Verizon to deploy 100 Gigabit Ethernet on Paris-to-Frankfurt route

NOVEMBER 11, 2010 By Stephen Hardy -- Verizon (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) says it will add 100 Gigabit Ethernet capabilities to its Paris-to-Frankfurt route before the end of the year. This is the same route on which it deployed 100-Gbps technology from Nortel (now owned by Ciena) late last year (see “Nortel unveils commercially available 100G optical system”).

Verizon will again leverage the 100G coherent-enabled technology from Ciena on the 893-km route, as well as routers from Juniper Networks. The carrier had included Juniper’s T1600 Core Router in a 100-Gbps field trial announced this past March (see “Verizon, Juniper, NEC, Finisar conduct 100G field trial”).

Alcatel-Lucent also has participated in a 100-Gigabit Ethernet field trial with Verizon in the U.S. this past June (see “Verizon trials 100-Gigabit Ethernet with Alcatel-Lucent”). Whether that proves a preview of coming attractions remains to be seen.

In an interview published in the June 2010 issue of Lightwave, Ihab Tarazi, vice president of global network planning for Verizon, expressed confidence that the carrier would be able to make the transition from 10-Gigabit Ethernet directly to 100-Gigabit Ethernet on Verizon’s European network.

“We have the ability to do 40G,” he explained in the interview. “But in reality, because most of the demand is driven by the IP connectivity, although some customer demand is there, the driver for 40G is probably not as strong as 100G. We feel comfortable that we’re going to be able to do 100G Ethernet directly into the IP routers, compared to 40G, where most of it is 40G SONET or SDH.”

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