Ciena Announces WaveLogic 3 Technology

Ciena Corporation, the network specialist, announced WaveLogic 3, the industry’s first software-programmable coherent technology that scales to 400 Gb/s. This new generation of the company’s family of silicon chips will enable service providers to accelerate the move to dynamic, software-defined Terabit networking while improving network economics. Beyond scaling bandwidth and lowering costs, WaveLogic-powered networks can be programmed to quickly respond and adapt to changing requirements for capacity, reach and latency.

The new technology that underpins Ciena’s WaveLogic 3 changes the game in optical networking by making the optical layer more intelligent and responsive to application needs—an increasingly critical requirement in today’s dynamic and cloud-centric networks.

WaveLogic 3 adds unprecedented intelligence to networks with software-programmable technology that enables network operators to constantly monitor optical transmission performance, and rapidly respond to network demands. WaveLogic 3 will help optimise existing optical networks for a wide range of applications—including low latency—over metro, ultra-long haul or trans-Pacific submarine distances, at speeds that scale from 100 Gb/s to 400 Gb/s.

Ciena’s new coherent optical processors help service providers extract more capacity out of existing fiber optic cables to facilitate transport of today’s increasingly bandwidth-hungry applications, improving network economics. WaveLogic 3 can carry multiple 100G payloads in metro and regional environments, doubling the capacity of current 100G networks. Using sophisticated transmitter processing, it can also deliver up to 30 percent capacity improvements in new flexible grid environments, providing customers with an efficient migration path to Terabit networking.

Network operators can quickly turn up services as needs change, or even pre-deploy equipment powered by WaveLogic 3, to achieve optimised performance for different reach, capacity and latency requirements with minimal network disruption. This flexibility gives service providers a way to differentiate themselves to customers, and allows them to accelerate time to revenue while lowering the cost of transport.

“As the leading provider of coherent optical technology worldwide, we have years of real-world experience providing us an intimate view of today’s 100G networks in operation. We know what works and have taken these learnings and combined them with the feedback from our customers as to how our coherent technology should be improved to deliver even greater speed, capacity, flexibility and reach. With WaveLogic 3, we are changing the game in optical networking by offering a programmable, coherent optical solution that reflects this knowledge, and builds on it to offer unprecedented levels of network intelligence and capacity. Ciena’s latest enhancements to WaveLogic 3 will equip service providers to scale their networks to meet the intense bandwidth requirements of cloud computing and other data-intensive applications, remotely, with a network that is easily programmed to scale across metropolitan areas, continents or oceans offering huge cost savings and competitive advantage,” said Steve Alexander, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Ciena.