Ciena laid claim to a milestone in 100G networking – the first true, single wavelength 100G optical transmission.

Ciena said it electrically combined 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) signals from switches in the Caltech exhibit area onto a single wavelength for transmission over Ciena’s CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform, then returned the separated 10 GbE signals back to Caltech’s booth during the Supercomputing Conference 2008 in late November.

The transmission featured an actual line rate of 112 Gbps and a true 100 Gbps OTN-framed payload using enhanced forward error correction (EFEC).

Previous 100G tests, Ciena explained, either combined two 40G optical signals or inversely multiplexed 10G optical signals.

According to Professor Harvey Newman of Caltech, head of the high energy physics team and chair of the U.S. Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Users Organization’s Executive Committee: “The collaborative efforts of Ciena and our Caltech-led high energy physics team represent a critical milestone in the industry’s roadmap for transitioning from 10G to 100G links, particularly across existing transoceanic fiber spans. Faster link transmission of this kind allows, for example, Caltech and researchers from CERN to instantly share critical data associated with the LHC project by increasing the capacity and efficiency of the U.S. Large Hadron Collider Network (USLHCNet). In particular, we hope developments such as these will afford physicists and students throughout the world the opportunity to participate directly in the LHC program, and potentially make important scientific discoveries.”

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