Orange, Alcatel-Lucent provide live 400G link to RENATER

France Telecom-Orange and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext and NYSE: ALU) say they have deployed the world’s first optical link with a capacity of 400 Gbps per wavelength in a live network. Following a successful field trial, the 400-Gbps-per-wavelength fiber-optic link is now operational between Paris and Lyon.

This link, which was deployed within France Telecom-Orange’s operational environment, represents an important milestone for long-distance terrestrial network technology, the companies say. With overall capacity increased by a factor of four compared to the current maximum available, and using 44 wavelengths, the new optical link can transmit up to 17.6 Tbps of traffic in total.

RENATER, the public interest group that manages the telecommunications network for education and research institutions in France, and a customer of Orange Business Services, will be the first to test the functionality of this technological development in a real-life situation.

Patrick Donath, managing director of RENATER, explains, “As part of our innovation program, we plan to test this optical fiber link in real conditions by using it to route traffic across one of our main backbone arteries between Paris and Lyon. This link transports the bulk of France’s scientific data that passes through our network. This pilot phase also aims to test the latest switching equipment supplied by major OEMs on a network running at this capacity and will enable us the anticipate the architecture of RENATER’s network in the coming years. A 400-Gbps network is an important step forward for the networks and research projects of tomorrow.”

Didier Duriez, senior vice president, international and backbone networks, at France Telecom-Orange, explains, “This breakthrough will considerably increase the capacity of our fiber-optic network linking the two largest economic regions in France. By deploying a 400-Gbps link, France Telecom-Orange is continuing its investment in the development of super-fast infrastructure to support the emergence of new uses, such as multimedia content, social networking, and the cloud, and to guarantee transmission quality while keeping costs down.”

Philippe Keryer, president of networks and platforms at Alcatel-Lucent added, “France Telecom-Orange’s use of our commercially available 400-Gbps optical solution, based on our 400-Gbps Photonic Service Engine, supports the emergence of new high-bandwidth, high-performance business and residential services such as on-demand multimedia content, social networking and cloud services.”

Furthermore, France Telecom-Orange says the new, energy-saving technology will help meet its commitment to reduce its energy consumption while also optimizing operating and network maintenance costs.

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