Czech R&E net CESNET trials ECI 400G flex-grid blade

Dec. 10, 2015

ECI says that it has completed a successful field trial with the operators of the Czech Educational and Scientific Network (CESNET) of the 400-Gbps flex-grid blade the optical transport systems vendor has developed for its Apollo line of packet-optical transport systems (see "ECI adds 400G blade to Apollo packet-optical transport platform").

CESNET develops and operates the Czech Republic's national e-infrastructure for science, research, development, and education users. It apparently also develops communications technology, as the field tests were performed using ECI's Apollo platform with the 400G flex-grid blade paired with CESNET's Czech Light Optical Amplifiers.

The exercise, which ECI says only took three days to set up, included:

The successful implementation of optical reach to 2000 km.
The ability of CESNET's production network to handle high-bit-rate traffic transported as alien wavelengths (for more on alien wavelengths, see "How to deliver 40 and 100 Gbits/sec on 10-Gbit/sec optical networks").
The ability to transmit 200-Gbps signals over 240 km in a single hop without recourse to Raman amplification.
Demonstration of new ways to compensate for chromatic dispersion in dark fiber lines with mixed coherent and legacy amplitude-modulated signals.

"Working with the ECI Apollo platform was a great opportunity for CESNET. The system has excellent features and is very compact which makes things much easier,” said Helmut Sverenyák, deputy director for research and development at CESNET. "During the trial we pushed both Apollo and Czech Light equipment to their limits by proving that 200-Gbps signals can reach over 2000 km. We also successfully demonstrated alien wavelengths capabilities, which are gaining momentum, not only for NRENs, but also in the telco world.”

For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.