TECH FOCUS: HIGH-CAPACITY OPTICS
HIGH TIME
A GLANCE AT THE CURRENT MARKET FOR FIFTH-GENERATION COHERENT OPTICS, AND SOME OF THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS AVAILABLE
KEELY PORTWAY
B
efore the pandemic began, all eyes were on fiſth-generation coherent optics as one of the biggest trends to shape the industry, with expected demonstrations
at all of the key industry events. While the global situation prevented much
of the interaction and face-to-face views of this technology, it did not stop its development ,and there have now been a number of trials and demonstrations from vendors and operators alike, highlighting the achievements of higher wavelengths, such as 600 and 800G. Tis was evident as the first physical events
returned late last year: Te 2020 China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE) and Optinet China. According to industry analyst firm, LightCounting, exhibits at CIOE ‘surprised the atendees’ with numerous live demos of 400 and 800G optics, and these were ‘the highlight of the exhibit.’ Industry insight and market research
firm Cignal AI has kept track of trials and deployment announcements in this area, with the recent report 5th Gen Coherent Trials and Deployments.
30 FiBRE SYSTEMS n Issue 30 n Winter 2021
It tracks publicly announced, terrestrial trials
and network wins by vendors of fiſth generation coherent optics. Te first fiſth generation announcements, it cited, were in January last year. Te Covid-19 shutdown, however, impacted the vendors’ ability to complete trials with some customers, but announcements picked up in June. In summary of these announcements, Infinera
demonstrated the capabilities of its ICE6 over long distances at 800Gb/s. As an example US operator, Verizon used ICE6 in a successful test in its live fibre network to move 800Gb/s of data on a single wavelength across longer distances. A 800Gb/s single-wavelength transmission was accomplished over 667km between Nashville and Atlanta. Ciena, meanwhile took the time to do a limit-
pushing trial of Wavelogic 5e in partnership with Canadian service provider Telus. Te company revealed it was able to transmit an 800Gb/s signal over 970km during the trial. In Europe, Swedish operator Telia Carrier
is using Acacia’s 400G coherent modules, plugged directly into Cisco routers, to increase
bandwidth demand. Leveraging the coherent modules with OIF 400ZR and OpenZR+ operating modes, the solution is designed to support data rates from 100G to 400G depending on the desired reach. Te modules also support client n x 100GbE
multiplexing functionality as well as 400GE transport. Tis architecture has been selected to
help Telia Carrier cost-effectively handle the projected traffic growth for the coming years while, crucially, preparing to support the next transition to 800G or beyond.
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Other vendors that offer fiſth generation optical engines include Huawei, with its OptiXtreme H7 chipsets. It’s an 800G tunable optical module, based on technology developed by component subsidiary HiSilicon. Nokia, meanwhile, released its PSE-V fiſth generation coherent engine last year. Te
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