Alcatel-Lucent integrates coherent detection on its optical platforms for 100G

DECEMBER 23, 2009 -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) says it has enhanced its optical networking portfolio with coherent receiver technology that enables operators to deal, in a cost-effective and automated manner, with transmission impairments which become extremely severe at speeds of 100 Gbps and higher.

Leveraging what the company described as “advanced developments and proprietary algorithms in digital signal processing,” the coherent detection capability was successfully demonstrated in a 112-Gbps field trial over an existing, heavy loaded real-traffic fiber link within Telefonica’s network. The live traffic was transmitted over 1,088 km between four cities in Spain.

Alcatel-Lucent say it will add coherent detection to “key optical platforms” to support migration to 100-Gbps and higher speeds over the same platform as the market dictates.

“Traditional network providers and a new breed of Web 2.0 service providers, the likes of Google, Facebook, and others, are looking at managing the strong increase in traffic demand by leveraging 100G technology to achieve cost-efficient, high-capacity transport between their router sites,” said Ron Kline, principal analyst, network infrastructure, at Ovum. “Regardless of the modulation format used, a critical element to achieve 100G transmission over long-haul and ultra-long-haul distances is to decrease the transmitted baud rate so that optical impairments such as dispersion are controlled, and, to have an effective coherent receiver to be able to recover the modulated signal.”

“The advancements to our optical portfolio further confirm the role of optical networking as a critical enabler for competitive transformation to seamlessly move to higher capacities fast and reliably,” said Romano Valussi, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Optics activities.

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