Ciena's Waveserver integrates high-performance optical networking with an open, web-scale IT toolset to tackle scalability and operational challenges often associated with connecting data centers. Operators can use Waveserver to interconnect data centers or to connect enterprise customers to the cloud. Since its launch in May 2015, it has been used in more than 30 customer engagements, including major Internet content providers, carrier neutral providers, MSOs, service providers and other data center operators.
Waveserver provides two wavelengths of 200 Gbps using 16-QAM modulation and can be configured for longer distances with QPSK and 8-QAM. One Waveserver provides up to a total of 400 Gbps of wavelength capacity, which is equal to downloading 12 two-hour HD movies in 1 second. It can scale up to 25 Tbps per fiber.
Ciena says Waveserver is highly programmable. It offers open APIs, virtual emulation and a testing environment (Emulation Cloud) so that MSOs and developers can create apps and scripts to operate and manage Waveserver networks.
From a technical perspective, Waveserver's stackable interconnect system combines a coherent chipset with a data center operations model for cost-effective, web-scale Data Center Interconnect (DCI) applications. It was designed to provide a server-like experience for web-scale applications and provides simple, scalable metro DCI in a rack-and-stack 1RU form factor.