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CENIC Validates Coherent Pluggables with Integrated Amplifier over Production Network

Categories RENS & NRENS Pacific Wave Technology & Innovation

Building on the successful validation last December of ZR Plus coherent pluggables over CENIC’s production optical line system between Los Angeles and Sunnyvale over 750 km, CENIC has started the validation of the latest generation of coherent pluggable optics that integrate an amplifier into the optic.

Once again, using coherent pluggable optics in a QSFP-DD form factor installed in a router at each end, CENIC turned up a 300 Gbps optical service over CENIC’s production line system between Los Angeles and Sunnyvale and confirmed the error-free performance of the service with a comfortable operating margin. The coherent pluggable optics deployed to bring up the 300 Gbps service are the recently released Bright ZR Plus QSFP-DD coherent optics, with an integrated EDFA by Cisco.

Coherent pluggable optics take a data signal normally delivered via a transponder at Layer 1 and effectively terminate the data signal directly on a switch or router. When used to bring up optical services over an optical line system, the first-generation ZR Plus optics in the QSFP-DD form factor require an external amplifier to compensate for the low launch power limitation of the optic. The new-generation coherent pluggables in the QSFP-DD form factor integrate an amplifier, making it possible to transmit from the optic at power levels that match those of typical transponder line cards. As a result, external amplification is no longer needed to boost the power level transmitted from the optic before it reaches the optical line system.

“The elimination of the external amplification requirement is an important step toward simplifying the provisioning of optical services and facilitates the adoption of coherent pluggables over our production line system,” said Sana Bellamine, CENIC’s Director of Regional and International Infrastructure.

Coherent Pluggables with Integrated Amplifiers Validation Setup Diagram
Coherent Pluggables with Integrated Amplifiers Validation Setup Diagram

CENIC continues to evaluate the performance of coherent pluggable optics. In collaboration with our partners, we are analyzing performance results at 400 Gbps and the impact of fiber type and specific fiber characteristics on achieving the desired 400 Gbps with a comfortable operating margin.

In parallel with the Bright ZR Plus validation in production, CENIC has continued to evaluate the interoperability of coherent pluggable optics with our partners and has verified interoperability between Cisco and Juniper in a laboratory environment using 400G ZR coherent pluggable optics. Interested parties can also see demonstrations related to this technology at the OFCnet conference taking place from March 5–9, 2023 at the San Diego Convention Center.

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