With the advent of the Internet, consumption of data by consumers has grown by leaps and bounds over the years and this has given the telecom companies a reason to revamp their networks to keep up with the increasing demand for the bandwidth. And now France telecom has made a stride forward with a 400 Gbps/wavelength optical link for the first time, to make history. Following a successful field trial, a 400 Gbps wavelength optical link is now operational between Paris and Lyon.
This is a groundbreaking milestone for long-distance terrestrial network technology and with a capacity four times higher than the maximum bandwidth currently available and using 44 wavelengths, the new optical link can transmit up to 17.6 Terabits per second (Tbps) of traffic in total. A mind-blowing development over any present network technology.
For France Telecom, owner of the mobile operator Orange, the three-month pilot of the 400Gbps link will enable it to look into the trial-run of the high-speed optical networking technology and make a decision on how and when to make this 400Gbps link available across its entire network. According to Olivier Gombert, director of the transmission factory at France Telecom, there is a lot of scope for improvement and this pilot run will give them an idea of what needs to be modified before releasing it to the world.This feat reflects France Telecom-Orange’s commitment to sustainable development of its network performance to meet the growing demand for higher bandwidths and additional flexibility needs for its huge market of consumers and business customers. Any wider release of 400Gbps technology will depend not only on the outcome of the pilot but also on customers’ interest.
RENATER, the Public Interest Group that manages the telecommunications network for “Technology, Teaching and Research” institutions in France and that is a customer of Orange Business Services, will be the first to test the functionality of this development in a day-to-day situation. Patrick Donath, MD of Renater said, “This pilot phase also aims to test the latest switching equipment supplied by major OEMs on a network running at this capacity and will enable us to anticipate the architecture of Renater’s network in the coming years. A 400Gbps network is an important step forward for the networks and research projects of tomorrow.”
With this innovative and energy-saving technology in trial run, one only hopes that it becomes a roaring success and helps quench the thirst for higher bandwidths all across the globe.
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