Level 3 network to use Infinera's photonic circuits
Photonic integrated circuits based on InP will be deployed across a 23,000 mile fiber-optic network this year.
As part of a capacity upgrade to its optical link, Level 3 Communications will install Infinera's DTN optical transport platform, which is said to be the first to be based on photonic integrated circuits.
Infinera says that its technology integrates all of the key photonic functions found in a typical optical transport system "” including lasers, modulators, wavelength multiplexers and demultiplexers, and photodetectors "” onto a pair of InP chips.
These two chips are said to support 100 Gb/s data transmission themselves, while the DTN platform can run at 800 Gb/s.
Level 3 is currently engaged in field trials with the DTN platform, and expects to finish installing the Infinera equipment along US intercity routes by the end of this year.
Once deployed in the optical transport layer of the network, the integrated circuits will carry services such as Internet Protocol (IP) and Voice over IP.
Infinera's chips are already operating in Germany, where they carry internet traffic for 6.4 million freenet customers.
Photonic integration was highlighted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) communications technology roadmap program's III-V working group as a key development required to return the photonics industry to health.
Infinera's "TX" module (pictured) features ten distributed feedback (DFB) lasers, modulators, variable optical attenuators, power monitors and optical multiplexing on a single die.
The start-up has raised more than $200 million in venture funding, with Agilent among its many investors.
