6 Dec 2011

Feeding your bandwidth fix with 100G optical technology

By James Watt, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Optics activity.

Today, Alcatel-Lucent is announcing yet another milestone as we continue to expand our global leadership in 100G optical networking market.  This new breakthrough –- based on single-carrier coherent — can extend optical signals over distances far greater than has been possible before, even over poor quality fiber – so what does this mean to you and me?

Simply put – it will help feed your bandwidth fix. Of course when you open that shiny new iPad2 under your tree this holiday season or when you download that classic song to ring in the new year or finally catch up on the latest popular television show on demand, you aren’t thinking about optical transport technology – but trust me – it’s there. No matter where you are, eventually all that traffic – even mobile traffic – goes across an optical network.

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We have already been deploying 100G for a while now. We announced our 100G portfolio back in June of 2010. So far, we have 45 customer deployments and trials in every region of the world and that demand is growing.

Our new technology, based in part on Bell Labs innovations, allows optical signals (which tirelessly carry all of the stuff you want) to go 30% further. It will be another way for operators to keep pace with this seemingly endless demand.  I see three main trends and drivers in the market these days — first, massive growth in capacity, second an intense focus on cost and third a continued focus on availability meaning – we expect the network to be there when we need it and anything less is a failure.

If you still aren’t convinced about the demand think about this – while we are starting to recognize the impact of video we are just scratching the surface with emerging cloud based applications for both consumers and business.  However the cost to bring you everything you want and more can’t skyrocket with the demand. At the end of the day we will only agree to pay so much for our data “habit.”  This is even more reason why the optical network — the invisible part of the equation — has to go further than ever before and carrying more traffic, but at a lower and lower cost.

The technical explanation of optical networking may not be the easiest to understand but the challenge of doing more with less is something we all live with both at work and at home.  This workhorse is a part of the unseen chain of a global network that performs flawlessly to send the videos, powerpoints, music to wherever you want it to go, even halfway around the world. Its innovation that may not be seen in the palm of your hand – but it makes all that is in your palm a much more thrilling experience.

 
 

2 Responses to Feeding your bandwidth fix with 100G optical technology

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  1. roby says:
    February 26, 2012 at 12:16 PM

    ‘Our new technology, based in part on Bell Labs innovations’
    where/what is the other part?

    Thanks

    Reply
    • @lapeyrade says:
      February 28, 2012 at 8:51 AM

      Bell Labs innovations are complemented by engineering, supply chain development, manufacturing and close collaboration with customers to fully transform advanced technologies into commercial products.

      Reply

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