The trials saw AT&T and Ciena transmit the wavelength alongside existing live customer traffic across a 296km fibre route from Newark to Philadelphia.
The companies used open-source white box switches and Ciena’s advanced WaveLogic 6 Extreme technology, combining two separate 800-gigabit signals into one 1.6 Tb/s connection.
The test showcased the potential to send far larger amounts of traffic at superfast speeds, a necessity AT&T suggests amid the influx of AI, cloud, and streaming traffic.
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Mike Satterlee, VP for network infrastructure and services at AT&T, said: “Traffic on AT&T’s network continues to increase as consumers are using more connected devices.
“We anticipate network traffic growth to double by 2028, and the technologies demonstrated in this trial will play a key role in AT&T’s continued efforts to keep up with increasing customer demand to send data, watch videos, and use streaming services.”
The results saw AT&T transmit a hefty single-carrier wavelength across an entire fibre length between two points while using up considerably less power.
The tests saw AT&T’s offices in Newark and Philadelphia equipped with 800G DR8 pluggable transceivers from Coherent, installed into white box routers and Ciena’s WL6e transponder, creating a seamless high-speed link between the two locations.
Keysight’s AresOne-M 800GE test system provided the 800 GbE client signals, which were fed into the white boxes through additional 800G optics, verifying end-to-end performance over the entire route.
Ciena’s WL6e technology significantly reduced power and space needs, cutting consumption per transmitted bit by 50% compared to current-generation 800G transponders.
The results saw AT&T transmit a hefty single-carrier wavelength between the two cities, delivering ultra-fast speeds while using substantially less power.
“This groundbreaking achievement with AT&T adds to a growing list of Ciena industry-firsts that push the boundaries of optical network speed and capacity,” said Dino DiPerna, SVP of global research and development at Ciena.
“Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 coherent optics will support AT&T’s next gen converged optical network and efforts to build a cloud-based and AI-ready network with greater scale, flexibility and efficiency.”
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