Arelion said it had reached point-to-point transmission speeds of 400 Gbps wavelengths over 1,800 kilometers of SMF-28 fiber in a live production network.
The demonstration used Infinera’s ICE-X 400G ZR+ intelligent pluggable coherent transceiver and crossed Arelion’s production transmission networks linking Dallas, Memphis and Chattanooga.
Arelion is the company formerly known as Telia Carrier. The company rebranded early last year. Its network links Europe, North America and Asia and, at the time of the rebranding, had more than 70,000 km of optical fiber and 1,700 multiprotocol labels (MPLS) endpoints in 125 countries.
Arelion and Infinera say that Arelion’s open and disaggregated networking approach enables integrated pluggable components to support the scaling of its network. During the demonstration, the companies adjusted the modulation of the ICE-X coherent transceiver to enable 200 Gbps and 300 Gbps transmission speeds using a QSFP-DD pluggable. The companies say the approach can work with concurrently deployed wavelengths, including those from other providers, and that it will support the integration of new optical pluggable components and dynamic scaling. This is expected to enable cost-efficient and high-capacity operations over long distances.
“Through collaboration with Arelion, this record-breaking achievement represents a significant milestone in the evolution of coherent optical solutions,” Tom Burns, General Manager of the Optical Modules and Coherent Solutions Group at Infinera, said in a press release. “The trial demonstrates the level of performance that can be achieved in a QSFP-DD form factor powered by Infinera’s ICE-X technology and coupled with the power of open optical networking principles applied in Arelion’s live network.”
In April, Arelion announced the general availability of a long-haul multi-terabit southwest U.S. route between Dallas and El Paso to the West coast through Phoenix, San Diego and Los Angeles. The company previously announced links connecting Dallas, Nashville and Ashburn, VA.
