Arelion and Ciena Achieve 1.6 Tb/s Wavelength Data Transmission in Live Network Trial

Arelion announced a collaboration with networking systems, services, and software provider Ciena, that has led to a milestone in optical networking - the successful completion of the 1.6 terabits-per-second (Tb/s) wavelength data transmission on a live network.

This achievement was powered by Ciena’s advanced WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) technology and took place over a 470km route between two critical locations in Arelion’s North American network: the Equinix (News - Alert) Point-of-Presence (PoP) in Ashburn, Virginia, and the Telxius cable landing station in Virginia Beach.

By deploying Ciena’s WL6e technology, Arelion enhances its network’s capacity and performance, enabling it to deliver higher traffic volumes and faster connectivity speeds.

“This new benchmark reflects our ongoing investment in cutting-edge optical networking technologies that increase capacity and performance while reducing energy consumption to benefit our customers,” said Dariusz Solowiej, VP of Network Technology & Customer Operations at Arelion.

“Our collaboration with Ciena is crucial in supporting global enterprises’ capacity needs amid rising power and colocation costs, helping us provide the reliable connectivity companies need to transfer massive data volumes at the fastest speeds available today.”

Ciena’s WL6e technology is at the forefront of digital signal processing (DSP), offering substantial improvements in energy efficiency and performance. Specifically, WL6e provides Arelion with a 50% reduction in space and power per bit, along with a 15% increase in spectral efficiency compared to earlier technologies.

With this advancement, Arelion can offer multiple 400 and 800 gigabits-per-second (Gb/s) services, optimized using the 1.6 Tb/s line capacity, across its existing network infrastructure.

In addition to the WL6e, the trial utilized Ciena’s 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS), an open and programmable solution designed to streamline and automate network service provisioning and reconfiguration.

“This significant milestone with Arelion serves as a template for service providers striving to improve the energy efficiency and scalability of their optical networks amid mounting bandwidth demands,” said Jamie Jefferies, Vice President & General Manager International at Ciena. “As the industry’s first 1.6 Tb/s coherent optic solution, WaveLogic 6 Extreme brings forth new innovative capabilities for optical transport, with forward-thinking service providers like Arelion leading the charge.”