Ciena details WaveLogic coherent optical processors for 40G/100G

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) has offered details of its WaveLogic coherent optical processors, the chips that support 40-Gbps and 100-Gbps coherent transmission inside Ciena’s long-haul and submarine optical systems. The latest generation of the chipset – WaveLogic T2 and R2 – is currently shipping inside Ciena’s ActivFlex 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and will be shipping inside the ActivSpan 4200 Advanced Services Platform by mid-year, with other platforms planned for later in the year, the company says.

Ciena says that its coherent chip development has focused on improving network economics and offering more flexible architectures. The company asserts its WaveLogic processors provide cost-effective mitigation of optical impairments and enable carriers to take advantage of their existing optical infrastructures to scale fiber-optic network capacity quickly and easily.

Future versions of the WaveLogic coherent optical processors will implement integrated coherent digital signal processors (DSP) for both transmit and receive as well as soft-decision forward error correction (FEC), Ciena adds.

“The development of coherent optics has significantly increased optical performance and reduced the complexity and costs of deploying 40G and 100G data rates in carrier networks,” said Ron Kline, principal analyst, network infrastructure at Ovum. “The technology has quickly become a critical feature for network operators and provides a distinct competitive advantage for suppliers with proven deployment records.”

Ciena says it currently has 40G or 100G coherent deployments with more than 70 service providers and network operators, representing more than 5,565,000 coherent km of infrastructure.

At OFC/NFOEC in Los Angeles, March 8-10, Ciena says it will show 400G performance data from a 400G demonstration and a video from a Terabit demonstration from a customer event held in October 2010 that are powered by pre-production versions of future WaveLogic coherent optical processors.

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