Ciena announced that Sprint is upgrading its optical backbone network with Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform.
The updated network, powered exclusively by Ciena, will enable Sprint to enhance transport network scalability, cost and performance. It will also enable Sprint to support growing demand for wireless and wireline high-speed data service offerings, reaching core network speeds of 40G and 100G today with the ability to scale to 400G and beyond in the future.
By deploying Ciena’s 6500 Packet Optical Platform with WaveLogic coherent technology, Sprint can easily increase network capacity ensuring the ability to add 100G wavelengths, 400G wavelengths and beyond without the need for a major network redesign. Additionally, the 6500 supports multiple chassis sizes to cost-effectively address transport requirements from the edge to the core across a single converged infrastructure.
Sprint and Ciena are planning a 400G field trial for early 2013. The trial will enable Sprint to check the feasibility of using 400 Gbps channels on systems already carrying live customer traffic, and to demonstrate that the network will be able to support very high-speed traffic needs in the future on the existing fiber plant.
“Sprint, like Ciena, has viewed the use of advanced fiber optics as a strategic resource from its early days; however the conversation around end-user benefits has evolved from the sound quality of voice networks to the need for massively scalable data service networks. Today’s service provider needs an unconstrained network to support the exponential data growth, while leveraging existing hardware and fiber investments,” said Philippe Morin, SVP of Global Field Operations, Ciena