Technical Insight
Ciena demonstrates new optical systems (Fiber News)
Ciena of Linthicum, Maryland, demonstrated several new networking capabilities at the recent Supercomm 2001 exhibition in Atlanta, GA. These included a DWDM system incorporating very closely spaced channel spacing between wavelengths to increase capacity, and an optical networking system operating at 40 Gbit/s. In addition, the company exhibited an all-optical switching architecture, and interoperability of Ciena s switching range of platforms and DWDM systems at 10 Gbit/s. Known as MultiWave CoreStream, Ciena s DWDM system is a flexible platform containing arrays of 850 nm VCSELs transmitters. Ciena has increased the channel density by employing fiber Bragg gratings to filter optical channels, resulting in a 12.5 GHz spacing between wavelengths. This compares with existing systems that typically feature either 50 or 100 GHz spacing. The system targets increased optical network capacity and economic scalability for existing 10 Gbit/s infrastructure. Ciena also generated, received and processed multiple OC-768 (40 Gbit/s) data streams using the same dense channel arrangement in its Multiwave CoreStream metro optical product. CoreStream was designed with a modular DWDM architecture to enable upgrades, and a mix of 2.5 and 10 Gbit/s transmitters can be employed.
