks GMPLS, 100-Gig.)

In a way, Ciena's demo was the opposite of what Infinera showed at NXTcomm. Infinera took a 100-Gbit/s data stream off an Ixia traffic generator and delivered it across 10 wavelengths carrying 10 Gbit/s apiece.

Ciena used ten 10-Gbit/s Ethernet client feeds and asynchronously multiplexed their traffic together onto one 100-Gbit/s wavelength. Ciena also applied some home-baked forward error correction (FEC), implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to help the 100-Gbit/s signal travel along fiber suitable for 10-Gbit/s traffic.

The 100-Gbit/s signal was delivered in a wrapper meant to resemble what the eventual OTN standard could look like. "We took an interpretation of how that's evolving and used FPGAs to develop an OTN-like frame," says Dimple Amin, vice president of special projects at Ciena.

Ciena's choice of modulation was dual-polarization differential quadrature phase shift keying (DP-DQPSK, duh).

Unlike some other tests, Ciena didn't use a live network to carry the signals, instead opting to bring its own 80 kilometer coil of fiber. With help from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) , Ciena kept the demo going for 12 hours.

This wasn't the only 100-Gbit/s talk going on at the show. Representatives of ESnet and Internet2 used the show to talk up the need for practical 100-Gbit/s transmission by 2010, recruiting Infinera, Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR), and Level 3 Communications Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) to the cause. (See Internet2, ESnet Want Their 100-Gig.)

— Dimple Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Craig Matsumoto

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Yes, THAT Craig Matsumoto – who used to be at Light Reading from 2002 until 2013 and then went away and did other stuff and now HE'S BACK! As Editor-in-Chief. Go Craig!!

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