Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Nokia and Orange achieve 800G on 6,600km Dunant subsea cable

Orange achieved a record 800 Gbps per wavelength transmission over the 6,600 km Dunant transatlantic subsea cable using the Nokia PSE-6s super coherent optics productized in the Nokia 1830 Photonic Services Interconnect – Modular (PSI-M). 

In the trial, Orange and Nokia demonstrated error-free performance at 800G over a 6,600km link between the cable landing stations at Virginia Beach, U.S. and St Hilaire de Riez, France and at 700G over a total link distance of 7,345km from Virginia Beach to Paris. The terrestrial links consisted of 9 spans of Orange’s existing fiber network, through multiple cascaded reconfigurable optical add/drop multipliers (ROADMs), using 150GHz WDM spectrum channels.

The trial, which was conducted under real-world network conditions, validates a planned upgrade of the Orange long-haul network using Nokia’s PSE-6s super coherent optics. It demonstrates the ability to expand the capacity and spectral efficiency of existing subsea cable systems while reducing the number of coherent optics needed by 33% and lowering total power consumption compared with existing coherent optics.

The introduction of the PSE-6 super coherent capabilities across the Nokia 1830 portfolio enables high-performance, spectrally efficient transport of high-speed services across long-haul, ultra-long haul and trans-oceanic networks spanning multiple 1000s of kilometers.

Jean-Louis Le Roux, Vice President International Networks at Orange, said: “This trial demonstrates OINIS’ commitment to supporting ever-greater network scale and new high-bandwidth services across our global network, which combined with our subsea networks truly connects the whole world. We are pleased to validate Nokia’s latest generation of super coherent optics as an important enabler to these continuous network upgrades, with high spectral efficiency, sustainability and operational deployment flexibility.”

James Watt, Head of the Optical Networks Division at Nokia, said: “We are very pleased with the success of Nokia’s high-performance PSE-6s in this trial and delighted to continue to work with Orange in support of their network upgrade plans. As data volumes grow unabated worldwide, innovation in optical networks is critical to stay far ahead of the curve. The PSE-6 super-coherent optics supercharge the Nokia optical portfolio, delivering massive network scale and service reach while ensuring sustainable growth with power-efficiency.”