Ciena is powering Sprint 400G trial.

Sprint and Ciena performed the 400G trial last month in the Silicon Valley area using Sprint fiber infrastructure and Ciena’s 6500 with WaveLogic 3 cards; this high-capacity link operated without error.

The live 400G trial demonstrated the viability of using 400Gbps channels alongside existing channels carrying live customer traffic. As a result, Sprint foresees the opportunity to add a network equivalent of high-speed traffic lanes for customers with high-demand requirements.

“Customers have expressed their hunger for higher speed networks to support their substantial data needs, which we project will only continue to grow exponentially,” said Wayne Ward, vice president-Business and Product Development, Sprint.

“The 400Gbps trial demonstrates our ability to offer higher speeds with our existing fiber, which means that our customers can feel assured that our network is future-proofed to meet their needs as they evolve,” Ward added.

The delivery of 100G and 400G speeds will be critical as Sprint launches its Ethernet Wave Services and support a growing wireless infrastructure.

Until recently, the Sprint network offered wireline services at speeds of up to 10Gbps.

The trials demonstrated the viability of using innovative technology to achieve speeds up to 10 times faster (and up to 40 times faster in the future), without requiring costly network upgrades to Sprint’s robust fiber infrastructure.

“Service providers are increasingly challenged to satisfy surging demand for bandwidth-hungry services and applications,” said Francois Locoh-Donou, senior vice president-Global Products Group, Ciena.

Sprint Ethernet Wave Services will support 100Gbps speeds now, and Sprint expects to leverage Ciena’s coherent optical technology to support services operating at 400Gbps in the future.

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