Huawei successfully completes a 2 TB/s WDM fiber optic transmission field test

The transmission speed achieved is twenty times that currently offered by commercial systems, and would be equivalent to downloading 40 HD videos in one second.

Huawei, together with the European operator Vodafone, has announced the success of a pilot test for fiber optic transmission at 2 Terabits per second on the Vodafone live network. This experience, carried out at more than 3,325 km, opens the door to data transmission at a speed of up to 20 times the capacity of currently commercially available systems at 100 Gbit/s, which would be equivalent to a download speed equivalent to 40 HD videos in one second. This marks an important step for the advancement of optical transmission technology beyond 100G.

Traffic on service providers' backbone networks is growing exponentially, spurring commercial deployment of 100G and drawing attention to optical transmission beyond 100G.

Leveraging innovative technologies such as flex ODSP, super SD-FEC and flexible format modulation, this field test has achieved a record for a transmission distance of 1,500 km with a high spectral efficiency solution based on super-channel PDM-16QAM, and a second record for a transmission distance of 3,325 km using an ultra-long-range solution based on super-Nyquist PDM-QPSK. Both transmissions occurred on a link with G.652 fibers and EDFA fiber amplifiers without electrical regeneration. The link used in this test was the backbone of Vodafone's network, passing through some cities in central and southern Germany.

Jack Wang, president of Huawei's transmission product line, highlighted that "we are at the forefront of global 100G deployments and take the lead in providing innovations in key technologies beyond 100G. Through collaboration with Vodafone and other R&D-intensive international operators, Huawei is always ready to create advanced optical networks for its customers.

To help customers optimize their overall technical architectures and adopt the new generation of broadcast networks, Huawei conducted the world's first field trial for 2T WDM and a pan-European 400G field trial in 2012, revealing a series of achievements in scientific research for optical transmission. According to Ovum, Huawei leads the ranking of the WDM / OTN, 40G, 100G and optical networks markets in the third quarter of 2012.