“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.