News Article
Infinera begins new era with 100G
New program includes plans for the shipment of systems based on 100 Gigabits/second (100G) coherent transmission in 2012 and optical networks providing 8 Terabits/second (Tb/s) of capacity per fiber.
Infinera is accelerating its product development plans for next-generation optical systems to take advantage of evolving market trends and technological advances in product development.
The new 100G systems will be based on photonic integrated circuits (PICs) which integrate the functionality of hundreds of optical devices to provide optical capacity on a single pair of chips at 500G (referred to as 500G PICs).
With photonic integration and coherent detection, the systems will deliver an optical system with ultra-long-haul reach and a fiber capacity of 8Tb/s.
Infinera is also planning to add non-PIC based coherent capability to its DTN (Delay-Tolerant Networking) system in 2011, to meet the needs of customers who require a 40G solution.
Service providers worldwide have shown growing interest in 100G as the best step forward from today's 10G networks. The interest in 100G is believed to be driven by the continuing growth in mobile, video, and other sources of network traffic, and a growing consensus that 100G networks will benefit from more rapid price reductions than the market has seen for 40G technology.
Infonetics analyst Andrew Schmitt said, “We expect 100G coherent technology to be widely available in the 2013 timeframe at price points that make it very competitive with 40G coherent technology, and we expect that many service providers will opt to go directly from 10G to 100G at that point, making 100G the predominant long-haul technology of the coming decade."
The Infinera product development team has been working on both 40G and 100G technologies, including key optical and electrical enabling technologies. The recent achievement of a series of engineering milestones, such as Infinera's recent successful transmission of a 100G signal over 1600 kilometers of fiber using coherent modulation technology, has enabled Infinera to accelerate its timetable for a 100G solution.
The company believes that this demonstration shows it’s ability to meet ultra-long-haul reach requirements while delivering a significant boost in fiber capacity at a better cost-per-bit.
"We expect that Infinera's 100G system will reach the market at a time that enables 100G mass adoption," said Infinera CEO Tom Fallon. "In addition, Infinera 100G networks will offer very significant competitive advantages. Advanced features like digital bandwidth management and ‘Bandwidth Virtualization’, which customers expect from Infinera, will continue to deliver valuable benefits in our intelligent networks. We believe that traditional muxponder-based DWDM systems become even more inefficient when carrying a wide range of lower-speed services over 100G wavelengths."
Infinera expects 40G demand to be limited, but believes a product may be required in the short term for applications needing additional fiber capacity such as terrestrial and submarine deployments. The firm intends to deliver 40G digital intelligence and a compatibility with 10G networks to the DTN next year.
The product development plan for 40G and 100G networks should provide customers with the best roadmap to accommodate future needs for strong bandwidth growth. The new set of products is intended to enable service providers to expand their networks quickly and cost-effectively, while the disruptive economics of 500G PICs will help them generate better business results.
"Our mission at Infinera is to enable our customers to build and operate the world's best optical networks," said Mr. Fallon. "We believe that this product plan will give customers the networks they need to meet the challenges of the coming decade."
