GNM has upgraded its CIENA-powered backbone infrastructure from 800G to 1.6T per wavelength on high-capacity routes with growing traffic demand – increasing available capacity without deploying additional fiber.
This upgrade reflects how GNM approaches network evolution: scaling capacity by improving spectral efficiency and maximizing the performance of existing infrastructure.
As AI workloads, cloud platforms, and content-heavy applications continue to drive rapid traffic growth, backbone networks must scale faster than physical fiber can be expanded.
Moving to 1.6T wavelength enables GNM to:
Scale capacity on existing routes without waiting for new fiber deployment
Deliver high-capacity services with faster turn-up times
Improve cost efficiency per bit for large-scale traffic
Maintain consistent performance under increasing and unpredictable load
This upgrade has been implemented in a production backbone environment, supporting high-volume traffic flows between key network hubs.
Increasing spectral efficiency is one of the most effective ways to scale modern DWDM networks – especially in high-demand corridors where infrastructure expansion is limited or time-consuming.
With this approach, GNM continues to evolve the network in line with their customers’ growth – providing a resilient, high-capacity backbone ready for the next generation of AI-driven and data-intensive applications.
GNM is working closely with Ciena on this evolution and sees strong potential to develop this deployment into a broader industry case – demonstrating how 1.6T optical technology performs under real traffic conditions in a live backbone network.
“Moving to 1.6T per wavelength is a major step in scaling backbone capacity efficiently. As traffic demand continues to grow, improving performance on existing infrastructure becomes increasingly important. This upgrade demonstrates how modern optical networks can deliver more capacity, faster, and with greater efficiency,” said, Alex Surkov, Head of Development at GNM.
