Manolo Ortiz, senior vice president for Nokia’s webscale business, outlines the company’s progress on photonic service engines.
As Nokia prepares for Capacity Middle East 2024 in February, I want to reflect on the great progress we’ve made since last year’s announcement of our sixth generation of super-coherent photonic service engines (PSE-6s) – a new frontier in optical networking. At last year’s show, we talked about how this optical innovation would provide a level of performance, scalability and power efficiency that the industry has never experienced before.
Here we are, a year later, with many real-world examples of the incredible power of this technology. I am delighted to speak with you about how it has proven to be a game-changer for our customers and will be central to many upcoming optical-networking projects.
PSE-6s testimonials from some of the world’s leading optical providers
We all know that the world’s appetite for bandwidth continues to grow, with no obvious limits in sight. Current projections are for 30 to 40% annual growth in optical network capacity. Hard as it is to believe, at this rate, within a dozen years, we’ll be looking at networks needing to supply 100 times their current capacity.
The new PSE-6s help optical network operators to simultaneously increase network scale, optimise performance and ensure sustainable growth. I am thrilled to be able to share performance metrics for PSE-6s from live production networks now connecting many parts of the world.
Nokia and GlobalConnect showcase optical performance and scale
GlobalConnect operates the largest interconnected fibre network in Northern Europe, with more than 150,000km of trenched fibre. The company’s backbone connects to local networks and data centres in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Germany. In a real-world trial, it demonstrated that Nokia PSE-6s achieved 1.2Tbps over metro distances (118km) and 800Gbps over long-haul distances (2,019km) – in both cases using a single wavelength.
Nokia and Orange send 800Gbps across massive transatlantic route
The Orange Dunant transatlantic subsea cable is a unique hybrid terrestrial and subsea solution for wholesale customers. Orange teamed up with Nokia to provide a live trial using PSE-6s to transmit data across the Dunant cable. The result was error-free performance at 800Gbps over 6,600km. This demonstrated the ability to expand capacity and spectral efficiency of existing subsea cable systems, while reducing the number of coherent optics needed by 33%.
Nokia and Lyntia showcase an increase in capacity, reach and power efficiency
Lyntia, a large neutral host operator in Spain, plans to use our next-generation coherent optics in its live network to increase the capacity, reach and performance of its optical connections between Portugal and Spain. It carried out real-world PSE-6s demonstrations with Nokia, which included providing 1.2Tbps of capacity on a single wavelength between two data centre locations in and near Barcelona separated by a distance of 100km. In addition, Lyntia increased the reach of its 800Gbps wavelengths three-fold over prior technologies on a link from Barcelona to Lisbon, while decreasing network power consumption per bit by 60%.
Nokia and Colt partner to showcase increased capacity while lowering costs
Colt Technology Services successfully trialled Nokia’s PSE-6s to increase the scale and performance of its optical network. The company completed a long-haul production network trial that achieved 800Gbps of capacity per wavelength over a 1,500km network connecting Madrid in Spain to Lisbon in Portugal. This capability will enable Colt to dramatically increase its capacity and power efficiency while reducing the total cost of ownership.
Nokia and Windstream partner to trial 800GE service transmission
In December, Nokia and Windstream announced the successful trial of an 800-gigabit Ethernet (GE) service over a single 800Gbps wavelength across a 1,386km link on Windstream’s live network. The trial used Nokia FP5 IP service-routing platforms with 800GE interfaces and Nokia optical transport platforms with PSE-6s technology. Marking the first demonstration of its kind, this validates the readiness of Windstream Wholesale’s network to provide 800GE business and wholesale services to meet soaring customer traffic demands.
Nokia and Zayo partner to show transmission distance record
Nokia and Zayo successfully completed a live field trial of Nokia’s PSE-6s, demonstrating a world-first 1Tbps of transmission over 1,000km on Zayo’s route between Los Angeles and Phoenix. The companies also achieved a North American transmission record of 800Gbps over a single wavelength from Los Angeles to El Paso on a 1,866km link.
Nokia’s presence at Capacity Middle East 2024
I would welcome the opportunity to talk about any of the above trials in more detail at the show, as well as other live trials of Nokia’s PSE-6s such as those with Laser Light and Optus. Nokia will have a dedicated booth (#615), where we look forward to welcoming you and finding an opportunity to speak further.
At the show, please join Roque Lozano Barbero, vice president of network infrastructure, during the panel session ‘The convergence of connectivity and cloud networks’, taking place on Wednesday, 7 February from 10:15–11:05 AM GST at the Spotlight Stage in the Exhibition Hall – Network Transformation Track.
Let’s catch up at the event and discuss how we can cross these new optical frontiers together. Until then, if you’re looking for more information on Nokia, including on our super-coherent optics, please check out our solutions for webscale.
