TECH

American companies establish up to 800 Gb/s via single fiber

In June, Infinera teamed up with Windstream to establish an 800 Gb/s connection over an existing fiber optic link. The line connected San Diego and Phoenix, and the total length of the fiber optic network was more than 780 km. The widespread adoption of 800G technology can significantly reduce the cost of operating backbone networks.
Currently, the most common standard is 100G, the Infinera and Windstream tests are not the first 800G demonstration, but this test was carried out on a real live network, where conditions are far from ideal that they create for laboratory tests. The San Diego-Phoenix fiber optic network section is typical of the United States, which is why it was chosen to test 800G technology, because real customers are not very interested in demonstrations at exhibitions and test benches, they are much more interested in how it works in practice.
In real trunk networks, amplifiers and repeaters are used, which can affect the signal flow, so the demonstration of the 800G speed on the “live” network, which is already used for data transmission, was important.
Infinera uses the technology of dividing the optical signal into 8 streams (one beam is divided into several, which allows to effectively deal with attenuation over long distances). This technology, developed by Nokia for the first time, allows you to adjust individual optical signals for better performance.
The test was successful, so what? Now, Infinera and Windstream Beam need to launch a finished product, and this is not as easy as it seems at first, because it will require reconfiguring production lines and product control systems. However, Infinera is optimistic about the future and plans to launch 800G equipment by the end of 2020.

AVnews