Ciena and Arelion achieve 1.6 Tb/s optical transmission milestone

In a landmark achievement for network bandwidth transport, Arelion and Ciena have successfully completed the world’s first 1.6 terabits-per-second (Tb/s) wavelengths data transmission in a live network field trial. The new milestone, announced on August 29, marks a significant leap forward in optical networking technology and sets the path for a new high-speed data transmission standard in production networks.

The trial took place on a 470 km route on Arelion’s network, connecting existing points-of-presence (PoP) in Ashburn, Virginia (Equinix) and the Virginia Beach (Telxius-CLS) cable landing station. This strategic path links two critical locations in the telco service provider’s North American network, showcasing the potential for increased capacity in high-demand areas. Arelion’s ambition is to start deployment in late Q4 2024 or in Q1 2025.

Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) technology is the optical networking technology that enabled the new speed record. Ciena’s WL6e uses coherent digital signal processing (DSP) to enhance energy efficiency and performance. According to Ciena, the technology provides a 50% reduction in space and power consumption per bit, along with a 15% increase in spectral efficiency compared to previous generations of its technology which was capped at 800 Gb/s.

“WaveLogic 6 Extreme provides single carrier 1.6Tb/s wavelength transmission,” Helen Xenos, senior director, portfolio marketing at Ciena, told Network World. “A single coherent transceiver – which involves one coherent ASIC and single transmitter and receiver – accepts mix client signals such as 100G/400G/800G and transmits data over an optical signal at a rate of 1.6Tb/s across an optical network over hundreds of kilometers of distance.”

What can a network do with 1.6Tb/s?

Having 1.6 Tb/s of bandwidth for network transport enables a degree of performance and data transfer that the internet has never seen before.

For example, according to Ciena, a single WL6e chipset can transport 320,000 HD 1080p YouTube video streams every second. It could also allow a user to download a typical 2-hour 1080p HD movie in 15 milliseconds. 

That said, the WL6e is not for individuals, it’s for moving data at the carrier level. Service provider networks are always under constant pressure for more speed and backhaul bandwidth, particularly now as 5G mobile data access continues to grow data demands.

The challenges and standards behind 1.6 Tb/s

Xenos noted that network providers are looking for transport solutions that can efficiently transport IEEE-compliant 400 Gigabit Ethernet/800 Gigabit Ethernet client traffic across any path in the network.  

“WL6e is the first solution that can transport 800G client traffic across any link in the network without regeneration,” she said. “Examples include 800G across 3,000km terrestrial links or 800G across transpacific distances.”

The Ciena technology is an optical data transport, and it can integrate with electrical ethernet data transport in data center networks.

“WL6e transceivers can accept a mix of 100GE/200GE/400GE/800GE/OTUCn on the client side and carry it across long distances over an optical network at speeds up to 1.6Tb/s per wavelength,” Xenos said.

Getting that level of performance is not a trivial task. Xenos said that in order to achieve single carrier 1.6Tb/s coherent transmission, 200GBaud design is required. She explained that 200GBaud means the coherent signal can transmit 200 billion symbols per second, where each symbol is comprised of multiple bits.

“To achieve a 200GBaud design, ultra-high bandwidth, 100GHz, transmitter, receiver and digital-to-analog/analog-to-digital converters are required,” Xenos said. “These do not exist in the industry today and were developed through in-house development at Ciena.” 

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