NTT Communications to deploy 400-Gbps data center interconnect

NTT Communications Corp. (NTT Com) says it plans to begin deploying 400-Gbps transmission systems for data center interconnect on April 14. The upgrade, based on DSP technology developed by NTT R&D, will increase the capacity of NTT Com's core fiber-optic network above 19 Tbps per fiber while saving energy and space, NTT Com asserts.

The systems use a disaggregated design that is software-defined network (SDN) friendly. They will support such Optical Transport Network (OTN) interfaces as OTU2, OTU2e and OTU4, mainly for wholesalers and data center users, as well as 400 Gigabit Ethernet incorporating framing technology compatible with OTUCn, also based on NTT's R&D. The DSP, based on 16-nm CMOS technology, will support 16QAM coherent transmission with the ability to use multiple sub-carriers. NTT and NTT Com conducted a successful field trial of the technology in 2015.

Overall, the new optical transport systems should decrease energy consumption per bit/second by 75% and space requirements by 80% versus its previous optical network equipment. NTT Com believes. The network operator did not say who will supply the new hardware, although Fujitsu and its 1FINITY line would be a possibility based on the hardware description NTT Com provided.

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