ANALYSIS & OPINION: NEXT GENERATION NETWORKS
THE RACE TO 800G
800G was a hot topic at industry events during the first quarter of the year, with two companies bringing the first offerings to market
KEELY PORTWAY
THIS IS CRITICAL IN TODAY’S HIGHLY COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT DRIVEN BY OUR CUSTOMERS’ RELENTLESS DEMAND FOR GREATER CONNECTIVITY AND BANDWIDTH- CONSUMING SERVICE
I
n the weeks leading up to this year’s OFC, two companies announced their roadmaps for the next generation of coherent technology, focusing on new DSPs and optics designed
to reach maximum speeds of 800Gb/s. More importantly, said the OFC post-show report, to deliver speeds of 200Gb/s and 400Gb/s over longer distances. Like 400ZR, these DSP chips use the latest generation (and most expensive) 7nm silicon processes and cost tens of millions of dollars to design and prototype. Infinera’s launch was the sixth-generation
Infinite Capacity Engine, ICE6, which features dual-channel 800Gb/s per wave. Part of Te Infinite Network, ICE6 builds on the ICE4 and Instant Bandwidth with a 1.6Tb/s optical engine, allowing network operators to meet the bandwidth growth requirements and increasingly dynamic, unpredictable traffic flows. Te Infinite Network is what Infinera describes
as a ‘disruptive end-to-end network architecture, designed to pave the way to instantly scalable, self-optimising networks.’ Te architectural framework is designed to help operator customers address challenges in efficiently scaling networks to support bandwidth growth,
12 FiBRE SYSTEMS n Issue 24 n Summer 2019
alongside bandwidth-intensive and latency- sensitive applications.
Addressing challenges Te launch also signifies the unity of Infinera’s and Coriant’s portolios, following the acquisition by the former of the later, as Rob Shore, SVP marketing at Infinera, explained: ‘Te Infinite Network represents two things, one is the visionary architectural framework, the other is the unification of the two companies, leveraging some of the unique capabilities of each and picking and choosing which are the best things to address the challenges our customers are facing.’ Coriant had a really strong SDN solution,
Shore explained. ‘It didn’t have a lot of revenue on it,’ he said, ‘but it had a lot of strong capabilities, particularly with multi-layer. As Infinera realised some of the extra components that we got, we realised that we have not only a unique end-to-end solution, but also some really unique qualities and capabilities. 'Tat’s when we started puting this Infinite
Network together, looking at how can we leverage those, plus recognise what’s going on
www.fibre-systems.com @fibresystemsmag
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
