UPDATED: Verizon (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) has announced a U.S. deployment of coherent 100-Gbps technology on its U.S. backbone network. The service provider says it plans to deploy the technology, from Ciena, on more than 10 routes in 2011.
The use of 100-Gbps technology, based on dual-polarization quadrature phase-shift keying (DP-QPSK) with coherent detection, significantly reduces latency as well as increasing fiber capacity and controlling costs, Verizon says.
"We're seeing not only growth in traffic, but also in the need for immediacy from our customers that are managing financial transactions, health care data exchange, energy services and entertainment on-the-go," said Ihab Tarazi, vice president of global network planning at Verizon. "With 100G, Verizon will be able to help meet those demands more efficiently and with better performance."
Verizon did not disclose which routes would receive the 100-Gbps upgrades. However, it announced in March that it would add 100-Gigabit Ethernet capabilities to three routes in the U.S.:
- Chicago to New York
- Los Angeles to Sacramento
- Minneapolis to Kansas City.
These routes would see deployment of Juniper Network routers and Ciena's 6500 Family of packet-optical transport platforms (see "Verizon to deploy 100 Gbps on three U.S. routes").
Verizon has used a similar combination of platforms and suppliers to deploy what it asserts is the first standards-based, multivendor 100-Gigabit Ethernet link for an IP backbone on a portion of the company's European network between Paris and Frankfurt (see "Verizon completes first 100 Gigabit Ethernet deployment on European IP backbone link"). Before that, Verizon deployed 100-Gbps transport capabilities on the link, using equipment from Nortel. Ciena subsequently bought that product line (among others) from the bankrupt Nortel.
"We've reached the inflection point where 100G makes sense from a network perspective as well as a technology and a cost perspective," said Tarazi.