OFS and Transmode demonstrate 16-channel CWDM solution for metro networks
March 26, 2003--The Optical Fiber Communications conference (OFC 2003) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA saw the demonstration of a commercial 16-channel CWDM solution. The demonstration used the AllWave zero-water-peak fiber of OFS and the T1600 coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) system of Sweden's Transmode Systems AB, and was conducted in OFS' booth. The high-channel solution can help reduce metropolitan network operating costs by as much as 65% compared to dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology, it is claimed.
"AllWave fiber is uniquely designed for metro applications and provides the lowest loss across the entire spectrum, as well as zero-water-peak loss," said Nick Khoury, president of OFS' Optical Fiber Division. "Combined with Transmode's T1600, this solution enables maximum system reach and loss budget over the highest CWDM channel count available anywhere."
The OFC demonstration displays 16-wavelength transmission from 1310nm to 1610nm, using 20nm spacing between wavelengths as specified in ITU G.694.2, over AllWave fiber. This contrasts with typical 4- or 8-wavelength CWDM systems aimed at conventional single-mode fiber installations. However, scalability to 16-wavelength CWDM is critical for future bandwidth growth at a lower first cost compared to DWDM.
Multi-service and multi-protocol traffic, such as Gigabit Ethernet, Fiber Channel, and SONET/SDH on bit rates from 2.5Gbit/s onwards are supported with the greatest flexibility with the zero water peak and low 1625nm loss of AllWave fiber. Additionally, more wavelengths give carriers flexibility to reserve CWDM wavelengths for future DWDM expansion without service interruption.
"Metro carriers looking for ways of reducing their expenditure find CWDM better suited for their requirements, and better suited for their budget, than DWDM systems," said Isaac Olasoko, CEO of Transmode Systems. "With the continued development of CWDM technology and products network providers can reap more economic benefits at the metro level while maintaining the same security, reliability and quality as a DWDM system."
* Transmode signs MiTech as UK reseller
Transmission equipment supplier Transmode Systems AB has signed MiTech as a value-added reseller for the UK market.
MiTech, a system integrator with 10 years in the networking industry, will resell Transmode's equipment throughout the UK. It will offer a comprehensive package of support to end customers, including purchasing, stocking, pre- and post-sales support and maintenance of Transmode's CWDM equipment. Transmode has been shipping CWDM systems since March 2001.
Transmode says it has made several new customer wins during the first months of 2003 in the UK optical networking market. The agreement will allow both parties to build on this.
"This agreement will boost our penetration of the UK market", says Sean Davies, Transmode's account manager in the UK. "Not only does it give us access to an excellent sales organisation, but the fact that we can now offer local support from MiTech is very helpful for British service providers and enterprise customers."
Mogens Hansen, chief technical officer at MiTech, says "Our capability to provide 'data ready' voice networks and 'voice ready' data networks has been one key to MiTech's success and the protocol agnostic nature of Transmode's CWDM system fits extremely well into our existing portfolio."