Network Evolution: Fastweb Selects Huawei to Build 200Gbps Optical Network

Fastweb and Huawei have completed the first Flexible Optical Network deployment: over 2,300 km between Milan and the South of Sicily, providing 200 Gbps capabilities with full resiliency and services continuity through Automatically Switched Optical Network (ASON) technology.

The project finalizes the collaboration started in September 2017, when Fastweb launched the first Flexible Next Generation Optical Network in partnership with Huawei, with a startup capacity of 2Tbps and covering more than 2 thousand kilometers nationwide.

Then, in November 2017, Fastweb released the 100Gbps regeneration-free with optical ASON services over 2,300 km between Milan and the South of Sicily and in January 2018 the 200Gbps regeneration-free with optical ASON services over 800 km between Milan and Rome. The Flexible Optical Network is now connecting also the most important Data Centers and Submarine Landing Stations in Italy and Fastweb is offering these services to both the Wholesale and Enterprise markets.

Through ASON technology, Fastweb can provide versatile service level differentiation and ultra-high speed connections thanks to the flexible and automatic re-routing of the data traffic in case of temporary interruption. ASON delivers the reliability, flexibility, and robustness that next-generation optical transport requires, while enabling service differentiation and reducing operations and maintenance costs. It also provides real-time allocation on demand of network resources, E2E service scheduling, and automatic network recovery, thus enabling intelligent optical network operation.

“Fastweb Flexible Optical Network overall capacity has grown 4-fold overtaking 8Tbps in less than 9 months. It is a confirmation of the quality and performance we can deliver through it, and a tangible proof of the high grade of flexibility to provide resiliency, scalability and simplification for both the network itself and its provisioning and assurance processes. It is the cornerstone of the new era of Transport Services” - said Andrea Lasagna, CTO at Fastweb – “Through the long-term cooperation with Huawei, Fastweb aims to continue to evolve towards the strategic 400Gbps by the end of 2018 and SDN automation to fully support the coming 5G era. We are in the field trial phase with the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) focusing on fast provisioning, automation and prediction first".

Richard Jin, President of Transmission Network Product Line, Huawei, said, "It is a great honor to work with Fastweb to build the 200G backbone. Through the 200G ASON ready for Intent-Driven Network (IDN) evolution, it can support fast-growing cloud services and future 5G and 4K services in a reliable, fast, and agile manner. Currently, we have deployed over 70 200G optical networks globally."

The network utilizes Huawei's leading CDCG backbone OTN WDM and includes optical-layer and electrical-layer ASON, programmable 100G/200G, Flex Grid and built-in OTDR, achieving visualized Operation & Maintenance, managing network-wide fiber resources and service quality in real time, increasing its efficiency on both the technical and economic perspectives.