ECI and CESNET Announce Successful Trial of 400G Flex-Grid Blade Over Live CESNET Network in the Czech Republic

PETACH TIKVA, Israel, December 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

ECI®, a global provider of ELASTIC Network™ solutions for service providers, utilities and data center operators, announced the successful live trial of ECI's Apollo 400G flex-grid blade on the Czech Educational and Scientific Network (CESNET). The 400G flex-grid blade, which provides flexible data rates and modulation schemes, runs on any member of the Apollo line, even in a cage as small as 2U. The trial demonstrated the capabilities of ECI's equipment in delivering new services over alien lambdas with great reliability, high speeds and bandwidth without the need for any modification.

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CESNET develops and operates the national e-infrastructure, for science, research, development and education comprising communication network, data storages and computing facilities as main e-infrastructure components. The e-infrastructure connects the universities and research institutes in all of the major cities across the Czech Republic.  

Helmut Sverenyák, deputy director for research and development at CESNET said, "Working with the ECI Apollo platform was a great opportunity for CESNET. The system has excellent features and is very compact which makes things much easier. During the trial we pushed both Apollo and Czech Light® equipment to their limits by proving that 200 Gb/s signals can reach over 2000 km. We also successfully demonstrated alien wavelengths capabilities, which are gaining momentum, not only for NRENs, but also in the telco world. In 2016 we will be celebrating 20 years of CESNET so 200 Gb/s and 2000 km look almost magical together."

The tests were performed on ECI's Apollo platform with 400G flex-grid blade together with CESNET's Czech Light® Optical Amplifiers, to determine how optical networks can quickly evolve to meet future demands without the need for huge infrastructure investments.  

• ECI's Apollo platform provides state-of-the-art, transparent and flexible DWDM transport with integrated packet services. Apollo combines high performance, low latency, OTN transport and switching, with software configurable optical routing, for maximum efficiency.
• The 400G flex-grid blade is designed to transport data with higher spectral efficiency and industry-leading port density, resulting in reduced rack space and less power consumption. Most importantly the flex-grid blade enables the optimization of the network infrastructure by adapting the bit rate to the desired reach, so the network can scale seamlessly from 200Gb/s to 300Gb/s to 400Gb/s as required.
• The optical amplifier Czech Light® CLA, part of the patented Czech Light® family of advanced photonic devices, enables full optical signal processing for new applications and photonic services while simultaneously saving energy.

The results of the trial proved:

• The successful extension of optical reach to 2000 km.
• High bit rate traffic can be easily transported as alien wavelengths over the CESNET's production network.
• 200 Gb/s signals can be transmitted over 240 km in a single hop, without the challenging, and potentially hazardous, Raman amplification
• New ways of compensation for chromatic dispersion in dark fibre lines with mixed coherent and legacy amplitude-modulated signals.

"The trial conducted with CESNET clearly demonstrates the superiority of ECI's future proof, packet-optical transport platforms. The Apollo platforms, when empowered with the 400G blade, take performance, speed and reach to the next level. We were pleasantly surprised how easily configurable CESNET amplifiers are due to the programmability of Czech Light® devices. The trial took us only three days to set up and we are glad that it was concluded to the complete satisfaction of both parties," said Christian Erbe, Head of Municipality, Utility & Government, ECI EMEA.

About ECI®  

ECI is a global provider of ELASTIC network solutions to CSPs, utilities as well as data center operators. Along with its long-standing, industry-proven packet-optical transport, ECI offers a variety of SDN/NFV applications, end-to-end network management, a comprehensive cyber security solution, and a range of professional services. ECI's ELASTIC solutions ensure open, future-proof, and secure communications. With ECI, customers have the luxury of choosing a network that can be tailor-made to their needs today as well as be seamlessly and cost effectively upgraded to future requirements. For more information, visit us at http://www.ecitele.com.

ECI press contact:  Marjie Hadad - MH Communications, +972-54-536-5220, [email protected]

ABOUT CESNET: 

The CESNET Association was founded by Czech universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in 1996. It is engaged in research and development in information and communication technologies and builds and develops the CESNET national e-infrastructure for research and education. With its research activities and accomplishments, CESNET represents the Czech Republic in international projects, most notably the pan-European GÉANT network building project and grid projects (EGI.eu), and participates actively in their implementation.

For more information see http://www.cesnet.cz

CESNET press contact: Gabriela Krcmarova, [email protected], +420-724-152-819

SOURCE ECI