Banverket ICT and Nortel trial 40G/100G on live fibre network
16 APRIL 2009 -- Swedish network service provider Banverket ICT has completed a successful live field trial, running 10G/40G/100G simultaneously on its existing fibre network between Sundsvall and Stockholm, using Nortel (search Lightwave for Nortel) adaptive optics technology. The trial, completed on April 2, 2009, over a total fibre distance of 810 km, is reportedly the first live trial of its kind in the Nordic region.
Banverket ICT provides network services for Banverket, the authority responsible for Sweden's railways (which operates a transport and communications network running alongside the country's 13,000-km rail network), and also sells extra capacity to major service providers, government agencies, and companies such as Sweden's largest cable TV operator, Com Hem.
The trial demonstrated that Nortel's 10G/40G/100G scalable system significantly increased the variety and reach of Banverket ICT's flexible capacity network services. The company currently offers network bandwidth ranging from 2 Mbps to 10 Gbps to provide businesses in Sweden with access to superfast capacity services. Nortel says its 40G and 100G capabilities can help enable Banverket ICT to meet future customer demand for more bandwidth without making major infrastructure changes.
"A 100G upgrade positions Banverket ICT to offer customers the secure wavelength capacity they need, when they need it on the network," says Thomas Sjöstrand, manager, technical and network strategy, Banverket ICT. "Also, in Sweden's rural areas, access to low-cost transport which is futureproofed with 100G per wavelength can have a major impact because with 100G we can eventually offer universal broadband access across Sweden at speeds that are currently only available in metropolitan areas."
"Making broadband access more widely available is great," adds Jan Fahlén, CEO, Banverket ICT. "Our customers supply services to small to medium-sized and home-based businesses. Enhancing our optical and metro backbone means we can, when business demands, deliver broadband speeds fast enough for applications such as online ordering, downloading of videos, and sending of large graphic files."
The live 100G trial used Nortel's 40G/100G Adaptive Optics Engine to test a mix of 10G, 40G, and 100G wavelengths over an existing 10G engineered link of five spans without regenerators or external fibre compensators. The tests showed successful 100G operation under fibre stress conditions that would occur under normal operations without using adaptive optics. Banverket ICT already delivers 10G services in Sweden; both parties say the trial has shown that the company's optical network can be scaled simply and cost-effectively from 10G to 40G and 100G.
"Leading carriers like Banverket ICT are looking for quick and cost-effective ways to unlock the potential of their existing fibre networks as they see the opportunity to reduce the cost for services or meet the new demands for 40G and 100G services," says Peter Newcombe, vice president, carrier networks, Nortel EMEA. "In Europe, the number of 100G trials that Nortel can currently conduct is limited only by our ability to move test equipment from site to site quickly."
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