These two world records confirm Alcatel's technological lead in DWDM terrestrial and submarine transmission Paris, March 21, 2001 - Alcatel, (Paris: CGEP.PA, NYSE: ALA) world leader in intelligent optical networking, has set two new world records for DWDM multi-Terabits transmission. In one trial, the Company has gone beyond the mythical 10Tbit/s barrier (10,000Gbit/s), setting the absolute world record for transmission capacity over a single optical fiber. In the second trial, Alcatel achieved a record 3Tbit/s (3,000Gbit/s) transmission over a 7,300 kilometer transoceanic distance. These results, obtained in the Company's laboratories and presented during the Optical Fiber Conference (OFC) currently held in Anaheim (California), demonstrate once again Alcatel's technological lead in DWDM terrestrial and submarine transmission. As a result, Alcatel can offer operators solutions that optimize their optical network's capital and operating expenditures thanks to the significant increase of the capacity transmitted over each fiber.
The first breakthrough, using specially optimized Alcatel Teralight(TM) fiber, demonstrates the unidirectional transmission of 256 channels each modulated at 40Gbit/s, reaching a total usable throughput of 10.2Tbit/s (10,200Gbit/s) over 100 kilometers. This doubles the 5.12Tbit/s transmission record achieved by Alcatel in September 2000. Error-free transmission is performed through Alcatel's dual-stage hybrid Erbium/Raman amplifiers, 40Gbit/s systems, Forward Error Correction (FEC) technology, and TeraLight(TM) optical fiber specifically designed for high-speed, long-haul transmission. This breakthrough would allow for the simultaneous transport, on a single optical fiber, of more than 160 million phone calls or more than one million high-bit rate ADSL Internet connections.
The second breakthrough proves the unidirectional transmission of 300 channels each modulated at 10Gbit/s, reaching a total usable throughput of 3Tbit/s (3,000Gbit/s) over an unprecedented 7,300 kilometer distance. This performance was achieved with technologies developed by Alcatel: Wide-band Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs) and 10Gbit/s transmission systems. This laboratory demonstration exploited Alcatel's leading-edge EDFAs, which use the C and L bands of the standard 1.5µm transmission window. This breakthrough transmission would allow, for example, the simultaneous transport of more than 47 million voice calls or more than 370,000 high-bit rate ADSL Internet lines on a single optical fiber that would link Japan to Hawaii.
To achieve such performances, Alcatel has developed a new technique to optimize the use of bandwidth. When carried over an optical fiber, wavelengths generate interference. It is therefore necessary to have a minimum wavelength spacing in the networks, which limits the number of wavelengths that can be transported over the same fiber. The higher the bit rate, the stronger the interference and the more limited the number of wavelengths. The innovating technique developed by Alcatel allows to minimize the effect of these interference and to pack an unprecedented number of high bit-rate DWDM channels (at 10 or 40Gbit/s) on a single fiber with an optimized channel spacing. These results underline Alcatel's strategy to optimize all the key technologies required to offer cost-effective, advanced optical networks to cope with the rocketing increase of capacity demand generated by the Internet.
"These new world records demonstrate the unrivalled position of Alcatel in multi-Terabit transmission, based on our mastery of the whole optical chain from optical components and fibers to terrestrial and submarine DWDM systems", stated Christian Reinaudo, President of Alcatel's Optics Group. "Our breakthrough technologies combined with our unique capabilities as optical network architects will allow our customers to build and operate more efficient optical infrastructure at lower costs."
About TeraLight(TM) fiber
TeraLight(TM), Alcatel's Non-Zero-Dispersion Shifted Fiber (NZ-DSF), is one of the most technically advanced fibers available on the market. It has been specially optimized for long-distance, high-bit rate transmission. TeraLight(TM) provides operators and service providers with increased capacity, superior performance of their networks and a cost-effective upgrade path from 10 to 40Gbit/s systems and beyond. The high resistance of TeraLight(TM) fiber to cross-non-linearities makes it the fiber of choice for high-spectral efficiency systems.
About Forward Error Correction (FEC)
The FEC is a technique by means of which redundancy (i.e. extra information) is transmitted together with transported data, using a pre-determined algorithm. The receiving device has the capability of detecting and correcting multiple bit errors that could occur during transmission thanks to the redundancy (i.e. extra information). The signal transmitted with FEC is more 'robust' thus allowing operators to build up longer distance connections without the deployment of many repeater stations.
About EDFAs (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers)
Located along the optical transmission path, optical amplifiers, composed of optical fiber and laser pomp modules, extend the distance covered by the signal. In long haul transport systems, optical amplification based on erbium-doped fiber is the key enabling technology in repeaters. Until this solution emerged, every repeater contained as many electronic regeneration functions as there were transmitted signals. Today, advances in optical amplification have made it possible to amplify all the transmitted signals over a single fiber with one Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA). Today's EDFAs cover a 30 nm bandwidth in the C or L band. New generation amplifiers, based on a combination of C+L band EDFA, is capable of amplification over a wider 60 nm bandwidth.
About Alcatel
Alcatel is the only vendor to master all optical network elements, from optical components, optical fibers, DWDM systems and microwave radio links to core routers and network intelligence, and from terrestrial to submarine solutions. Alcatel is also the only company to provide both terrestrial and marine services for the installation and maintenance of global, seamless optical networks.
According to RHK's 2000 study, Alcatel holds the number two position in global optical transport market with 20% market share, distancing itself from other competitors. RHK also reported that Alcatel reaffirms its number one position in submarine networks with 41% worldwide market share. Moreover, Alcatel claims to be the world leader in total terrestrial and submarine DWDM systems, in digital cross-connects, which contain the enabling technology for operators to offer high bandwidth services, in SDH networks and in microwave radio links. Alcatel's optics business comprises terrestrial and submarine transmission systems, fiber optics, optical components and microwave radio links. Alcatel has launched a new class of Alcatel stock which is intended to track the performance of Alcatel Optronics, the Company's optical component business.
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 130,000 employees and sales of EURO 31 billion in 2000, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. | |
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