Xtera's Nu-Wave enables unrepeatered submarine transmission over 400 km without amplification
November 30, 2004 Dallas, TX -- Xtera, supplier of optical networking transport equipment for long-haul and ultra long-haul applications, has used its patented all-Raman technologies to offer what it claims is an innovative, low-cost, high-density, and high-reliability unrepeatered submarine solution.
Xtera's unrepeatered Nu-Wave product comes in three configurations, with each configuration optimized to provide the best performing, most economical solution for the specific application:
• Nu-Wave ES (Extended Span): Enhanced terrestrial Nu-Wave system optimized for spans up to 50 dB of loss;
• Nu-Wave LS (Long Span): Additional amplifier enhancements to support longer spans; and
• Nu-Wave XLS (Extra Long Span): Forward Raman pumping to achieve an additional 6 dB of span performance, extending the system capability up to 75 dB.
Nu-Wave ES/LS/XLS configurations are directly derived from the terrestrial technology already in service in the longest all-optical link deployed to date in Europe, the 1,760-km FLAG Telecom FA-1 backhaul network.
The Nu-Wave ES/LS/XLS scales from 10 to 600 Gbits/sec of capacity in less than one 7-foot rack, offering what Xtera claims is industry-leading space and power efficiency. The system capacity can be made of 2.5- or 10-Gbit/sec SONET or SDH client signals. The Nu-Wave ES/LS/XLS supports applications on various types of fibers, including G.652 (SSMF), G.653 (DSF), and G.654 (PSCF) fibers. Because of its large 100-nm optical bandwidth, Xtera's systems enable optimal allocation of channel wavelengths with respect to the zero-dispersion wavelength of the fiber. For example, placing the wavelengths around 1600 nm makes G.653 fiber behave as non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber with negligible degradation due to nonlinearities.
Advanced per channel optical monitoring enables the identification and isolation of performance degradations before traffic is impacted. According to company representatives, the Nu-Wave ES/LS/XLS provides outstanding availability at an order of magnitude better than published figures for competing products. Xtera claims its optical monitoring capability and equipment reliability are key enablers for resilient optical networks delivering high-quality, high-availability bandwidth services for business-critical traffic.
Considering real-world beginning of life cable attenuation and aging-repair margin figures, Xtera's unrepeatered solution offers the capability to span today more than 400 km over a simple, passive optical cable, with no submerged equipment such as a remote optical amplifier. In addition, Xtera's unrepeatered solution enables "hybrid" configuration where two or three long spans in the range of 200 km are interconnected by optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs), eliminating the back-to-back terminals in festoon network landing points.