Verizon unveils new optical network strategy

Verizon (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) has confirmed its intension to deploy 100-Gbps in its metro networks, as well as strengthen its network control plane, as part of an announcement covering its upcoming global optical network initiatives.

Ihab Tarazi, vice president of global IP and transport planning and technology for Verizon, told attendees at the OSA Executive Forum this past March that he expected to begin rolling out 100-Gbps technology in the metro next year (see “Verizon looking at 100G in the metro next year”). Tarazi said that Verizon would use dual-polarization quadrature phase-shift keying (DP-QPSK) with coherent detection, rather than the 4x28-Gbps technology several vendors have suggested would be a lower-cost approach (see, for example, this video interview with Christoph Glingener of ADVA Optical Networking). Tarazi said he was interested in having a common approach to 100 Gbps in the metro and long haul portions of Verizon’s network.

Meanwhile, the control plane upgrade will come in the form of the Optical Transport Network (OTN) capabilities in the Ciena 5430 Reconfigurable Switching System Verizon is deploying in its network. (In fact, both initiatives are good news for Ciena, which is also Verizon’s primary supplier of 100-Gbps technology.) Verizon says the OTN functionality will enable it to extend its mesh architecture initiatives.

“By combining our expanded control plane capabilities with extended 100G technology, Verizon is building the network of the future,” Tarazi said via a Verizon press release. “It’s no longer about miles and scope. It’s about leveraging strategies that further enable us to deliver the promise of cloud-based and mobility-enabled industry solutions.”