Alcatel-Lucent SaskTel, the full service communications provider in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, have announced the successful trial of fiber-optic data transmission that could enable the delivery of data at speeds of up to 400G (gigabytes-per second) over a network originally built for 10G traffic.

The trial took place on a live network between Regina, the provincial capital of Saskatchewan, and Saskatoon more than 250km away. The trial could lead to the deployment of the Alcatel-Lucent technology, allowing SaskTel to stay ahead of increasing demand for broadband access by offering an immediate upgrade to 100G transmission today, moving to 400G in the future as and when needed.

Trial conducted over a live SaskTel 10G network between Regina and Saskatoon in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Alcatel-Lucent’s optical solution trialed is based on its 1830 Photonic Service Switch platform, and has the ability to be deployed simultaneously with existing multiple 10G, 40 and 100G network links.

400G technology helps address demand that is being driven by growing customer reliance on multi-media, particularly video and high-speed broadband such as SaskTel’s “Infi-net” fiber-to-the-home (FTTH).

SaskTel was among the first service providers globally to deploy high-speed broadband access with Fiber-to-the-Home service and announced a seven-year project in 2011 aimed at delivering FTTH to the company's subscribers.

400G Photonic Service Engine (PSE) electro-optics chip used in trial is capable of carrying up to 400 Gb/s of traffic. The 400G PSE accelerates network speeds fourfold to deliver the highest possible performance per wavelength.

Ron Styles, CEO of SaskTel,said: “Because it utilizes our existing network, Alcatel-Lucent’ scalable solution will efficiently allow us to meet customer needs today and for those in the future as well.”

Alex Giosa, President of Alcatel-Lucent Canada, said: “The combination of the 1830 PSS enhanced with the new 400G PSE which we have trialled at SaskTel will allow us to continue to provide the kind of transformative solutions our service provider customers require to meet their customers ever growing needs for faster and faster connectivity”.

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