Ciena announced Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 will support up to 1.6Tb/s single-carrier wavelengths for metro ROADM deployments, 800Gb/s over the longest links, and energy-efficient 800G pluggables across 1000km distances.

Ciena is the pioneer in coherent optical technology, and the first to bring coherent 40G, 100G, 400G and 800G to the industry.

“We continue to set the standard in optical transport and push the limits of innovation by creating solutions that significantly reduce cost per bit, improve network performance, and drive energy efficiency,” Scott McFeely, Senior Vice President, Global Products and Services, Ciena, said in a news statement.

Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) solution integrates new coherent DSP innovations to provide the highest capacity over fiber, supporting 1.6Tb/s single-carrier wavelengths for metro ROADM networks, 800Gb/s across the longest links, and 15 percent improvement in spectral efficiency compared to the previous generation.

Ciena’s WL6e will deliver significant economic benefits, including a 50 percent reduction in space and power per bit compared to Ciena’s 800G technology today. WL6e is the first coherent optical solution operating at 200GBaud. WL6e will maximize coverage of 800Gb/s connectivity across networks.

WaveLogic 6 Nano (WL6n), Ciena’s footprint-optimized solution, powers 400G-800G coherent pluggables to drive cost, power, and space efficiencies in 400G long-haul and 800G metro/regional applications, as well as interoperable 800ZR DCI applications. WL6n can deliver a fit-for-purpose 800LR design, bringing coherent technology inside the data center campus for the first time.

The telecom equipment maker said WaveLogic has delivered 20 times more capacity over fiber and more than 85 percent reduction in Watts/Gbps for Ciena customers — since its introduction in 2008.

Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 will be available in the first half of 2024. WL6 will be supported across a range of Ciena’s optical and routing and switching platforms. WL6 will also be made available for use in third-party solutions.

Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 technology has enabled Bell Canada to offer 400GE services to its wide range of customers and provide them with the ability to move massive amounts of data to the cloud.

“Bell’s network is WaveLogic 6 ready and we look forward to the service delivery efficiencies that come with 800 Gigabit per second connectivity,” Nicholas Payant, Vice President Operation Services and Core Network, Bell Canada, said.

At OFC 2021, Meta challenged the suppliers to deliver a 50 percent power/bit reduction and a doubling of bandwidth/channel in Gen 6 transponder by 2024-25.

“These advances are critical to support our future network expansions. Based on Ciena’s announcement today, it looks like they are on track to meet these targets with WaveLogic 6,”Gaya Nagarajan, Vice President of Engineering, Meta, said.

“With WL6e performance simulations showing 1Tb/s wavelength transmission across 12,000km links in our network, we are already looking forward to announcing another networking world first,” Laurie Miller, President & CEO, Southern Cross, said.

“Ciena ups the ante in the delivery of high-performance coherent solutions, using advanced technology and high bandwidth electro-optics, with WaveLogic 6, which is expected to be the first 1.6Tbps wavelength transmitted over a single carrier,” Jimmy Yu, Vice President, Dell’Oro Group, said.