XO Communications and Infinera (News - Alert) are teaming up to deliver the first demonstration of 100 Gigabit Ethernet traffic in production-ready form over a live network, the companies said.

 

 The demonstration, at Infinera's booth number at NXTcomm08 running from June 17 through June 19 in Las Vegas, will show how 100 GbE services can be delivered over existing network infrastructures.

 

"Not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” said Randy Nicklas, chief technology officer at XO Communications (News - Alert). “This pioneering demonstration of 100 GbE traffic will leave Vegas and visit Los Angeles over the XO network, for just a fraction of a second, before returning to Vegas, for the enjoyment and education of NXTcomm visitors.”

 

The demonstration will consist of an Ixia (News - Alert) proof-of-concept 100 GbE test set generating and handing off a pre-standard IEEE 802.3ba 100 GbE signal to a 100 GbE interface on the Infinera DTN DWDM transport system.

 

 "XO is determined to be a leader in developing new capabilities and optical services to meet our customers' growing need for bandwidth," said Nicklas.

 

The 100 GbE signal will be switched and transported by the Infinera DTN system from the show floor through XO Communications' long-haul DWDM network to Los Angeles. The 100GbE signal will then be looped and transported back to the Infinera booth in Las Vegas, where performance metrics will be monitored and viewable on the Ixia XM2 chassis.

 

As the growth in Internet traffic worldwide continues to increase exponentially, networks and networking equipment need to scale beyond 10 Gigabit Ethernet and the IEEE (News - Alert) 802.3ba.

 

Task Force is working to develop 100 Gigabit Ethernet as the next important standard for telecom networks. Many industry participants believe that 100 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and services will enable simplified, cost-effective connectivity for telecom customers, including Internet content providers, Internet service providers, telecom companies, enterprises, and other large users of bandwidth, according to Nicklas.

 

 The demonstration shows that progress has been made on several important fronts and the technology exists today to deliver 100 GbE services on existing networks, he said.

 

XO Communications supports customers on its nationwide network today with services including 10 Gigabit/second (Gb/s) wavelengths and 10 GbE. Demonstrating the power and scalability of XO's advanced optical network, XO Communications has pioneered a new rapid service delivery model with its "10 Gigs in 10 Days" guarantee, offering customers the ability to have 10 Gb network services provisioned in 10 business days. XO Communications is committed to bringing 100 GbE services to market as soon as the technology reaches a state where it is deployable and economic. This demonstration shows that XO is focused on playing an active role in the development of this important technology.