Exploring new frontiers in optical networking and branding

By Manolo Ortiz

Manolo Ortiz is senior vice president EMEA for Nokia Webscale Business

As I prepare myself for Capacity Middle East, 2023, I have many reasons to be excited! First, Nokia launched its new brand on February 27^th at MWC. Secondly, we announced a new frontier in optical networking with our sixth generation of super-coherent Photonic Service Engines (PSE-6s), that provides a level of performance, scalability and power-efficiency that the industry has not experienced before. I would be delighted to speak with you about these and more when we meet in Dubai.

After 150+ years of innovation, 30 years of transforming telecommunications, and a decade as a leader in networking technology, we are refreshing our visual identity to reflect the business that Nokia is today. With our brand renewal, we are signaling our commitment as a B2B networking technology innovation leader, realizing the full potential of digital in every industry. I would welcome the opportunity to speak more about our new brand and the underlying commitment it means to you and your business.

The world’s appetite for bandwidth continues to grow with no obvious limits in sight. Current projections are 30 - 40 percent per year, and within a dozen years, we’ll be looking at networks needing to supply 100 times their current capacity. But when it comes to the physics involved in moving bits across fiber optic networks, there are some very real limits. One of these is the Shannon Limit, which has now been reached when it comes to spectral efficiency, or the maximum capacity that can be achieved on a fiber. There are also very real boundaries on network power use, associated with economics and climate change. These limits call for innovative approaches that will help us to open new frontiers in optical networking and continue to meet the world’s growing need for connectivity.

Nokia’s PSE-6s could not have arrived at a better time. PSE-6s delivers the solution needed by network operators across a wide range of optical network applications, enabling operationally simple upgrades to Nokia’s existing transponder, compact modular and packet-optical switching (P-OTN) platforms. The new PSE-6s helps optical network operators simultaneously increase network scale, optimize performance, and ensure sustainable growth.

The Nokia PSE-6s ushers in a new frontier in optical transport network evolution, enabling massive network scale. Implemented in a multi-channel linecard, PSE-6s technology delivers the industry’s first 2.4Tb/s coherent transport solution, enabling network operators to scale transport capacity to unprecedented levels across metro, long-haul and subsea networks.

With the performance of 130GBaud coherent technology, the PSE-6s sets new benchmarks in capacity and reach performance to enable the transport of 800GE services over a single wavelength over three times the distance of previous coherent solutions. This enables 800G transport over any distance, including long-haul networks of over 2000 kms, as well as 800G transport across trans-oceanic cables. It reduces the number of coherent optics needed in typical network applications by 50% or more, allowing network operators to reduce CapEx and overall TCO.

The PSE-6s enables greener and more sustainable networks with better power efficiency. Leveraging the latest 5-nm DSP silicon integrated circuits and tightly integrating with silicon photonics, the PSE-6s reduces the power per bit by 40% versus today’s coherent solutions. Combined with the performance of the PSE-6s, this allows more capacity to be deployed using fewer numbers of coherent optics. Network operators can reduce network power consumption by 60% or more in typical network applications.

At Nokia, we’ve always designed for the longevity of our platforms, and the PSE-6s is no exception. The PSE-6s can be implemented across our entire family of 1830 platforms from compact modular rack-mounted units to our OTN switching and SLTE platforms. It is managed by the same software with no integration needed. The ability to introduce it into existing network platforms reduces equipment obsolescence, landfill waste, and enables network operators to extend the life their investments, lowering capex spend as well as improving opex.

Finally, I wanted to point out our presence at Capacity Middles East:

• We will have a dedicated lounge (#8) where we would welcome an opportunity to speak with you. Please drop by and setup a meeting with us.

• Please join Luca Luchesini on Wednesday, March 8, 2023 from 4:15 PM to 5:00 PM for the subsea Middle East open masterclass: Laying down the foundations. Luca and other subsea industry experts discuss the pain points in laying down subsea cables, providing anecdotal tales from the most challenging projects ever experienced and the lessons learned.

Let’s catch up at the event and discuss how we can enter these new frontiers together. In parallel, for more information on Nokia and our solutions for Webscale please visit our webpage.