During the recent SuperComputing'08 Conference, Ciena Corp. (www.ciena.com) and the California Institute of Technology successfully demonstrated what they claim was the industry's first true, single–wavelength transmission of a 100G data stream, through 80 km of fiber. Ciena electrically combined ten 10–Gigabit Ethernet signals from switches in the Caltech exhibit area onto a single wavelength for transmission over Ciena's CN 4200 RS FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform, then returned the separated 10–GbE signals back to Caltech's booth. The transmission featured an actual line rate of 112 Gbps and a true 100–Gbps OTN–framed payload using enhanced forward error correction (EFEC).
Sprint (www.sprint.com) says it completed a technology trial of the first alien–wavelength OC–768/STM–256 40–Gbps transatlantic IP link between New York and LuleÃ¥, Sweden. Spanning more than 9,000 km of fiber distance, the circuit included a 7,630–km segment of the transatlantic submarine TAT–14 cable system between Sea Girt, NJ, and BlÃ¥bjerg, Denmark. This represents the first time that an OC–768 signal was successfully transmitted over a submarine cable using a single wavelength and existing DWDM systems, Sprint asserts. The connection was based on Cisco's (www.cisco.com) CRS–1 and IP–over–DWDM systems.
AT&T Inc. (www.att.com) has announced an agreement with the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, IN, to install a fiber–based network. AT&T will upgrade the city and county's WAN from its existing copper composition to a fiber–based network designed to accelerate communications among fire, police, park, water, transportation, and other city facilities with data transfer rates ranging from 5 Mbps to 1 Gbps, say company representatives.
Cable operator Mediacom Communications has selected Nortel's (www.nortel.com) 40–Gbps optical technology to expand its network. The new network will run across Chicago, Des Moines, and Omaha. The Mediacom network consists of the Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 equipped with 40–Gbps optics and the Common Photonic Layer line system. Nortel is also providing engineering, installation, test, and turn–up services.
ADC (www.adc.com) is engaging its Professional Services team with central Minnesota–based Albany Tel to upgrade the cooperative's copper lines to a fiber network. By the end of the five–year FTTH project, Albany Tel's 3,800 subscribers will have access to all–digital offerings like IPTV and high–definition TV, as well as high–speed Internet up to 100 Mbps.
On November 27, 2008, France Telecom–Orange (www.orange.com) signed a memorandum of understanding toward the installation of a submarine fiber–optic cable that will provide over 20 countries within the West African coastal region with Internet access. The 12,000–km DWDM link, called ACE (Africa Coast to Europe), will extend from Gabon to France, and from 2011 will connect Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, and France. An extension to South Africa is also being studied.
Net Insight (www.netinsight.net) has received a further order from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to upgrade the Eurovision network. Driven by increasing traffic volumes, the EBU has decided to upgrade some of its main sites with Net Insight's new Nimbra 688 switches.
Western Power Distribution Group company SURF Telecoms has selected Nortel's (www.nortel.com) “40G ready” Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 optical convergence platform and Common Photonic Layer line system with ROADM to add capacity on its regional optical network. SURF Telecoms is a southwest and Wales–based supplier of managed services, including dark optical fiber, carrier wholesale bandwidth, and leased lines.
SELFservis, a Czech cable–TV and alternative operator, has deployed the Transmode (www.transmode.com) TM–Series in its nationwide network. The CzechBone network provides local and national transit connectivity and a range of data services to international customers and local cable TV operators.
Enablence Technologies Inc. (www.enablence.com) says it was selected by Dansk Bredband A/S (www.dbnet.dk), a broadband communications supplier in Denmark, to be the company's PON supplier. Dansk Bredband is planning to roll out an FTTH communications network comprising 50,000 homes over the next two years.
Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. (www.sei.co.jp) has agreed with Nexans S.A. (www.nexans.com) to collaborate on the deployment of FTTH networks in Europe. Sumitomo Electric has entered into a joint–venture agreement with Nexans to acquire 40% of the shares in Opticable S.A., a wholly owned Belgium–based subsidiary of Nexans, which designs, manufactures, and markets terrestrial optical fiber cables to various telecom operators in the European region.
inexio KGaA, a service provider in southwestern Germany, has deployed DWDM technology based on ADVA Optical Networking's (www.advaoptical.com) FSP 3000 platform. The deployment is intended to increase the transmission capacity of inexio's telecommunications backbone and provide the carrier with an Ethernet– and MPLS–based network.
European operator Neos Networks (www.neosnetworks.co.uk) has selected Sorrento Networks' (www.sorrentonet.com) GigaMux 3200 WDM platform to support the increasing optical bandwidth needs associated with high–speed data communications and video.
KDDI has begun commercial deployment of 2G–EPON technology says Teknovus (www.teknovus.com), which is providing its 2.5G Turbo–EPON chips and embedded software for the FTTx implementation. This is the first commercial deployment of Teknovus's 2.5G Turbo–EPON devices.
Meanwhile, Korean service provider LG Powercom has selected the Ubiquoss fiber–to–the–home/building system, also based on Teknovus's (www.teknovus.com) 2.5G Turbo–EPON chips, for deployment throughout Korea. Teknovus is the sole supplier of EPON chips and embedded software to Ubiquoss, a Seoul–based supplier of optical communications equipment.
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. (www.huawei.com) has been selected to build China Unicom's first 40–Gbps optical transport network across five major cities (centering around Beijing) in Northern China. Huawei says its 40G WDM system can achieve ultra–long–haul transport without electrical regeneration, reducing investment costs and enabling efficient and scalable deployments in countries like China where dense urban centers are often separated by vast distances.