ECI announces network interface upgrades to meet capability growth demands of service providers

March 19, 2018

Optical transport systems vendor ECI announced the availability of network interface upgrades to enable service providers to meet metro network capacity challenges and prepare for 5G rollouts. The upgrades focus on the company’s Neptune packet-optical transport line and its Apollo optical transport and switching family.

Optical transport systems vendor ECI announced the availability of network interface upgrades to enable service providers to meet metro network capacity challenges and prepare for 5G rollouts. The upgrades focus on the company's Neptune packet-optical transport line and its Apollo optical transport and switching family.

ECI has launched a 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE) interface upgrade cycle across its Neptune line. The upgrade began with the Neptune (NPT) NPT1800 aggregation platform; the company says it will now make 100GbE capabilities available on the NPT1200. The 100GbE interface card provides a straightforward network upgrade for customers of the NPT1200, offering 100GbE support with a maximum capacity of 560 Gbps, instead of the previous 320 Gbps. ECI says it will continue this 100GbE rollout to the smaller Neptune systems later this year.

For the Apollo line, ECI has unveiled the TR200-2, a compact pluggable optical interface delivering two separate 200G transponder/muxponders in one slot to double any Apollo 9600 shelf's capacity. Additionally, ECI says its 200G technology can operate on the same 50-GHz grid as 100G signals for affordable network bandwidth expansion.

The two upgrades were developed to enable smooth metro network upgrades, and avoid disruption, without having to rip and replace current technology. According to ECI, minimal investment is required for the network interface upgrades.

"In preparation for ongoing – and increasingly rapid – market evolution, ECI enables customers large and small to upgrade their current Apollo and Neptune systems with more capacity and speed," said Moshe Shimon, VP product management, global portfolio. "We have traditionally built our solutions to enable pay-as-you-grow flexibility, a much more beneficial and cost-effective option that also minimizes operational complexities. Apollo and Neptune are future ready, and have inherent evolution paths to 5G, SDN, and NFV."

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