The companies partnered to demonstrate a fibre-optic capacity upgrade in a live-network environment, using Space Division Multiplexing (SDM).
The demonstration – claimed to be an industry first – was successful and also included the 400G transmission trial.
The 400G trial ran over a 660km route between Salzburg and Vienna and included 8-quadrature-amplitude-modulation (8-QAM) designed to significantly increase transmission reach.
“This field trial highlights the future-proof capability of our backbone network. A capacity of 400Gbps means that some 5,000 users [can] simultaneously watch HDTV or video streaming or download from the internet via one single fibre,” said Marcus Grausam, CTO of A1.
“This trial activity was an important step toward deepening our collaboration with Coriant and facilitating seamless deployment of next-generation technologies,” he added.
Coriant believes that despite the challenges SDM still faces before becoming commercially available, the trial highlights its commitment to advancing the technology as efficiently as possible.
Uwe Fischer, CTO at Coriant, said: “We are pleased to deepen our relationship with A1 and the Telekom Austria Group by demonstrating the future potential of high-capacity optical transmission, while at the same time validating the upgrade capability of their deployed transport systems from Coriant.”
A1 Telekom Austria and Coriant partnered in August this year for the operator’s network upgrade.
