Fierce Telecom 100 Gbps eBook 08

7/28/2019 Fierce Telecom 100 Gbps eBook 08

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Png 100g rmP

Following a number o years o trial deployments

and experiments, 2011 was a big year or 100G optical

networking as more and more service providers are

fnding that its more economical to migrate to 100G.

In considering a migration to 100G, service pro-

viders have had to juggle three ballsdeployment

strategy, technology and economics.

While port price was initially the main consider-

ation or 100G, a growing group o service providers

are now looking at how opex cost plays into the total

cost o ownership (TCO) o 100G versus 10G.

A growing group o service providers are fnding

that the Operations Administration and Maintenance(OAM) costs required to operate a 100G link are

lower than running 10 links o 10G each.

Evidence o the 100G adoption trend is taking

place in the networks o at least two large service

providers (Verizon and P&T Luxembourg) and one

R&D network provider (Internet2).

On the traditional service provider ront, Verizon,

arguably the most aggressive adopter o 100G

technology, recently upgraded additional routes

on its U.S. backbone network to 100G, while P&T

Luxembourg implemented 100G optical and 100

GigE technologies on the IP route between the

Frankurt and Luxembourg leg o its TERALINK

network.

Meanwhile, Internet2 is in the process o upgra

ing its major long-haul network routes to 100G to

serve its R&D customers.

In addition to seeing cost efciencies, the indu

has coalescence around coherent optics, an inno

tion that enables service providers to orgo the u

o modules to overcome dispersion compensatio

issues that become acute when service provider

deploy 100G networks.

Coherent optics became a must or 100G

because i you look at what was done as speed

moved up to 10G and past it, you just built ast

serial electronics without having to change you

technology, explains Jim Jones, President o t

Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF). But as ymove to speeds above that, to 40 and 100G, th

physical impairments such as chromatic dispers

and polarization mode dispersion really dominat

and get worse at a rate much aster than the bi

rate increase.

As 100G optical networks become a reality in

the telecom world, FierceTelecoms new eBook

will address how the service provider commun

is taking advantage o 100G optical networking

meet the bandwidth needs o their business an

consumer clients. l

SEAN BUCKLEY

Sen Et /// FeceTelecm

SpoNSorEd BY:

3100 Gbps Innovations Abound

5Q&A: Optical

Internetworking Forum

6100 Gb/s. Getting Up to

Speed*Sponsored Content*

8Solving Optical Impairments to

100G Transport*Sponsored Content*

9Internet2s 100 GbpsEra Is About to Begin

11100 Gbps MigrationStill in Early Stages

13The Analyst PerspectivThe Demand Drivers anEconomics o 100G Por

NeTworkee The LighT

100 Gbps
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/


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Wide-scale deployment o

100 Gbps technology in long-

haul will happen in earnest

over the next two to three

years, according to many

industry sources. Generally, it

could take longer to get into

metro networks because theeconomics dont make sense

yet. It is oten more aord-

able or the carrier to relay on

40 Gbps or multiple 10 Gbps

links than pay or the upgrade.

Plus, the prices or 10 Gbps

links continue to decline.

Still, vendors are working on

the metro deployment case,

and one recent innovation

aimed at refning that case

came rom ADVA Optical Net-working, which just weeks

ago announced an alterna-

tive to the 100 Gbps optical

platorms that use dualpolar-

ization quadrature phaseshit

keying (DP-QPSK) modulation

and coherent signal detection.

DP-QPSK and coherent detec-

tion are considered the basis

o many uture long-haul 100G

systems, but they also represent

somewhat newer, and thus, more

expensive technology options.

The transponder announced by

ADVA instead uses DPSK-3ASK

modulation and non-coherent

detection, and relies on our 28

Gbps channels (the extra gigabits

are applied to error correction),

each inserted into a 50 Ghz

sub-channel, to achieve 100G

at distances o up to 500 km,

according to Jorg-Peter Elbers,

vice president o advanced tech-nology at ADVA.

This can be used in the data

center connectivity space or in the

service provider metro, where you

see distances o less than 500

km, or even less than 200 km, he

said. What we identifed was a

need over shorter distances. Core

100 Gbps solutions are not suited

or this.

Michael Kennedy, principal ana-

lyst at ACG Research, said ADVAsannouncement is an interesting

innovation or what right now

amounts to a niche market. At

this point, the economics o 100

Gbps only make sense in long

routes like in the service provider

core networks, he said. But,

some metros are moving beyond

the need or two or three 10 Gbps

E links. Now, 10 Gbps is actually a

small pipe in some cases, and this

is where this transponder might

come in. There is some efciency

to be gained in deploying that in a

metro environment where you are

already seeing a need or seven to

eight 10 Gbps links.

ADVAs development doesnt

dispute the need or DP-QPSK and

coherent detection in the long-

run. We do coherent as well, but

people are looking right now or a

lower-cost, lower-power solution

or the metro, Elbers said.In act, coherent detection will

be very important to the uture o

100 gbpsinnvatns

Abundby Da OSha

100 Gbps in all networks. Coher-

ent technology actually makes 100

Gbps cheaper than non-coherent,

though or now it is more costly

because its a newer technology,

Kennedy said. With coherent,

think o it as a light beam with all

o the light tightly aligned. With

non-coherent, the light would

be more diused. The coherent

beam would look like a pen light

i you shined it at the moon; the

non-coherent would be like a ash

light. Coherent reduces the need

or amplifcation and increasesthe distance. It reduces chro-

matic dispersion, so you can have

wavelengths set closer together,

and you would need ewer sub-

channels.

Rick Dodd, senior vice president

o global marketing at Ciena, said

the result is more capacity. With

coherent detection you can encode

more bits on a given amount o

spectrum, he said. You get m

capacity, perhaps 10-times mo

bits on the same spectrum, an

gives you a much simpler depl

ment model.

Many o these benefts mea

that coherent detection also

helps network operators to bet

ter plan and manage their route

Coherent gives you some new

possibilities in network archi-

tecture, Dodd said. It makes

provisioning and restoration ea

Were doing proo o concept someone using coherent to tu

receiver to a particular channe

Coherent detectio

already has been a

tor in some 40 Gbp

deployments, but it

expected to becom

dominant as long-h

100 Gbps deploym

become the norm.

Another manageme

related technology

innovation that cou

play a role in uture

Gbps networksso

decision orward er

correctionis a mu

newer developmen

Using a sot-decisio

algorithm allows m

dynamic allocation

correction or latencsensitive trafc. It i

not yet widely avail

in 100 Gbps equipm

but is expected to b

more common as m

vendors roll out 100

Gbps gear and eat

upgrades later this

and next year. l

At ts pnt, t cnmcs 100 gbps nly masns n ln uts l n t svc pvd cnts, But, sm mts a mvn bynd

t nd t t 10 gbps e lns.

MiChAEL KENNEdY, priNCipAL ANALYST AT ACG rESEArCh

wt cnt dtctnyu can ncd mbts n a vn amunt spctum.

riCK dodd, SENior viCE prESidENT

oF GLoBAL MArKETiNG AT CiENA


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Skyrocketing trafc demands

are a given. And most o todays

networks cant handle them. Typi-

cally, operators are just transporting

the rate theyre receiving10Gso

the network isnt efcient, service

turn-up is slow, and new service

oerings such as 40GE and 100GE

cant be supported.

Getting these networks up to

speed takes 40G or 100G coher-

ent systems. With the ability toscale, reduce CAPEX, and simpliy

network operations, coherent tech-

nology provides:

Reduced cost per transported bit

and use o existing fber plant and

line systems or our or 10 times

more trafc

Improved operational costs by

reducing space and power con-

sumption

Support or new higher speed

OTN and Ethernet services

Bs mveCheren eChngyBeore coherent detection, opti-

cal receivers simply sought the

presence or absence o light in

the transmitted signal. A coherent

receivers is ar more intelligent,

operating with a local oscillator to

tune into the exact requency itwants. In addition to the amplitude

o the signal, this receiver also

has access to phase and polariza-

tion inormation. Thereore, one

can apply advanced modulation

techniques to add more bits o inor-

mation per received symbol instead

o orcing equipment to work our or

10 times aster.

A coherent receiver also has

access, and is proportional to, the

optical electrical feld (E-feld), so

operators can more easily apply

advanced digital signal processing

techniques to electronically com-

pensate or linear impairments like

CD and PMD. The beneft is that

the engineering, cost, and added

equipment associated with trying to

manually correct or signal degrada-

tions due to fber impairments iseliminated, as its all handled via sot-

ware. Even more impressive, links

that could only handle 2.5G o trafc

because o high PMD or bad qual-

ity fber can now be repurposed or

40G and even 100G wavelengths.

mvng Beyn 100gUsing coherent technology, three

dimensions can be exploited to

increase system capacity, including:

1. inceasng bau symbl ate

An increased baud rate requires

dependence on higher speed

components. Ideally, these com-

ponents will have been available

or some time so they are quali-

fed, proven, and aordable.

2. inceasng numbe f bts e

symbl The more bits in the

constellation, the more trafc and

higher capacity that can then betransported. However, the more

bits that are introduced, the closer

they are to each other, decreasing

noise toleranceand the peror-

mance and reach o the solution.

3. inceasng numbe f subca-

es This enables a capacity

increase using more components

than increasing the baud rate, but

through the use o more relia

easily available and lower cos

components. The resulting s

channel permits the realizati

o next-generation systems a

400 Gb/s and 1 Tb/s with cur

technologies.

In order to optimize or spectr

efciency, perormance, cost an

reliability, each o the dimension

above need to be exploited app

priately.

Prmse FFeAs a whole, 40G coherent syste

have been widely deployed sinc

mid-2008, with 100G now mov

rom trial to deployment phase,

ing to the ollowing distinct ben

or service providers:

A tenold increase in trafc-

carrying capacity, with the ab

to leverage existing inrastruc

and fber

Faster services turn-up, resul

primarily rom larger-sized wa

length trunks, allowing quicke

deployment 10G services

Support or new, higher band

width OTN and Ethernet serv

Lower CAPEX, simpler engin

ing, and reduced latency resu

rom the electronic dispersion

compensation integrated in th

transponders

Coherent technology transorm

optical networks, and is essent

or scaling capacity to terabit le

and beyond while promising ne

advanced programmability and

planning capabilities. l

100 gb/s...gttn Up t pd

FeceTelecm: Lets start with

the OIF. What is your organization

driving in the emerging 100G

market segment?

Jnes: We have developed an initial

suite o implementation agreements

(IA) around 100G. We frst kicked

those o in 2008 and we fnished

them in 2010. We think we were

able to launch the industry strongly

into the 100G area because we

were able to agree on a specifc

modulation ormat. Thats the con-

sensus that, especially the deviceand component suppliers, were

looking or to give them the con-

fdence that the industry was not

ragmented so they could invest in

the integrated photonic components

to support that.

There were our or so major

pieces that led to that suite o

implementation agreements: there

was an overall ramework document

that laid out the modulation ormat;

photonics modules or transmit

and receive modules; and there

was a module multiservice agree-

ment (MSA) that went with it that

defned or DWDM some o the

mechanical, electrical and power

parameters as well as the basics

o a management interace. Then

there was analysis on Forward Error

Correction (FEC) that explored the

boundaries o the perormance you

can get with the dierent codingschemes and a channel model that

would go along with that. At the

same time, we were updating our

set o Common Electric Interace

(CEI) implementation agreements,

which OIF originally had taken rom

six to 10G and then more recently

to 28 Gbps. That would defne

high-speed interaces internal to

the network element that would

support chip-to-chip and chip-to-

module applications. Since then, welaunched into other projects, includ-

ing a thermal management project

that addresses the power dissipa-

tion challenges because youre

putting a higher bit-rate and a higher

density o modules into a smaller

space.

FeceTelecm: What sorts of

requirements and concerns

do service providers have in

upgrading their routes to 100G?

Jnes: Theres a range o top-

ics because theres such a broad

spectrum o service providers. Fun-

damentally, it gets down to some

key actors: the timing on when they

think the jump to 100G will be right;

the technology they have to deploy;

and the economics. They also want

to get a balance o those actors

and are looking to be uture-prooedas possible. One shit that I think is

healthy is that a year or so ago you

heard a lot o arguments that were

based on simple economics as to

when some o the carriers would

move to 100G. Basically, those argu-

ments were tied to port price parity;

that is, when would 100G ports be

Q&A: optcal intntn FumOIF halS w OSISy I 100 GbpS

Theres certainly a lot of activity in the 100 Gbps segment with

major carriers, including Verizon and P&T Luxembourg, which have

been rolling out the technology on their own key network routes.

Underlying their activities are the standards efforts of the Opti-

cal Internetworking Forum (OIF). This past July, the OIF initiated

a Next Generation Interconnect Framework project to examine

various applications spaces for high speed optical and/or electri-

cal interconnect and identify the necessary elements for follow-on

implementation agreements (IA). Complementing that effort was

a 100G project to address next generation integrated coherentreceivers, targeting lower cost, higher density applications, as well

as a third project addressing multi-link gearbox (MLG) for 100G

client side signaling. FierceTelecom Senior Editor, Sean Buckley,

recently caught up with Jim Jones, President of the OIF, to talk

about about these initiatives and how they are benetting service

providers moving to 100G.

continued on ge 7


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Over the past 510 years, Inter-

net bandwidth requirements have

increased dramatically, driven by

high capacity business data servic-

es, 3G/4G wireless smartphones,

and video-intensive websites such

as Netix and YouTube. This is

stressing the capacity o carrier opti-

cal transport networks. In recentyears, most metro and backbone

optical transport networks have

been based on Wavelength-Division

Multiplexing (WDM) architectures,

which provided enormous capacity

by carrying multiple wavelengths

over a single fber. WDM oered

signifcant cost savings compared

to the cost o single-channel

networks, or overlaying multiple

networks or each service oering.

Carriers now need to urther

expand capacity and simultaneously

reduce cost. Many vendors have

developed 40 Gbps transponders

and muxponders or existing WDM

networks. However, continued

trafc growth requires even higher

capacity. Unortunately, as opti-

cal speeds increase, it becomes

increasingly difcult to achieve

acceptable perormance. Theindustry is starting to solve these

problems and develop the compo-

nents needed to deploy 100G.

svng eChngy ssesImpairments to optical signals in

a fber include Chromatic Disper-

sion (CD) and Polarization Mode

Dispersion (PMD), which distort

the signals and limit the dis-

tance they can be transported.

The industry has solved these

problems up to 10 Gbps, but as

speeds increase they become

much more challenging, as shown

in Figure 1.

modulatio Pui moBit at c

One remedy is to send multiple bits

o data down the fber simultane-

ously, reducing the overall symbol

rate. This is known as modulation.

Up to 10 Gbps, optical systems

use simple On-O Keying (OOK) to

represent the digital 1s and 0s.

Higher data rates require more

sophisticated modulation to

minimize the eects o optical

impairments. At 100G, the indus-

try has standardized on DP-QPSK

(Dual Polarization Quadrature

Phase Shit Keying), as shown in

Figure 2. A DP-QPSK modulator is

relatively complex and costly, but

it lowers the optical symbol rate,

making optical impairments easier

to overcome.

Cot rci

rcoi t Bit

100G optical receivers are also

more complex because o the mod-

ulation scheme. Up to 10 Gbps, a

simple photodetector converted the

incoming photons to a digital 1

and 0 signal, but 100G DP-Q

modulation requires a much mo

complex optical receiver, as sho

in Figure 3. The coherent receiv

high-speed Analog-to-Digital Co

verters (ADC) and Digital Signa

Processor (DSP) oer a larger r

o compensation and fner cont

than conventional receivers.

100g ms

The industry has also standard-

ized on a 100G transceiver mod

called an MSA (Multi-Source Ag

ment), defning physical size,

pinouts, perormance, and pow

This oers the benefts o large

industry volumes, lower pricing

and a wider choice o compone

suppliers.

CnCsnCarrier networks ace tremendo

increases in bandwidth demand

immense pressure to lower the

costs. The solution is to carry m

bits per wavelength using 100G

Advanced modulation techniqu

and coherent receivers have no

been implemented that overcomperormance penalties and ena

deployment o 100G technology

existing networks. Initial 100G

cations will likely include increa

backbone network capacity and

100G router interconnection. l

lvn optcalimpamnts t100g Tanspt

at price parity with 10G or be some

percentage cheaper than 10G? O

course, even the 10G price is a mov-

ing target.

The shit that I have noticed is that

theres more awareness to look at

the total cost o ownership (TCO),

which is much more revealing than

port price. Thats because the opex

plays a big actor in the TCO. Some

o the things we heard rom the

carriers in our carrier working group

are that the Operations Administra-

tion and Maintenance (OAM) coststhat it takes to turn up, monitor and

maintain a 100G link are consider-

ably lower than running services

over a link aggregation group with

10 links o 10G each. Its much

more scalable to run it over 100G

rom an opex standpoint. The other

major opex ingredient is space and

power. At the same time, service

providers have to be very mindul o

their existing inrastructure, includ-

ing existing fber, existing ROADMs

and other equipment. There can

be some dierences on whether

theres a Greenfeld application or

one where theyre upgrading an

existing network, but I think our

carrier members have been very

open and vocal in expressing those

as some o those actors and driving

them to the higher speeds.

FeceTelecm: While were on

the subject of economics, how

important are coherent optics to

driving the costs out of deploying

100G optical networks?

Jnes: Coherent optics is a revo-

lutionary new technology and is

the cornerstone to making 100G

economically viable. It became a

must or 100G because i you look

at what was done as speeds moved

up to 10G and past it, you just built

aster serial electronics without hav-

ing to change your technology. But

as you move to speeds above that,

to 40 and 100G, the physical impair-

ments such as chromatic dispersion

and polarization mode dispersion

really dominate and get worse at a

rate much aster than the bit rate

increase.

Coherent modulation and the rate

o optics and electronics under it

were an absolute must or the longhaul distances that we were looking

or as well as the act that theres

existing ROADM inrastructure that

we have to be compatible with. In a

DWDM system you have multiple

wavelengths tightly packed at every

50 GHz. I you have adjacent wave-

lengths that are not coherent, they

can interere with the 100G signal

i the 100G is not coherent. By

moving to coherent 100G coherent

you mitigate the intererence rom

adjacent signals.

The other issue with coherent is

that we addressed spectral ef-

ciency or being able to put as many

bits in any given wavelength. A

fber may be able to transmit 80-8 8

wavelengths, but i you can put

100 Gbps coherent into each one

o those wavelengths it gives you

the most available bit rate or thespectrum. Finally, because o coher-

ent, you dont need the dispersion

compensation modules that you did

at the lower rates that compensated

or the characteristics o the fber.

You can live with it or live without

it. At the same time, that minimizes

your network latency, which is key

or some o the service providers.

FeceTelecm: Looking beyond

100G, what are the next steps OIF

is taking in terms of driving new

specications and leveraging

those of other organizations such

as the ITU-T and IEEE?

Jnes: We try to position our-

selves in OIF to complement other

groups like the IEEE, which is in

charge o defning Ethernet and

the interaces that go with it as

well as ITU-T, which is responsible

or the Optical Transport Network

(OTN). We ocus on interaces and

devices within the system thathelp support those eorts. One

glimpse is through the three proj-

ects that were opened this past

summer around driving smaller

orm actor and lower power

consumption devices. There are

some more exploratory areas that

are looking at dierent ways o

achieving higher speed signaling

that are part o the interconnec-

tion project. Theres also this Multi

Link Gear Box thats looking at

applications or 100G. You might

have multiple 10G Ethernet links

that are transported over a 4x25

interace and the gear box helps

you do the speed translation

seamlessly throughout those pro-

cesses. Theres obviously a lot o

experimental work at rates beyond

100G, including super channels

with Orthogonal Frequency Divi-sion Multiplexing (OFDM) and

other technologies that will be

needed to go to the higher speeds.

Were trying to position ourselves

to be able address that indepen-

dently as to what specifc direction

it will take because we know there

are undamental building blocks

we have to put together. l

Figure 1 OpticalImpairments atIncreased SpeedsClck t enlage

Figure 2 100GModulator Basedon DP-QPSKClck t enlage

Figure 3 100G Coherent

ReceiverClck t enlage

continued fo ge 5


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the consortium is also leverag-

ing Level 3 Communications or

transport connectivity, Juniper core

routers and Infnera ramed circuits

and other gear.

The ongoing 100 Gbps upgrade is

part o a broader vision by Inter-net2 to eventually build 8.8 Tbps

o capacitythe equivalent o 88

100 Gbps wavelengthsinto its

network, an eort that brings the

group a long way rom a revised

strategic plan that it announced just

our years ago.

The evolution over the last our

or fve years has been interesting,

Vietzke said. We frst saw 100Gbps tested in 2007 and it was in a

box that was about twice the size

o a double toaster. The technology

has come a long way since the

and our adoption o it has gone

ter and aster than we expecte

a new technology.

He noted that or 100 Gbps to

become dominant outside the

transport network, it still needs

achieve lower pricing to be con

ered as efcient as using multi

10 Gbps links, but it is primed n

to take over the transport side.

Having 100 Gbps technolo

has allowed us to think about

strategic plan and accelerate

to deliver new services, as was being able to meet the glo

aspirations o our members,

Vietzke said. l

Chicago and Washington, D.C., and

between Washington, D.C. and

Sunnyvale, Cali.

The rest o our national ootprint

will have 100 Gbps by this time

next year, said Rob Vietzke, execu-

tive director o network services

or Internet2. By that time we

will have more than 17,000 route

miles.

In most cases, the consortium

is upgrading rom existing deploy-

ments o multiple 10 Gbps Ethernet

links, and though new 100 Gbps

routes will not be flled to the brimwith trafc right away, Vietzke said,

We think at least 30 Gbps to 40

Gbps will be used on every 100

Gbps wavelength on Day 1, and

soon there will be some Internet2

members ready to have one 100

Gbps wavelength themselves.

Were not sure how it

will all be used, but we

are certain that it will be

used.

As network operators

industry-wide move to

100 Gbps, the primary

drivers or the upgrades

are oten the need or

more capacity to handle

rapidly growing video trafc, or the

need or greater efciency in trans-

porting that trafc. The user profle

and the usage case are both a bit

dierent or Internet2. The not-or-proft consortium has among its

members 221 universities in the

United States, and works with 45

leading corporations, 66 govern-

ment agencies, laboratories and

other institutions, 35 regional and

state research and education net-

works and more than 100 national

research and education network-

ing organizations in more than 50

countries.

A lot o what they do would call

or two university supercomputing

centers to be tied together with

one big pipe, said Rick Dodd,

senior vice president o global mar-

keting at Ciena, one o Internet2s

primary vendor partners. He added,

They would also, in some c ases,

be using 100 Gbps to directly test

what happens when you put more

trafc on that network layer, a sort

o sel-ulflling exercise that could

provide guidance to other networkoperators looking to deploy 100

Gbps.

Scientifc experiments using a

large discreet channel

drive a lot o what we

do, but there will be

other things, including

telepresence meet-

ings between member

organizations and

other video applica-

tions, Vietzke said.

The 100 Gbps upgrade

has helped Internet2

draw new member

interest, and develop

new projects, such as

a 100 Gbps prototype

scientifc network the

consortium is building

with Berkeley Lab.

What our memberssee in our network is

a national asset and a

skill set that you cant

fnd anywhere else,

Vietzke said.

In addition to Ciena,

which is supplying

packet optical trans-

port gear to Internet2,

The 100G network evolu-

tion is just beginning, and will

likely take on a more defnitive

shape over the next two to

three years as carriers invest

in more 100 Gbps gear orboth long-haul and metro

upgrades. However, one net-

work operator is already at the

oreront o the movement,

driven by the particular needs

o a very advanced group o

constituents.

Internet2, the 15-year-old

nationwide IP and optical

network or the research

and education community, is

among the frst U.S. networkoperators upgrading its major

long-haul network routes to

100 Gbps. The consortium

that runs that network frst

announced the plan almost 11

months ago, and as autumn

began this year, Internet2 was

about to complete its frst

100 Gbps routesbetween

intnt2s100 gbpsea is Abut

t Bnby Da OSha

Jackson

Seattle

Los Angeles

Houston (2)

KansasCity

Atlanta

Washington DCSalt Lake

City

Chicago (3)

New

York (2)

Sunnyvale

Cleveland

Boston

Albuquerque

Denver

Indianapolis

Louisville

Nashville

Baton Rouge

Jacksonville

Charlotte

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Madison

Minneapolis

Fargo

Bismarck

Dickinson

MilesCity

Bozeman

Billings

Missoula

Spokane

Memphis

Cincinnati

Portland

BoiseTionesta

Sacramento

Reno

Phoenix

El Paso

SanAntonio

Detroit

BualoSyracuse Albany

Dallas

Echo Springs

Goodland

Tulsa

Pensacola

Raleigh

St. Louis

Eugene

Las Vegas

I l I l

IP router node

Optical regeneration facility

Optical add/dropfacility

Draft Last updated 01/26/11

U.S.UCAN

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PA

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RTN E RS

cntfc xpmnts usn a la dsct cannldv a lt at d, but t ll b t

tns, ncludn tlpsnc mtns btnmmb anzatns and t v d applcatns.

roB viETzKE, ExECUTivE dirECTor oF NETworK SErviCES For iNTErNET2

w fst sa 100 gbpststd n 2007 and t as na bx tat as abut tc

t sz a dubl tast.

roB viETzKE, ExECUTivE dirECTor oF

NETworK SErviCES For iNTErNET2

I l I l

nerne2 Pnne 100 ggB nFrsrCre Pgy (rF)


6/8

Spmbr 2011

FcTlcm.cm

Spmbr

The telecom industrys

migration to 100 Gbps optical

networks got a nice boost in

mid-September when Verizon

Communications announced

it had installed 100 Gbps on aportion o its backbone net-

work, and planned to have it on

10 more routes by the end o

this year.

The move came at the same

time that research and educa-

tion network Internet2 was

completing deployment or 100

Gbps on two o its routes.

However, or the most part,

the industry is still awaiting its

100 Gbps tipping point. Four

years ater initial 100 Gbps

technology demonstrations,

the transition to live 100 Gbps

wavelengths remains a gradual

one, despite what seems like

an unstoppable explosion o

bandwidth demand related to online

video, cloud computing and other

applications.

Thats because economic real-

ity and network reach trump pure

speed in the optical game when you

actually have other cheaper, long-

distance options or handling that

bandwidth demandnamely 40

Gbps or multiples o 10 Gbps.

Pieter Poll, senior vice president o

network planning, engineering and

construction at CenturyLink, believes

the 100 Gbps tipping point will not

come until around the ourth quartero 2012, when high perormance,

longer reach and aordability will

crystallize in the latest generation o

equipment.

When you look at the 100G

equipment that has been out there,

the frst generation was about how

you get 100G onto a card, Poll said.

The second added coherent detec-

tion, but the reach wasnt there or

it to put 100G in the long-haul. With

the third generation, vendors have

been working on their ASICs, and

youll see the reach and have the

[aordability] to push 100G right to

the routers.

Poll said CenturyLink started to

make its network 100 Gbps-capable

about two years ago (then as Qwest

Communications) with a new over-

lay to its ultra-long-haul network,

a project it completed this year.

Around the industry, there is plenty

o evidence o carriers having made

similar progress, making networks

100 Gbps ready.

However, network investment in

10 Gbps and 40 Gbps systems still

exceeds spending on 100 Gbps, a

situation that is unlikely to change

until 2014, according to Andrew

Schmitt, directing analyst at Inonet-

ics Research.For some network operators,

more aordable 40 Gbps has at

least temporarily staved o band-

width demand pressure. Schmitt

said one o the gating actors or

100 Gbps us that it has to get down

to the price point o being maybe

twice the cost o 40G, something

he said probably wont happen until

2013. Schmitt said more vendors

also need to have 100 Gbps sys-

tems generally available, a situation

that should start to improve late this

year into next year.

Meanwhile, 10 Gbps systems

continued to be granted longer lie

by their increasing aordabilityhav-

ing several 10 Gbps links on some

routes still makes more economic

sense to some carriers than upgrad-

ing to high-speed technology.

10G port pricing is dropping ast,and so theyll still be out there or

some time to come, said Randy

Eisenach, 100G product planner at

Fujitsu. 100G deployments are still

a small sliver o the 10Gs that are

out there, but you will still need to

do the 100G upgrades or reasons o

spectral efciency.

100 gbpsMatntll n ealytasby Da OSha

Think

forward.

Transition seamlessly.Are you read y to meet future ne eds fo r bandwi dth in residen tial, c ommercial , and

mobile services? Do you have the agility and flexibility to seize new opportunities

while staying efficient and keeping control of your costs?

Fujitsu optical networks are powering 100G transport to meet escalating demand

for bandwidth. Make us your solution partner and lets transition seamlessly to the

next-generation network by thinking forward.

Fujitsu Network Communications 2801 Telecom Parkway, Richardson, TX 75082 Tel: 800.777.FAST (3278) us.fujitsu.com/telecom

Copyright2011 Fujitsu NetworkCommunicationsInc.FUJITSU(and design) andshapingtomorrow with youaretrademarksof Fujitsu Limitedin theUnitedStatesandother countries.All RightsReserved.

w dnt av a MsLa t ptcal ndus-

ty, s i dnt n yu ll t t ac 400g anytm sn.

piETEr poLL, SENior vp oF NET-

worK pLANNiNG, ENGiNEEriNG &

CoNSTrUCTioN AT CENTUrYLiNK

continued on ge 13


7/8

Spmbr 2011

FcTlcm.cm

Spmbr

mentsresidence, mobile and

enterprise. Residential service

usage will be the biggest con-

tributor to overall IP trafc growth.

Residential trafc growth is driven

by the widespread acceptance o

broadband service and the rapid

adoption o Over-The-Top (OTT)

video content. OTT video has a

major impact on network trafc or

three reasons. First, video content

requires much more bandwidththan other media. For example,

traditional voice telephony requires

64 Kbps while Verizon FiOS HDTV

service requires 18 Mbps. Sec-

ondly, OTT video as well as Video

on Demand are unicast services

each viewer receives a unique

ow o video content. In contrast,

broadcast TV is multicastall

A broad spectrum o rout-

ing, switching and transport

vendors is now adding 100

Gbps ports to their product

lines. These high speed

ports are arriving just in

time to meet the capacity

requirements o large service

providers core networks. In

addition, 100G technology

will help to drive down both

CapEx and OpEx, whichwill help service providers

to control their costs in an

environment where revenue

growth is not keeping up with

trafc growth.

IP network trafc is grow-

ing in a range o 35% to 85%

per year across the world. It

is growing in all market seg-

viewers are connected to the same

ow o video content. This has

an overwhelming impact on net-

work trafc. Video is expected to

comprise over 90% o total trafc

within the next three years.

Many video data streams do

not require the 18 Mbps cur-

rently used by FiOS HDTV. Video

downloads, or example, do not

require as much bandwidth as

video streaming and newer video

compression algorithms will reduce

the bandwidth or video stream-

ing. On the other hand, residentialTV sets continue to get larger

models in excess o 100 inches

are being introduced. This will

create demand or video ormats

with higher inormation density

and emerging 3D video requires

substantially more bandwidth than

current video ormats.

Mobile trafc also is driving tra-

fc growth and, thereore, the need

or 100 Gbps ports. Rapid growth

in mobile subscribers and especial-

ly use o Smart Phones accounts

or much o this growth. Video

content is the biggest contributor to

bandwidth growth as in the resi-

dential market. During the period

2008 to 2010, mobile video usage

grew 52%. It will grow much

more rapidly over the next several

years as true 4G wireless technol-

ogy is deployed. These serviceswill deliver 5 to 12 Mbps down-

stream data rates and 2 to 5 Mbps

upstream with 30 ms roundtrip

times. According to the FCC, this

is a bit better than what the cur-

rent generation o fxed broadband

systems is delivering today. This

will dramatically increase network

trafc.

Mobile trafc enters service pro-

vider regional and core networks as

wireless backhaul. Each carrier on

each cell site tower will require 100

to 300 Mbps o cell site backhaul

capacity. With two to our carriers

sharing each tower the roll out o

true 4G service will require 1 GE

backhaul service rom each tower.

However, it is worth considering

that a typical Central Ofce that

supports 5,000 to 20,000 resi-

dences and hundreds o enterprise

establishments only supports

between 5 to 20 cell site towers.Thereore, mobile trafc seems

unlikely to overtake residential tra-

fc demands.

Enterprise trafc also will grow

strongly. V ideo content will

increasingly dominate enterprise

Internet access bandwidth require-

ments just as in the residential

and mobile markets. The move to

cloud computing and networking

will add a urther boost to network

trafc requirements. Computing

and storage resources are more

extensively connected over the

wide area network using cloud

solutions than they were under

legacy client/server solutions. This

interconnection combined with

high percentages o video content

will dramatically increase enterprise

trafc requirements.

The service providers dilemmais that revenue growth is not keep-

ing up with trafc growth. As one

extreme example, consider that 1

KB o text content contributes $20 to

a wireless operators revenue while

1 KB o video content contributes

$0.003 to the operators revenue.

100 GE ports help resolve the

service providers dilemma in that

they reduce both CapEx per b

and OpEx per bit as compared

to the current generation o 10

GE technology. An industry ru

o thumb is that each new gen

eration o networking technolo

provides ten times the bandw

at three times the cost. There

ore the unit cost ($/bit) o eac

new technology is much more

cost efcient than the previou

generation. (I believe that the

introduction o 100 GE techno

does even better than the 10:3

rule o thumb.) The rule o ththereore implies that i new t

nology is introduced in three t

fve year cycles than unit cost

decline by 45% to 26% per ye

respectively. This is good new

or service providers in that it

helps make video content deli

economically viable. This is n

necessarily good news or sys

tems vendors since it implies

trafc demand must grow at m

than 26% to 45% per year jus

maintain sales at current level

Michael Kennedy is a regular FierceTelec

columnist and is Principal Analyst at ACG

Researchwww.acgresearch.net. He c a

reached at [email protected].

T Analyst Pspctv: TDmand Dvs and ecnmcs 100g Ptsby mIhal KDy, aG rSarh

For now, some carriers may be

doing some 100G wavelength activ-

ity, thanks to 100G line cards, which

can be an expensive option. Also,

mixing o dierent wavelengths is

like to become more common during

the transition. Bert Buescher, Direc-

tor Product Management, Transport

Products, at Tellabs, said the vendor is

helping some carriers mix 10G, 40G

and 100G wavelengths, partitioned,

on the same network. The carrier

doesnt want to have to put in new

inrastructure until it has to, he said.The timing o many carriers 100

Gbps transitions also plays in with

their migration to OTN switching. Rick

Dodd, senior vice president o global

marketing at Ciena, described 100

Gbps as being a tail wind or the OTN

migration, because it will allow carri-

ers to explore new ways o switching

services.

Eisenach echoed that sentiment,

saying, OTN would take over or

gear that now grooms trafc rom the

long-haul to the metro. Most carriers

will want to deploy OTN switching at

some point.

And though the 100 Gbps era may

eel like it is just beginning, the indus-

try is already starting to size up the

next bandwidth destination400

Gbps. It may not become a actor or

at least three to fve years, though

CenturyLinks Poll is already wonder-ing i the issues dictating the 100 Gbps

tipping point will aect 400 Gbps.

We dont have a Moores Law or

the optical industry, so I dont know

how you will get the reach or 400G

anytime soon, Poll said. You will

have to use it over shorter distances

or a while. Thats where you run into

Shannons Law.l

continued fo ge 11


8/8

15 Spmbr 2011

FcTlcm.cm

Figure 1 Optical

Impairments at

Increased Speeds

Figure 2 100G

Modulator Based

on DP-QPSK

Figure 3 100G

Coherent Receiver

Documents

Fierce Telecom 100 Gbps eBook 08