KVH runs 400-Gbps field trial with Ciena

Japanese service provider KVH Co., Ltd., a Colt Group company, has successfully conducted what it claims is the first trial of 400-Gbps optical transmission in Japan. KVH partnered with Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) for the trial, which saw the use of Ciena's 6500 Packet-Optical Platform to transmit the dual-carrier 400-Gbps signal over a fiber-optic network link between Tokyo and Osaka.

KVH used previously installed 6500 systems, which the company used to launch the first commercial 100 Gigabit Ethernet service between the two cities. The trial leveraged a pair of 200-Gbps coherent optical transponders at each endpoint, creating a dual-carrier 400-Gbps wavelength based on DP-16QAM that ran alongside existing 100-Gbps signals using DP-QPSK.

Uniadex, Ltd. constructed the test environment and verified the operational processes and results.

"This field trial provided a significant opportunity for KVH and Ciena to collaborate and lead technological advancement in the field of optical networking," explained Yoshiyuki Hamada, vice president, systems and technology at KVH. "The achievement of these networking speeds between Tokyo and Osaka will draw these two key markets even closer and facilitate greater data sharing and collaboration. For KVH, we will continue to be an innovator in the development of Ethernet services, and the success of this trial together with our past experience demonstrates our ability to support 400GbE today as a backbone network."

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