France Telecom-Orange and Alcatel-Lucent today announced the deployment of a 400G wavelength optical link today. With the actual deployment of 100G now starting to gather a bit of actual steam, I suppose it’s time for the next big thing to start stealing the spotlight.
This particular 400G trial is between Paris and Lyon, and with 44 such wavelengths the total potential capacity would work out to be some 17.6Tbps per fiber. The public interest group RENATER will be testing the capabilities of the link as one of its main backbone arteries for scientific data.
That 400G seems to be the choice for the next level of optical technology is still a bit odd to me after 40G’s limited lifespan has become quite clear. I suppose 400G is just much easier as an extension of 100G technology than trying for 1Tbps links would be just now, but I can’t help but wonder if a year or two from now we’re again talking about how 1Tbps waves will leapfrog 400G.
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Paris to Lyon?
That’s just a hop-skip.
Not like crossing the Pacific…. 400G waves = no chance.