In June of 2010, Alcatel-Lucent debuted 100 Gigabit per second network equipment for service providers. Now after over a year of field use, Alcatel-Lucent is enhancing their 100G portfolio with new technology that makes 100G transmissions more reliable with extended performance.
Kevin Drury, Director of product marketing for our Alcatel-Lucent’s optics portfolio explained that the new 100G Extended Reach (XR) card for the 1830 Photonic Service Switch, will deliver 30 percent greater reach for 100G connections. That means that 100G can potentially be transported distances of 2,000 km or more without the need for electrical regeneration.
“Whenever you are transmitting light, over distance it starts to fade and as it goes over the fiber there are all kinds of impairments that impact the performance and reach of the lightpath or wavelength pulse,” Drury said. “With the introduction of the extended performance offer we’ll be able to tackle more complex use cases.”
Another challenge facing service providers is the fact that fiber in the ground can be of mixed quality. Some of it can be noisy and not as optimal as other lengths. Drury said that with the new Alcatel-Lucent solution, they are now able to address routes that have pretty bad fiber characteristics.
Geographical considerations are also part of the new extended reach solution. Drury noted that it’s not always possible to have evenly spaced drop sites which can make for uneven amplification.
“Extended performance expands the addressable deployment scenarios and it can help make 100G more ubiquitous,” Drury said.
