France Telecom-Orange and Alcatel-Lucent deploy world's first live 400 Gbps-per-wavelength optical l

Following a successful field trial, a 400 Gbps wavelength optical link is now operational between Paris and Lyon. The link, which was deployed within France Telecom-Orange's operational environment, represents a groundbreaking milestone for long-distance terrestrial network technology.

With capacity four times higher than the maximum bandwidth currently available and using 44 wavelengths, the new optical link can transmit up to 17.6 Terabits per second (Tbps) of traffic in total. 

The achievement reflects France Telecom-Orange's commitment to sustainably raising its network performance to meet the growing need for high-capacity bandwidth and additional flexibility needs for its mass market and business customers. 

RENATER, the Public Interest Group that manages the telecommunications network for “Technology, Teaching and Research” institutions in France and that is a customer of Orange Business Services, will be the first to test the functionality of this technological development in a real-life situation.

Patrick Donath, Managing Director of RENATER, said his firm planned to test this optical fiber link in real conditions by using it to route traffic across one of RENATER’s main backbone arteries between Paris and Lyon.

“This link transports the bulk of France's scientific data that passes through our network,” Donath said.

.”This pilot phase also aims to test the latest switching equipment supplied by major OEMs on a network running at this capacity and will enable us the anticipate the architecture of RENATER's network in the coming years. A 400 Gbps network is an important step forward for the networks and research projects of tomorrow."

Didier Duriez, Senior Vice President International and Backbone Networks Factory at France Telecom-Orange, said the breakthrough would considerably increase the capacity of his firm’s fibre optic network linking the two largest economic regions in France.

“By deploying a 400 Gbps link, France Telecom-Orange is continuing its investment in the development of super-fast infrastructure to support the emergence of new uses, such as multimedia content, social networking and the cloud, and to guarantee transmission quality while keeping costs down," Duriez said.

Sebastien Laurent, President and Managing Director at Alcatel-Lucent (Thailand) Co, Ltd said the new 400G transmission capacity could meet rising demands in Thailand.

“While Thailand is investing in 3G super-fast infrastructure, Thai people are excited to use multimedia and digital contents. The demand for high capacity optical transmission networks, therefore, seems endless. Today in Thailand, carriers are in the process of adopting latest technologies, like 100G and 400G transmission to meet this demand, and equally importantly, introducing “intelligent” optical equipment to protect their network better against real life issues like multiple fiber cuts. Our customers’ customer experience is really our focus to enable new digital economy model,” Laurent said.