2 March 2011

Interoute completes first European PIC-based 100G transmission on subsea network

Communications network service provider Interoute Communications Ltd of London, UK and Infinera Corp of Sunnyvale, CA, USA, a vertically integrated manufacturer of digital optical network systems incorporating its own indium phosphide-based photonic integrated circuits (PICs), have completed a demonstration of Infinera’s new 500Gb/s PICs delivering 100Gb/s channels on the Interoute pan-European network (the first demonstration of Infinera’s PIC-based 100Gb/s channels transmitted on a European network).

Interoute, whose pan-European network was the first in Europe to deploy Infinera’s 100Gb/s PICs more than three years ago, is planning to use the firm's next-generation systems (based on 100Gb/s channels enabled by 500Gb/s PICs) to support Europe’s demand for high-capacity bandwidth. Interoute’s Next Generation Network is claimed to be the most advanced in Europe, and the firm is working closely with Infinera as the supplier brings to market a high-capacity solution based on coherent transmission of 100Gb/s channels.

Infinera’s new 500Gb/s PICs each integrate five 100G channels. With the firm’s FlexCoherent technology, the network operator can select the optimal modulation format to use for each route on the network, Infinera says. In the demonstration, the 100Gb/s channels were transmitted using PM-QPSK modulation and coherent detection to optimize for optical reach. Infinera’s 500G PIC receivers use integrated local oscillators to enable coherent detection of the signals. The pair of 500G PICs integrates more than 600 optical devices, a tenfold increase from today’s 100Gb/s PICs which are widely deployed in long-haul and metro networks worldwide.

In the demonstration, the 100Gb/s channels originated in Amsterdam and traveled under the North Sea to London, where they were looped back and returned to Amsterdam (a total distance of 940km). The signals were received error-free, despite a lengthy unrepeatered subsea link of 210km between the Dutch and English coasts. Each 100Gb/s channel is capable of carrying more than 200,000 simultaneous video conferences between London and Amsterdam (based on a standard-definition point-to-point video conference call at 512kb/s) or more than 1.5 million telephone conversations (based on a standard telephone call at 64kb/s).

The coherent 100Gb/s channels were transmitted on fiber simultaneously carrying 200Gb/s of live traffic over 10Gb/s channels, demonstrating that the Infinera Line System (ILS) can carry both types of optical signals without interference. Interoute is planning to introduce PIC-based 100Gb/s channels next year.

“Interoute’s network is used by all the major incumbents as well as thousands of international enterprises who rely on its resilient high-capacity and low-latency connectivity,” comments Interoute’s CEO Gareth Williams. “In the service provider market, Interoute is attracting an increasing number of operators looking to outsource part or all of their European networks; innovative technologies like Infinera’s 500Gb/s PICs ensure that the network infrastructure is as advanced as Interoute’s expertise needed to support these critical projects,” he adds.

“Our next-generation solution will once again leverage the disruptive economics of PICs, offering a system with pervasive switched DWDM capacity throughout the network, superior network economics, and the ability for the end-customer to get any service deployed anywhere in the network with unbeatable speed of service delivery,” claims Infinera’s president & CEO Tom Fallon.

Tags: Infinera InP PICs

Visit: www.infinera.com

Visit: www.interoute.com

Join Semiconductor Today's LinkedIn networking and discussion group