The rapid digitalization many industries and communities are undergoing has created an era of cyber traffic far exceeding anything we've handled before. Today, there are currently 4.8 billion internet users around the globe and nearly 29 billion connected devices, with over 80 percent of internet traffic being video. And, according to a Cisco report, with more people, devices, and video crowding cyberspace every day, the amount of internet data traffic could triple by 2022.
To handle the increase in cyber traffic, many organizations are turning to the power of 400G, the latest generation of tech powering data centers, and all the demands being placed on them. The term 400G refers to the maximum speed of data transfer or bandwidth; the "G" stands for Gbps or gigabits per second. That makes 400G a fourfold jump in maximum data-transfer speed from the current maximum standard 100G.
400G is the future of optical network transport, helping accommodate technology like ultra-high-definition (4K) video streaming, new video-game and virtual-reality content, artificial intelligence, and mobile 5G networks. With the rate of tech adoption continuing to accelerate, 400G-capable solutions took under a year to ramp to 5,000 deployed transponders, which was three times faster than 100G.
Realizing the world today is increasingly digital and only going to continue the path of technology, many organizations and even countries are beginning to adopt and invest in 400G technology in order to keep up with the expanding amount of internet users and cyber traffic.
Recently, Ribbon Communications Inc., a global provider of real-time communications software and IP optical networking solutions to service providers, enterprises, and critical infrastructure sectors, announced that it is enabling Bezeq, Israel's largest telecommunications service provider, to carry increasing IP traffic loads via a new flexgrid 400G optical backbone network.
"Our network needs to handle today's traffic and anticipate tomorrow's," said Meni Baruch, VP Engineering & CTIO at Bezeq (News - Alert). "Ribbon offered us the most comprehensive solution, including Day One readiness for 400 G wavelengths, high scalability, and cost efficiencies. We look forward to working together."
Ribbon is upgrading Bezeq's Israel-wide network to flexgrid multi-degree DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing. The new network leverages Ribbon's Apollo family of optical transport and switching platforms, which features innovative use of 400G ZR+ pluggable dynamic coherent optics and delivers dynamic configurability to meet the growing and shifting traffic patterns and lower cost per bit.
ZR+ is a straightforward extension of 400ZR transcoded mappings of Ethernet with a higher performance FEC than 400ZR CFEC to support longer ranges. The ZR+ coherent pluggables take implementation challenges to the next level by adding some of the elements for high-performance solutions while pushing component design for low-power, pluggability, and modularity.
With visibility into how quickly 400G deployments are ramping in the industry, partnerships like this are showing us first-hand how the optical networking landscape is changing, and how network providers are moving more quickly to stay ahead in this new on-demand content-driven environment we are living in today.
"We're delighted to be supporting Bezeq with a solution that combines network capability, a smooth transition path to next-generation requirements, and measurable cost efficiencies as they continue to meet the traffic requirements for their consumer, business, and wireless customers," said Mickey Wilf, Ribbon's General Manager APAC and MEA.
Edited by
Luke Bellos
