Posted on Wed, May 18, 2011 @ 10:08 AM
When it comes to bandwidth, corporate America can’t seem to get enough. Everything from email attachments to video conferencing is demanding that companies have increased ability to send and receive huge streams of information.
Thanks to some new technologies demonstrated last month at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference, a tremendous amount of new bandwidth could come online in the future. Two separate research groups set a world record by each sending more than 100 terabits of information per second through just one optical fiber.
“That’s enough to deliver three solid months of HD video- or the contents of 250 double-sided Blu-ray discs,” writes Jeff Hecht of New Scientist.
One team was an alliance between AT&T, NEC Corporation and Corning Incorporated. A research team put together by these three companies used emerging network technologies to transmit data at 114 Gigabits per second over each of 320 separate optical channels on a single, 580-kilometer optically amplified link.
The results? A total bandwidth capacity of 32 terabits per second, which exceeded the previous record by 25 percent and was transmitted over more than twice the distance. This advances the companies’ development of 100 gigabit technologies, which are expected to be ready for deployment within the next few years.
"IP traffic on the AT&T network is growing at about 45 percent year over year, so groundbreaking research efforts like this are critical to our ongoing efforts to stay ahead of our customers' rapidly evolving and expanding needs," said Peter Magill, executive director of optical systems research, AT&T Labs. "In setting this new bandwidth capacity record, we used a transmission method that enables better management of the interference that can result from operating 320 wavelengths over a single fiber-optic link. To do so, we used a new way to generate such signals and a new signal-processing algorithm to receive them again. We're looking forward to further testing of these techniques and the additional bandwidth advances that may come from it."
The laboratory link was composed of seven spans, each containing a single-stage Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) for both the C- and L-band and a section of Corning® SMF-28® ULL fiber, an ITU G.652 compliant ultra-low-loss optical fiber.
"NEC has been relentless in pushing forward-looking research and development of advanced optical networking technology to help carriers meet the growth in network traffic," said Ting Wang, department head, Optical Networking, NEC Labs America. "This exciting achievement demonstrates the feasibility of packing 320 channels on one fiber with 25GHz spacing."
"There are still several challenges, including maturity and cost efficiency, to overcome before the deployment of such a high transmission rate over a single fiber, but we are definitely closer," added Milorad Cvijetic, vice president and chief technology strategist, Optical Network Systems Division, NEC Corporation of America.
"As the foundation of telecommunications networks, optical fiber innovation can help enable carriers to cost effectively keep up with ever-growing traffic demands", said Barry Linchuck, director of marketing, Corning Optical Fiber, Corning Incorporated. "Corning's recent innovation of ultra low-loss, high-performance fiber enables network operators to achieve higher capacities per fiber at the operating distances they need."
per second, which exceeded the previous record by 25 percent and was transmitted over more than twice the distance. This advances the companies’ development of 100 gigabit technologies, which are expected to be ready for deployment within the next few years.
"IP traffic on the AT&T network is growing at about 45 percent year over year, so groundbreaking research efforts like this are critical to our ongoing efforts to stay ahead of our customers' rapidly evolving and expanding needs," said Peter Magill, executive director of optical systems research, AT&T Labs. "In setting this new bandwidth capacity record, we used a transmission method that enables better management of the interference that can result from operating 320 wavelengths over a single fiber-optic link. To do so, we used a new way to generate such signals and a new signal-processing algorithm to receive them again. We're looking forward to further testing of these techniques and the additional bandwidth advances that may come from it."
The laboratory link was composed of seven spans, each containing a single-stage Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) for both the C- and L-band and a section of Corning® SMF-28® ULL fiber, an ITU G.652 compliant ultra-low-loss optical fiber.
"NEC has been relentless in pushing forward-looking research and development of advanced optical networking technology to help carriers meet the growth in network traffic," said Ting Wang, department head, Optical Networking, NEC Labs America. "This exciting achievement demonstrates the feasibility of packing 320 channels on one fiber with 25GHz spacing."
"There are still several challenges, including maturity and cost efficiency, to overcome before the deployment of such a high transmission rate over a single fiber, but we are definitely closer," added Milorad Cvijetic, vice president and chief technology strategist, Optical Network Systems Division, NEC Corporation of America.
"As the foundation of telecommunications networks, optical fiber innovation can help enable carriers to cost effectively keep up with ever-growing traffic demands", said Barry Linchuck, director of marketing, Corning Optical Fiber, Corning Incorporated. "Corning's recent innovation of ultra low-loss, high-performance fiber enables network operators to achieve higher capacities per fiber at the operating distances they need."