Fastweb and Huawei have completed the deployment of 200-Gbps capabilities on the former’s Flexible Optical Network. The more than 2,300 km fiber-optic network link between Milan and the south of Sicily leverages Huawei’s Automatically Switched Optical Network (ASON) technology.
The collaborators launched the first Flexible Next Generation Optical Network initiative in September 2017, with a startup capacity of 2 Tbps covering more than 2,000 km nationwide. Fastweb unveiled 100-Gbps regeneration-free services over the 2,300-km Milan to South of Sicily route the following November. This past January, Fastweb added 200-Gbps regeneration-free services over an 800-km fiber network route between Milan and Rome. The Flexible Optical Network also connects major data centers and submarine landing stations in Italy, according to Huawei. Fastweb is using the fiber network infrastructure to serve the needs the wholesale and enterprise markets.
The ASON technology enables service-level differentiation, high-speed connectivity, and automatic re-routing of traffic in case of temporary interruption, says Huawei. The network uses colorless/directionless/contentionless/flexible grid backbone OTN WDM technology, optical-layer and electrical-layer ASON capabilities, programmable 100G/200G transmission, and built-in OTDR, the company adds.
“Fastweb Flexible Optical Network overall capacity has grown four-fold, overtaking 8 Tbps in less than 9 months. It is a confirmation of the quality and performance we can deliver through it, and a tangible proof of the high grade of flexibility to provide resiliency, scalability, and simplification for both the network itself and its provisioning and assurance processes. It is the cornerstone of the new era of Transport Services,” said Andrea Lasagna, CTO at Fastweb. “Through the long-term cooperation with Huawei, Fastweb aims to continue to evolve towards the strategic 400 Gbps by the end of 2018 and SDN automation to fully support the coming 5G era. We are in the field trial phase with the software-defined networking focusing on fast provisioning, automation and prediction first".
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