DE-CIX finishes 100G backbone fiber-optic network

Internet exchange DE-CIX says it has completed construction of the backbone network for its flagship DE-CIX Apollon platform. The fiber-optic network connects four supernodes and three feeder sites across the city of Frankfurt. The mesh network can support 100-Gbps transmission and has a total capacity of 12 Tbps.

The network will provide the foundation of DE-CIX’s new switching platform, which is expected to be ready for service in September 2013. ADVA Optical Networking has supplied its 4x28-Gbps metro 100G technology, housed within its FSP 3000 reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) platform, for the build (see “DE-CIX Internet exchange taps ADVA Optical Networking 100-Gbps metro platform”).

When DE-CX completes the roll out of 100-Gbps capability at the core and at the edge of its Ethernet interconnection platform, the DE-CIX Apollon network will include more than three hundred 100G ports. This will make it one of the largest metro networks in the world, DE-CIX asserts.

“With this robust 100G optical backbone now in place, DE-CIX sets the stage for delivery of advanced services and a rich feature-set for our customers, who demand only the best in performance, reliability, and scalability,” states Harald A. Summa, CEO for DE-CIX. “DE-CIX has experienced 50-100% increases in traffic each year for the past 15 years, and we expect this trend to continue. Because of this, we’ve built this future-proof platform that can be easily upgraded when the time is right to further extend advanced, high-performance capabilities to our clients.”

With the backbone in place, DE-CIX will now turn to attaching Alcatel-Lucent’s 7950 XRS core routers to it.

For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.