The deployment comes as NEC continues to drive the expansion of all-optical networks, including the introduction of open specifications-compliant, open optical transport solutions and products, which aligns with the standards requirements defined by TIP’s Phoenix initiative.
According to NEC, all-optical networks are next-gen, environmentally friendly infrastructure that will facilitate digital twins, social transformation and new services and industries.
"The deployment of TIP’s 400G Phoenix solution marks a first in Africa," said Michele McCann, head of interconnection and peering at Teraco.
"It greatly enhances Teraco's ability to deliver greater capacity and more reliable connectivity for our customers, which is at the core of our mission. We would like to thank TIP and NEC for their contributions to this successful initiative."
The TIP Phoenix Open and Disaggregated Optical Whitebox Transponder solution consists of Wistron Galileo Flex T hardware, the NEC Network Operating System and Lumentum 400G CFP2-DCO pluggable transceivers that are deployed between Teraco data centres.
The solution forms part of Teraco’s data centre network upgrade plan, and NEC and NEC XON, NEC's South African subsidiary, provided the supporting system integration for this solution.
"We are pleased to see Teraco taking the lead with the adoption of Phoenix in its production network. The need to scale networks efficiently is a constant challenge for communication service providers," said Hanson Tuang, connectivity technologies and ecosystems manager, Meta.
"With its disaggregated architecture, high capacity and enhanced programmability, Phoenix is an attractive solution for providers to increase network capacity. We look forward to further collaborations with Teraco in the future and would like to thank NEC for its contributions to this success."
Phoenix, an operator-driven initiative developed by TIP’s open optical and transport, disaggregated optical systems subgroup, defines the requirements for a 400G optical transponder suited for applications such as data centre interconnect and metro backhaul transport for use with traditional optical line systems.
