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 ¨C add another fiber to their network or overbuild with new equipment ¨C 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.