Ciena Widens Leadership in High Speed Optics with Innovative WaveLogic 3 Technology

Industry’s First Coherent Technology Scalable to 400 Gb/s Delivers Bigger and Smarter Networks that are Programmable for Capacity, Reach and Latency

LINTHICUM, Md. — 03/01/2012

Ciena^® Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN, news, filings), the network specialist, today announced WaveLogic™ 3, the industry’s first software-programmable coherent technology that scales to 400 Gb/s. This new generation of the company’s family of silicon chips will enable service providers to accelerate the move to dynamic, software-defined Terabit networking while improving network economics. Beyond scaling bandwidth and lowering costs, WaveLogic-powered networks can be programmed to quickly respond and adapt to changing requirements for capacity, reach and latency. The new technology that underpins Ciena’s WaveLogic 3 changes the game in optical networking by making the optical layer more intelligent and responsive to application needs—an increasingly critical requirement in today’s dynamic and cloud-centric networks.

Key Facts:

• WaveLogic 3 adds unprecedented intelligence to networks with software-programmable technology that enables network operators to constantly monitor optical transmission performance, and rapidly respond to network demands. WaveLogic 3 will help optimize existing optical networks for a wide range of applications—including low latency—over metro, ultra-long haul or trans-Pacific submarine distances, at speeds that scale from 100 Gb/s to 400 Gb/s.
• Ciena’s new coherent optical processors help service providers extract more capacity out of existing fiber optic cables to facilitate transport of today’s increasingly bandwidth-hungry applications, improving network economics. WaveLogic 3 can carry multiple 100G payloads in metro and regional environments, doubling the capacity of current 100G networks. Using sophisticated transmitter processing, it can also deliver up to 30 percent capacity improvements in new flexible grid environments, providing customers with an efficient migration path to Terabit networking.
• Network operators can quickly turn up services as needs change, or even pre-deploy equipment powered by WaveLogic 3, to achieve optimized performance for different reach, capacity and latency requirements with minimal network disruption. This flexibility gives service providers a way to differentiate themselves to customers, and allows them to accelerate time to revenue while lowering the cost of transport.
• The capacity and reach of Ciena’s WaveLogic 3, which will be deployed in the second half of 2012,  is such that a single chipset could carry live Skype video chats from every household in San Francisco all the way to Tokyo, simultaneously.

 Technology Enhancements:

 Specific WaveLogic 3 design improvements include:

• Industry-first transmit DSP—Ciena has integrated digital signal processing in the transmitter  (Tx DSP) to deliver unprecedented service flexibility with sophisticated programmable modulation, including the industry’s first 16QAM,which is essential to delivering  greater than 100 Gb/s speeds, and allows operators to adjust network settings to meet varying reach and capacity demands. Spectral shaping reduces network cost by improving system margin in metro environments, and pre-compensation allows service providers to run higher capacity services over older fiber links, maximizing network investment.
• Soft FEC—Ciena’s new intelligent soft-decision forward error correction (soft FEC) algorithm significantly extends maximum service reach and enables practical deployment of higher capacity (>100G) systems. The Soft FEC in WaveLogic 3 is software-programmable, allowing operators to adjust for latency and reach, depending on application needs.
• Next-generation DSP receiver—Ciena’s completely redesigned DSP receiver achieves 75 trillion operations per second—six times the processing power of WaveLogic 2. An advanced 32 nm CMOS process is used to provide the highest level of integration with lower power consumption Additional enhancements in PMD compensation ensure better performance in existing networks with non-optimal fiber conditions, allowing customers to extract more capacity out of their existing infrastructure rather than incurring the cost and complexity of laying new fiber.

Industry Comments:

“Ciena’s WaveLogic 3 specifications raise the bar in the industry for performance and spectral efficiency. Allowing customers the ability to program the spectral efficiency of 100G coherent optics is a unique feature achieved through unique R&D and not easily duplicated. The ability to double the single carrier capacity of today’s 100G solutions with 16-QAM creates new opportunities for coherent networking in metro and regional applications.”

–          Andrew Schmitt, directing analyst for optical at Infonetics Research

Verizon 

“As an industry leader in optical innovation, Verizon applauds the technology advancements in the WaveLogic 3 from Ciena, which will lay the foundation for accelerating 100G deployment with longer reach, higher spectral efficiencies and improved performance for global networks like Verizon’s.”

–          Glenn Wellbrock, director of optical transport, network architecture and design, Verizon

BT

“When BT announced 21CN, we committed to our customers that we will deliver the fastest, most reliable network that will flexibly adapt to new and yet unimagined application and service demands. Ciena’s network vision, commitment to partnership and coherent optical innovation is helping BT to deliver on this promise ahead of the market, whilst supporting BT’s ability to offer industry-leading services for many years to come. The next step in this evolution is the deployment of Ciena’s newest WDM transmission equipment in the UK. With WaveLogic3, BT can provide our customers with the ability to scale their network services from speeds of 100G to 400G as needed, with the lowest-latency and the highest quality available.”

–          Robert Feuerstein, principal architect for transmission and synchronisation, BT

Southern Cross

“For carriers, performance and reliability are everything, so building a trans-Pacific 100G transport network is one of the ways we’re staying ahead of the curve for our customers. With the surge of bandwidth-intensive video and enterprise cloud computing, the complexity of our 28,500 km submarine transport network continues to grow while international carriers demand higher SLAs at lower costs. Ciena’s Packet-Optical technology and WaveLogic 3 coherent optical processors allow us to meet these demands by quickly upgrading channel capacity on existing wet plant and adding new levels of network intelligence. Beyond capacity and speed, Ciena’s programmable coherent optical architecture will help us respond to network demands without manual intervention—increasing network resilience and lowering operating costs, while providing a platform for new high-capacity products with assured performance.”

–          Dean Veverka, director of networks and vice president of operations, Southern Cross Cable Network

 Executive Comments:

“As the leading provider of coherent optical technology worldwide, we have years of real-world experience providing us an intimate view of today’s 100G networks in operation. We know what works and have taken these learnings and combined them with the feedback from our customers as to how our coherent technology should be improved to deliver even greater speed, capacity, flexibility and reach. With WaveLogic 3, we are changing the game in optical networking by offering a programmable, coherent optical solution that reflects this knowledge, and builds on it to offer unprecedented levels of network intelligence and capacity. Ciena’s latest enhancements to WaveLogic 3 will equip service providers to scale their networks to meet the intense bandwidth requirements of cloud computing and other data-intensive applications, remotely, with a network that is easily programmed to scale across metropolitan areas, continents or oceans offering huge cost savings and competitive advantage.”

–        Steve Alexander, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Ciena

Coherent Optical Technology Leadership:

• The pioneer and market leader in coherent technology for optical transmission, Ciena offered the industry’s first commercially-available systems—with coherent 40G deployed since 2008 and coherent 100G since 2009.  Today, Ciena has shipped over 10,000 coherent 40G/100G line interfaces to more than 100 customers across the globe, with more than 10 million coherent kilometers deployed.
• Ciena was identified as the #1 vendor in 40G/100G technology, next-generation packet-optical transport systems, and optical transmission and switching systems in general, in the 2011 Optical Equipment Features and Vendor Leadership Service Provider Survey from Infonetics Research.

Ciena at OFC/NFOEC:

• Ciena will showcase WaveLogic 3 at OFC/NFOEC, March 4-8 in Los Angles, in booth 2701. On March 6 at 11:00 am PST, Ciena will broadcast a special event live from itsMobile Innovation Lab on the OFC/NFOEC show floor. To register, please click here.
• Ciena optical experts will participate in workshops and panels throughout the event, addressing 100G technologies and beyond. For presentation times and to register, please click here.
• Follow Ciena at OFC on Twitter @Ciena, hashtag #RUcoherent. For daily updates and insights from the Ciena coherent optical team, visit the Ciena Insights blog.

 Supporting Resources:

• Video: Bandwidth Ultimatum
• Application Note: Enabling a Bigger and Smarter Network with Ciena’s WaveLogic 3
• Application Note: Coherent Optical Processing for High-Capacity Networks
• White Paper: Key Technology Enablers of 100 Gb/s in Carrier Networks
• Video: Coherent Optical Processing

PR Archives: Latest, By Company, By Date