Optical transmission's era of rapid capacity growth

Kim Roberts, senior director coherent systems at Ciena, moves from theory to practice with a discussion of practical optical transmission systems supporting 100Gbps, and in future, 400 Gigabit and 1 Terabit line rates. This discussion is based on a talk Roberts gave at the Layer123's Terabit Optical and Data Networking conference held in Cannes recently. 

Part 2: Commercial systems

The industry is experiencing a period of rapid growth in optical transmission capacity. The years 1995 till 2006 were marked by a gradual increase in system capacity with the move to 10 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) wavelengths.  But the pace picked up with the advent of first 40Gbps direct detection and then coherent transmission, as shown by the red curve in the chart. 

Source: Ciena

Click to read more ...

The capacity limits facing optical networking

Ever wondered just how close systems vendors are in approaching the limits of fibre capacity in optical networks? Kim Roberts, senior director coherent systems at Ciena, adds some mathematical rigour with his explanation of Shannon's bound, from a workshop he gave at the recent Layer123's Terabit Optical and Data Networking conference held in Cannes. 

Part 1 Shannon's bound

 Source: Ciena

Click to read more ...

OFC/NFOEC 2012: Some of the exhibition highlights

A round-up of some of the main announcements and demonstrations at the recent OFC/NFOEC 2012 exhibition and conference.

Click to read more ...

Optical components enter an era of technology-pull

Gazettabyte asked ADVA Optical Networking, Ciena, Cisco Systems and Ovum about their impressions following the recent OFC/NFOEC 2012 exhibition and conference.

OFC/NFOEC reflections: Part 2 

"As the economy continues to navigate its way through yet another very difficult period, it was good to see so many companies innovating and introducing solutions."

Massimo Prati, Cisco Systems

Click to read more ...

ZTE takes PON optical line terminal lead

ZTE shipped 1.8 million passive optical network (PON) optical line terminals (OLTs) in 2011 to become the leading supplier with 41 percent of the global market, according to Ovum. 

"ZTE is co-operating with some Tier 1 operators in Europe and the US for 10GEPON and XGPON1 testing"

Song Shi Jie, ZTE

Click to read more ...

Huawei's novel Petabit switch

The Chinese equipment maker showcased a prototype optical switch at this year's OFC/NFOEC that can scale to 10 Petabit. 

"Although the numbers [400,000 lasers] appear quite staggering, they point to a need for photonic integration"

Reg Wilcox, Huawei

Click to read more ...

OFC/NFOEC 2012 industry reflections - Part 1

The recent OFC/NFOEC show, held in Los Angeles, had a strong vendor presence. Gazettabyte spoke with Infinera's Dave Welch, chief strategy officer and executive vice president, about his impressions of the show, capacity challenges facing the industry, and the importance of the company's photonic integrated circuit technology in light of recent competitor announcements.

OFC/NFOEC reflections: Part 1 

"I need as much fibre capacity as I can get, but I also need reach" 

Dave Welch, Infinera

Click to read more ...