Nokia, Orange Poland achieve 250 Gbps per wavelength

NEW DELHI: French telecom operator Orange and  Finland based telecom giant Nokia have achieved the world's first optical transmission of 250 Gigabits per second (Gb/s) per wavelength over 870km through Orange Poland's existing network infrastructure.

This milestone was reached when a six-carrier 1.5 Terabits per second (Tb/s) superchannel occupying a bandwidth of 300GHz was transmitted between Warsaw and Wroclaw over standard single mode fiber. The trial demonstrates how Orange Poland can stay ahead of surging bandwidth demand as cloud networking continues to grow.

Optical systems typically achieve maximum transmission capacity over short distances and lower capacity across long distances. This trial demonstrated how capacity and distance can be improved in tandem using Nokia technology, resulting in a 250% increase in bandwidth over commonly deployed 100Gb/s networks using the same amount of spectrum.

Christian Gacon, Vice President in charge of Orange's transport networks, said: "This ground-breaking milestone will be the basis for faster networks and a better user experience for our customers. Bandwidth demands are continuing to skyrocket, but we also need to keep our infrastructure costs in check. Reaching these new heights in optical transmission proves we can meet bandwidth demand while maintaining the lowest cost per bit so our business can continue to flourish."

Sam Bucci, head of Nokia's Optical business, said: "At Nokia we continue to push the limits of optical technology with our customers. The massive bandwidth demands brought on by cloud networking - and the anticipated continued growth of that demand - means we never stop innovating. Our recently announced photonic engine, the PSE2, and our 500G muxponder, in combination with Orange's talented engineers and rock solid network infrastructure, made this technical feat possible. We're proud of this accomplishment and look forward to more innovation as the telco cloud network takes hold."