Europe gets its first TWDM-PON field trial

Vodafone is conducting what is claimed to be the first European field trial of a multi-wavelength passive optical networking system using access equipment from Alcatel-Lucent. 

Source: Alcatel-Lucent

The time- and wavelength-division multiplexed passive optical network (TWDM-PON) technology being used is a next-generation access scheme that follows on from 10 gigabit GPON (XG-PON1) and 10 gigabit EPON. 

“There appears to be much more 'real' interest in TWDM-PON than in 10G GPON,” says Julie Kunstler, principal analyst, components at Ovum. 

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Heading off the capacity crunch

Feature - Part 1: Capacity limits and remedies

Improving optical transmission capacity to keep pace with the growth in IP traffic is getting trickier. 

Engineers are being taxed in the design decisions they must make to support a growing list of speeds and data modulation schemes. There is also a fissure emerging in the equipment and components needed to address the diverging needs of long-haul and metro networks. As a result, far greater flexibility is needed, with designers looking to elastic or flexible optical networking where data rates and reach can be adapted as required.

Figure 1: The green line is the non-linear Shannon limit, above which transmission is not possible. The chart shows how more bits can be sent in a 50 GHz channel as the optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) is increased. The blue dots closest to the green line represent the performance of the WaveLogic 3, Ciena's latest DSP-ASIC family. Source: Ciena.

But perhaps the biggest challenge is only just looming. Because optical networking engineers have been so successful in squeezing information down a fibre, their scope to send additional data in future is diminishing. Simply put, it is becoming harder to put more information on the fibre as the Shannon limit, as defined by information theory, is approached.

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Alcatel-Lucent serves up x86-based IP edge routing

Alcatel-Lucent has re-architected its edge IP router functions - its service router operating system (SR OS) and applications - to run on Intel x86 instruction-set servers.

Shown is the VSR running on one server and distributed across several servers. Source: Alcatel-Lucent.

The company's Virtualized Service Router portfolio aims to reduce the time it takes operators to launch services and is the latest example of the industry trend of moving network functions from specialist equipment onto stackable servers, a development know as network function virtualisation (NFV).     

"It is taking IP routing and moving it into the cloud," says Manish Gulyani, vice president product marketing for Alcatel-Lucent's IP routing and transport business. 

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Colt's network transformation

Colt's technology and architecture specialist, Mirko Voltolini, talks to Gazettabyte about how the service provider has transformed its network from one based on custom platforms to an open, modular design.

It was obvious to Colt that something had to change. Its network architecture based on proprietary platforms running custom software was not sustainable; the highly customised network was cumbersome, resistant to change and expensive to run. The network also required a platform to be replaced -  or at least a new platform added alongside an existing one - every five to seven years.

Mirko Voltolini

"The cost of this approach is enormous," says Mirko Voltolini, vice president technology and architecture at Colt Technology Services. "Not just in money but the time it takes to roll out a new platform."

Instead, the service provider has sought a modular approach to network design using standardised platforms that are separated from each other. That way, a new platform with a better feature set or improved economics can be slotted in without impacted the other platforms. Colt calls its resulting network a modular multi-service platform (MSP).

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G.fast adds to the broadband options of the service providers

Feature: G.fast

Source: Alcatel-Lucent

Competition is commonly what motivates service providers to upgrade their access networks. And operators are being given every incentive to respond. Cable operators are offering faster broadband rates and then there are initiatives such as Google Fiber.

Internet giant Google is planning 1 Gigabit fibre rollouts in up to 34 US cities covering 9 metro areas. The initiative prompted AT&T to issue its own list of 21 cities it is considering to offer a 1 Gigabit fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service.

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Books in 2013 - Part 2

Alcatel-Lucent's President of Bell Labs and CTO, Marcus Weldon, on the history and future of Bell Labs, and titles for Christmas; Steve Alexander, CTO of Ciena, on underdogs, connectedness, and deep-sea diving; and Dave Welch, President of Infinera on how people think, and an extraordinary WWII tale: the second part of Books 2013.  

Steve Alexander, CTO of Ciena

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell. 

I’ve enjoyed some of Gladwell’s earlier works such as The Tipping Point and Outliers: The Story of Success. You often have to read his material with a bit of a skeptic's eye since he usually deals with people and events that are at least a standard deviation or two away from whatever is usually termed “normal.”

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Alcatel-Lucent dismisses Nokia rumours as it launches NFV ecosystem

Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, on a visit to Israel, talks Nokia, The Shift Plan and why service providers are set to regain the initiative.

Michel Combes, CEO. Photo: Kobi Kantor.

The CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, Michel Combes, has brushed off rumours of a tie-up with Nokia, after reports surfaced last week that Nokia's board was considering the move as a strategy option.

"You will have to ask Nokia," said Combes. "I'm fully focussed on the Shift Plan, it is the right plan [for the company]; I don't want to be distracted by anything else."

Combes was speaking at the opening of Alcatel-Lucent's cloud R&D centre in Kfar Saba, Israel, where the company's internal start-up CloudBand is developing cloud technology for carriers.

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