Orange achieves optical transmission of 250 Gigabits

Orange
Orange Poland has achieved optical transmission of 250 Gigabits per second (Gb/s) per wavelength over 870 km through its existing network infrastructure.

Orange reached the world record when it transmitted a six-carrier 1.5 Terabits per second (Tb/s) superchannel occupying a bandwidth of 300GHz between Warsaw and Wroclaw over standard single mode fiber.

A 25 percent increase in per-wavelength capacity over 200Gb/s, a 70 percent distance improvement vs comparable field trials and 250 percent increase in bandwidth over 100Gb/s networks using same amount of spectrum is the result of the demo.

Christian Gacon, vice president in charge of Orange’s transport networks, said: “Reaching these new heights in optical transmission proves we can meet bandwidth demand while maintaining the lowest cost per bit so our business can continue to flourish.”

The 250 percent increase in bandwidth over commonly deployed 100Gb/s networks using the same amount of spectrum showed the capability of Nokia technology.

Sam Bucci, head of Nokia’s Optical business, said: “Our photonic engine, the PSE2, and 500G muxponder and Orange’s network infrastructure, made this technical feat possible.”

The 1.5Tb/s superchannel is based on six carriers of 250Gb/s capacity each. With electrical speed 30 percent faster than current technology, the capacity is maximized while the channel spacing remains aligned with the 50 GHz ITU-T grid.

The field trial used 870km fiber link with flexible grid infrastructure and standarderbium-doped fiber amplification applied to 20dB spans of standard single mode fiber. The size of the superchannel and its 50GHz spacing between channels, which is the same as existing 100Gb/s channels, will ease network planning and operation.

Orange and Nokia also demonstrated with a real-time transponder a spectral efficiency of 5 bits/Hz with 250Gb/s in 50GHz over 870km by using 16QAM modulation format.

The new optical link could transmit up to 24Tb/s of traffic in total if 96 channels amplifiers were used.