ADVA delivers 300G over trans-Atlantic FSP 3000 TeraFlex trial

Unique submarine demo transports data 6,800km using commercially available transponder

ADVA has announced that its FSP 3000 CloudConnect™ TeraFlex™ has succeeded in transporting 300Gbit/s of data per wavelength over a 6,800km fiber link. Conducted alongside ADVA’s partner Acacia Communications, Inc., the trial was the first in the industry to cover the trans-Atlantic distance with a fiber link typical of a cost-optimized submarine cable using 300Gbit/s channels and a commercially available transponder with real-time digital signal processing (DSP).

The demo, which also achieved the highest spectral efficiency for such a link carrying 300Gbit/s per wavelength with 70GHz channel spacing, highlights the capabilities of the ADVA FSP 3000 TeraFlex™ solution to support flexible, ultra-high-capacity, long-haul and subsea data transport.

“This lab trial proves the power of our FSP 3000 TeraFlex™ to deliver scalable long-haul data transmission with the highest spectral density at the lowest cost-per-bit. It shows subsea and intercontinental network operators that our solution is an ideal choice for transporting enormous amounts of data with the utmost flexibility in symbol rate, modulation format, and channel spacing to maximize the capacity of any given network,” said Sorin Tibuleac, director, system architecture, R&D, ADVA. “We’ve already shown that our FSP 3000 TeraFlex™ supports the growing bandwidth needs of metro DCI infrastructure with successful 600Gbit/s trials. Now we’re proving what it can do over the world’s longest links. What makes this trial so significant is that it leverages a commercially available solution that can be configured to achieve the highest capacity on any distance from inter-data center connections to inter-continental links. To accomplish that over a fiber cable with trans-Atlantic reach is a truly unique achievement.”

“This trial broadens the horizons of what can be achieved over great distance in terms of capacity and modulation flexibility.”
Christian Rasmussen, founder and VP, digital signal processing and optics, Acacia Communications.

The trial network featured ADVA’s open and vendor-neutral FSP 3000 TeraFlex™ technology. This solution delivers 36 bidirectional 100Gbit/s Ethernet services in a 1RU chassis and can transport up to 600Gbit/s on a single wavelength. With its modular design, the FSP 3000 TeraFlex™ provides unprecedented flexibility and scale, giving operators complete control over modulation format, symbol rate and channel spacing. By leveraging this truly multi-haul solution they can finely tune the balance between distance and capacity to meet their precise needs. The ADVA FSP 3000 TeraFlex™ maximizes the transmission capacity for any given fiber link, from access networks to links spanning submarine distances. What’s more, as TeraFlex™ is part of the ADVA FSP 3000 CloudConnect™ platform, it’s completely open and programmable. It also delivers real-time telemetry streaming – a prerequisite for big databased network management.

“Triggered by increasing demand for data driven by cloud-based services, we’re seeing a significant expansion in long-haul and subsea cable networks. This trial broadens the horizons of what can be achieved over great distance in terms of capacity and modulation flexibility,” commented Christian Rasmussen, founder and VP, digital signal processing and optics, Acacia Communications. “With the ADVA FSP 3000 TeraFlex™ platform, which incorporates the suite of advanced performance features in our Pico coherent DSP, we’re helping to enable network operators to upgrade existing infrastructure to support higher density at lower power. We believe this trial gives a major boost not only to long-haul and submarine network operators but also to cloud-content and digital media providers looking for ways to cost-efficiently deliver more to their customers around the globe.”