CFE Telecom, the business unit of Mexico’s state-owned utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), has selected equipment supplier Xtera Communications, Inc. and Intercable, a Mexican system integrator, to transform its 22,000-km optical ground wire (OPGW) based optical network into a high-capacity, multi-use national network for enterprise, research, education, business, and government services.
Following an international tender procedure, CFE picked Xtera’s Nu-Wave Optima platform, which is based on what Xtera claims is the industry’s most advanced 100G technology plus Raman technology. The flexible multi-terabit optical network was deployed in 2011, and is currently in commercial operation.
CFE Telecom’s OPGW fiber infrastructure is built along power lines with several extremely challenging routes in excess of 2,000 km in length. One of the attractions of the Nu-Wave Optima platform, according to Xtera, is that it offers long-span capabilities and ultra-long-haul reach to enable the upgrade without building any new regeneration sites.
In addition to being the world’s largest 100G network, the CFE deployment also includes the longest all-optical routes ever deployed with 100G waves:
- A 24-span, 2,500-km, all-optical path from Ciudad Juarez to Mexico City going through nine ROADMs (with spans ranging from 30 to 227 km / 53 dB)
- A 1,350-km route from Monterrey to Mexico City that includes a 250-km/60-dB span.
In addition, Xtera says its Nu-Wave Optima system comes with a multi-terabit design capacity that exceeds the original long-term requirements, creating a capacity overhead that will enable CFE to meet future demand at a predictable cost. The 100G optical transport system currently delivers a line capacity of 15 Tbps on reach exceeding 3,000 km. For specific unrepeatered applications, a capacity of 34 x 100G was recently transmitted over a cable attenuation exceeding 74 dB (see "Xtera demos 100 Gbps with Raman amplification").
“CFE’s strict evaluation process was necessary to identify the best company with the best technology to help transform its internal network into one that would be capable of benefitting the entire nation of Mexico, supporting a multitude of emerging bandwidth-intensive applications,” said Eduardo Cerrillo, CEO of Intercable. He also added, “We are proud to have contributed to deliver a world-class all 100G network that is fully operational, carrying customer traffic and reaching every region of Mexico.”
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