ADVA Optical Networking provides 40G optical channel for VIOLA research project

JANUARY 23, 2007 -- ADVA Optical Networking has successfully deployed its Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 3000 in the German Research Network (Deutsches Forschungsnetz, DFN) within the framework of the Vertically Integrated Optical Testbed for Large Applications (VIOLA) research project.

Installed in the testbed, the optical system carries data for multiple services at a speed of 40 Gbits/sec. To deliver this performance, four 10-Gbit/sec Ethernet (10-GbE) signals were bundled on the 35-km test line between St. Augustin and Cologne, Germany. The ADVA FSP 3000 system then transfers the data over a single 40-Gbit/sec optical wavelength.

VIOLA is a collaborative project involving universities, research institutes, industrial companies, and the DFN organization. Its aim is to trial new network technologies and new forms of network intelligence in conjunction with integrated, high-end applications in an optical test environment, thereby delivering to its project partners a deeper technical understanding for future generations of networks. In the optical testbed created for the VIOLA project, high-speed data transfer was established to test and optimize grid-computing applications with high transmission rates. The testbed also enables complex simulations to be performed across multiple sites.

The ADVA FSP 3000 achieves transmission of four 10-GbE signals via a single 40-Gbit/sec wavelength using TDM technology. In addition, a WDM system provides further scalability for up to 80 wavelengths per fiber. As a result, a sole optical fiber can accommodate a large number of 40-Gbit/sec channels, explain company representatives. For example, 80 such channels would add up to a total capacity of 3.2 Tbits/sec -- more than enough to eliminate the bottlenecks inherent in many existing optical networks.

"ADVA Optical Networking has impressively demonstrated the capabilities of its 40-Gbit/sec solution in our research network," reports Ferdinand Hommes, project leader at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS). "We now have proof positive that sophisticated Nx 10-Gbit/sec and 40-Gbit/sec applications are a reality today, especially in a research context. Grid-computing applications are just one example," he says. "Others are complex scientific simulations and calculations for which computing power at different locations can now be pooled across high-speed optical networks."

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