SEPTEMBER 1, 2010 -- Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) has expanded its portfolio of low-latency technology, including both Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 10GbE cards for its CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform. Combining the low-latency hardware, latency-optimized optical line systems, specialized professional services, and the ability to provide detailed performance metrics per wavelength at all locations for proactive service management results in a fast, reliable network with unrivalled execution speed, Ciena asserts. (For more on low-latency network techniques, see "Breaking barriers to low latency" from the June 2010 issue of Lightwave.)
With the recent availability and updates to the 2RS 1GbE and Quad 10-T 10GbE cards on the CN 4200, Ciena says it has signed up a variety of customers with low latency requirements. These customers range from a multi-billion dollar global investment banking, securities, and investment management firm to multiple electronic trading firms, Ciena says, listing Australian Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Korea Exchange, and NYSE Euronext as customers in the financial services sector. The customers are located in traditional global financial centers, such as New York, Chicago, and London, as well as emerging trading hubs in Stockholm and Frankfurt.
“An electronic trader could have the lowest latency trading connection in a market, but if the network is down or impaired the transaction will not go through and they lose revenue. For a risk-sensitive market that needs to capitalize on fractions of microseconds, that opportunity cost is too high,” said Dimple Amin, vice president, engineering – metro transport & enterprise, at Ciena. “Unlike competitive vendors that sacrifice reliability and performance monitoring to reduce latency, Ciena combines low latency packet-optical transport equipment and line systems with performance monitoring and specialized professional services for a comprehensive network solution that features both ultra-low latency and high-availability.”
Ciena’s low-portfolio includes:
- 2RS 1GbE and Quad 10-T 10GbE transponders for the CN 4200 to interconnect trading platforms across optical networks
- Multiple options for optical amplifiers, regenerators, and dispersion compensation to reduce latency across fiber spans.
- Intelligent software to see service performance metrics per wavelength at all locations to detect “soft” failures, such as aging lasers or a pinched fiber, and quickly isolate them before they affect trade execution.
- Consultative services to design, manage and optimize networks for ultra low latency on an ongoing basis, along with 24x7x365 on-site or remote network monitoring.
