Ciena Offers 40G Upgrade with Migration Path to 100G

Ciena Corp. on Monday announced the general availability of its new FlexSelect 40G Shelf, which is designed to transition metro, regional, long-haul and ultra long-haul networks to 40gbps while providing a migration path to 100gbps, in support of bandwidth demands from growth in residential triple-play, streaming IP, business services and other applications.

The shelf is compatible with Ciena’s CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platforms and CoreStream Agility Optical Transport Systems, and enables in-service upgrades of single 40gbps wavelengths alongside existing 10gbps wavelengths.

“A lot of our customers that already have metro or long haul networks deployed are running out of capacity. What they can do rather than having to overbuild their network – add another fiber to their network or overbuild with new equipment – they can just add 40gig wavelengths to their network,” said Vinay Rathore, Ciena’s director of marketing.

“The main benefit is that you can add 40gig wavelengths of service to existing 10gig networks that are already deployed,” he said, noting that Ciena uses differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) modulation and dispersion compensation techniques to make 40gbps look like 10gbps, eliminating incompatibility with non-40gbps fiber plant. “We can then mix and match 10gig and 40gig wavelengths on a single fiber.”

The ability to mix and match the different wavelengths on the same fiber is a function of the CoreStream and 4200 Ciena filters. “That’s a secret sauce that already exists in the products themselves,” said Rathore.

“And, when you are ready to go to a 100gig, you will be able to do the exact same thing. You’ll be able to add 100gig wavelengths onto those same fibers as well.”

Ciena began 40gbps research and development in 2000 and all of Ciena’s optical transport systems, including the CoreStream Agility and the CN 4200, were made 40gbps-ready by 2005.

“We have already tested our boxes to work at 40gig and we are testing them for 100gig,” Rathore said. “A lot of the component technology isn’t there yet, but we’ve already done some of our own internal demonstrations to be able to prove the technology works. Once the components are available, that’s our migration plan is to mix and match 10, 40 and 100gig onto the same fiber as needed.”

He said the move to 100gbps will be a similar approach to the 40gbps shelf, but will include new technology and incorporate polarization, multiplexing and modulation techniques, such as differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK). “Essentially we are trying to mix and match a lot of higher-end modulation schemes to try to cram more bits onto the fiber and still keep it looking as close to 10gig as possible,” he said.

He said, there may be some other techniques employed, including being able to do 2x50gGB or 4x25GB as well as 1x100GB to ensure compatibility with legacy fiber.

Rathore predicts availability of pre-standard 100gbps systems by the end of 2008.

Addressing the current needs, the FlexSelect 40G Shelf features eight slots that support hot-swappable and wavelength-provisionable line cards with client interfaces, including serial 40gbps for SONET/SDH and OTN, as well as 10gbps-multiplexed interfaces for SONET/SDH/OTN/Ethernet.

Ciena supports 4x10GB multiplexing on one channel. “We are not putting them on different wavelengths although we can if the network needs it. Most of our customers don’t like it,” Rathore said. “You still are running out of fiber and burning up all the wavelengths. You haven’t improved the spectral density of your system. That’s what [service providers] want to do. They want to carry more bits on the same fiber system. And if you start multiplexing 4x10, it doesn’t really help them there.”

The FlexSelect 40G Shelf is integrated into Ciena’s ON-Center Network and Service Management Suite that offers network operators a set of software tools for service deployment, network management and service-level management. Combined with Ciena’s FlexiPort programmable optical interfaces and subwavelength grooming and aggregation, ON-Center enables service providers to provision, manage and monitor 10/100mbps up to 40gbps services from one location.

Ciena Corp. www.ciena.com

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