Cable&Wireless Worldwide (CWW) will deploy Infinera’s new DTN-X platform for its Europe Persia Express Gateway (EPEG) network. The selection represents a major win for Infinera and its multi-terabit class Digital Optical Network solution with super-channel capability.
Cable&Wireless Worldwide's forthcoming EPEG network will provide geographic diversity and high-capacity for network traffic between Europe, the Middle East and India. Currently, the majority of traffic traverses fiber running through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. The route could be a single point of failure impacting multiple cable systems should a natural disaster or manmade event occur in this narrow channel.
EPEG will stretch approximately 10,000 kms from Frankfurt in Germany to Oman with the unique attribute of having only 246 kms of undersea cable and all other routes terrestrial. Cable&Wireless Worldwide has a number of partners collaborating on this project.
CWW’s multiterabit EPEG optical network will use Infinera’s Digital Optical Network solution, powered by Infinera’s DTN-X, which includes the latest 500 Gbps photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The Infinera DTN-X delivers 500 Gb/s FlexCoherent super-channels and is upgradeable to 1 Tbps super-channels in the future, providing scalability with investment protection. The platform integrates 5 Tbps of OTN switching which will enable CWW to efficiently converge layers of the network resulting in reduced capital and operational expenses. Furthermore, Infinera’s intelligent GMPLS automation software will enable CWW to rapidly provision highly-reliable low-latency services, including 100 Gbps Ethernet, making it highly competitive across the Europe to Asia route.
“We believe that the Europe Persia Express Gateway is an important international network development as it will be providing high capacity, diverse connectivity from the Middle East Region to Europe," said Rick Perry, vice president international planning at Cable&Wireless Worldwide. "Infinera's solution is helping to underpin that development."http://www.infinera.com
- In September 2011, Infinera introduced its third generation, 500 Gbps photonic integrated circuit (PIC) -- the foundation for its new DTN-X multi-terabit switching platform designed for scaling core networks. The 500 Gbps PIC integrates more than 600 optical functions and works by converting light waves into electrical circuits, which can then be switched and groomed with digital signal processing.
The DTN-X combines three core functions-- a) a DWDM transmission system, offering 500 Gig super-channels based upon 100 Gig coherent channels, b) an OTN switch that scales from 5 Tbps non-blocking at ODU 0 today to 100-terabit non-blocking in the future; and c) a platform that can be upgraded to MPLS in the future.
Infinera believes that these key innovations will lead to the next economic disruption in the network, as very large pools of bandwidth can now be easily created, directed and managed across a fiber network. The 500 Gbps super-channel capability is unique in the industry and Infinera plans to support 1 Tbps super-channels in the future with another new PIC which is already in the lab.
The DTN-X combines PICs, custom ASICs and GMPLS software to deliver 5 Tbps of non-blocking, ITU G.709 Optical Transport Network (OTN) switching in a single bay for grooming traffic onto larger 100 Gbps and 500 Gbps pipes to maximize network utilization. Future iterations of the platform will be upgradeable to resilient multi-bay configurations providing 100 Tbps of non-blocking OTN and MPLS switching.
The embedded GMPLS software provides automatic topology discovery an inventory management. It also enables point and click end-to-end service provisioning, as well as <50ms hardware based protection for mesh & ring configurations.
The new DTN-X is interoperable with Infinera's existing DTN platform and is planned to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE), 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40 GbE), 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100 GbE), 10 Gbps SONET/SDH/OTN, 40 Gbps SONET/SDH/OTN, 100 Gbps OTN, 8/10 Gbps Fibre Channel, and multiple bit rate clear-channel interfaces.
