Wholesale – Soliton Solution

Posted: 05/2001

Wholesale

The Soliton Solution
Packing Multiple Photonic Signal Streams into
Single Wave Gets Powerful Results
By Josh Long

Imagine the savings a trucker could realize if he didn’t have to refuel from
Boston to Chicago.

In the optical business, that is what Corvis Corp. (www.corvis.com)
says its new product can do–support a truckload of capacity on a long-haul
network for up to 2,000 kilometers (km) without electrical regeneration. By
incorporating soliton transmission and Raman amplification technologies, the
CorWave LR, a DWDM system, can support capacity of 3.2tbps, according to Corvis.
Solitons are specially shaped lightwave pulses that preserve a high-bit rate
transmission over a long distance.

The optical vendor maintains the CorWave LR system can transport 320 OC-192
wavelengths up to 800 km, or 160 OC-192 wavelengths up to 2,000 km. According to
Corvis, the Corwave LR can operate on all major fiber types, including single
mode fiber (SMF), large effective area fiber (LEAF), LS and TrueWave. Qwest
Communications International Inc. (www.qwest.com)
is on the brink of introducing the DWDM technology.

The CorWave LR is scheduled for commercial deployment in the third quarter of
this year, and the carrier has signed a $150 million contract to deploy Corvis
products as long as the technology meets certain specifications, according to
Mike Myshrall, manager of Corvis’ sales operations group.

Qwest is planning to introduce Corvis’ technology on its network and is
testing the vendor’s 10gbps products, according to Claire Maledon, a spokeswoman
for Qwest. Maledon declined to provide further details or confirm when the
carrier will incorporate the products. In January, Qwest announced that its
entire North American IP network operates at OC-192 capacity or 10gbps.

The CorWave LR is designed to support high-capacity transport over a
point-to-point network, in contrast to the meshed network technology Corvis
introduced in the third quarter of last year, Myshrall says.

Broadwing Inc. (www.broadwing.com),
which is completing what it has dubbed an all-optical core network in the United
States, has incorporated Corvis’ DWDM technology. In a test, the carrier
transported an optical signal 4,000 km according to Chris Rothlis, vice
president of engineering at Broadwing.

OC-192 signals were transmitted from Phoenix to Fort Worth, Texas, and back
to Phoenix without electrical regeneration, according to a press release issued
in August 2000.

Incorporating the same technology, Williams Communications (www.williamscommunications.com)
achieved transmission of an optical signal for 6,400 km on its multiservice
broadband network, Corvis said in February. The uninterrupted transmission
reportedly exceeded the distance from Boston to San Diego.

Jeff Storey, senior vice president and COO for Williams Communications, said
in a press release that the introduction of Corvis’ all-optical technology
"will reduce our time to market in offering new optical services to our
customers, allowing them to reap the benefits of revolutionary technology while
avoiding significant capital expense."

Williams Communications has signed a $300 million contract to use Corvis’
all-optical technology to deliver services such as optical VPNs, wavelength
leasing, and wavelength protection and restoration, according to Corvis.

Last May, Corvis announced an agreement to purchase France-based Algety
Telecom, a company that developed soliton-based DWDM transmission systems.

According to Corvis, Algety Telecom held the record for a terrestrial soliton
transmission of 1tbps over 1,000 km–the equivalent of transmitting the entire
contents of the Library of Congress in less than 30 seconds down a single fiber.

Algety Telecom sought solutions for dying signals. Inevitably, an optical
wave traveling a long distance through fiber loses its strength, despite
amplification measures. Under the older technology, says Broadwing’s Rothlis,
the carrier would be forced to end the signal every 200 miles or so, change it
back into an electrical signal, and ultimately convert it to an optical signal.
Also, Broadwing would have to send people to the repeater sites–where the
optical-to-electrical-to-optical equipment was located–when the carrier turned
up new service.

The consequences: The termination and regeneration devices cost a lot of
money and hold up provisioning, Myshrall and Rothlis says. Now, adds Rothlis,
Broadwing simply has to insert a card on either end of the circuit to introduce
service. Myshrall says the optical interface cards cost between $50,000 and
$100,000.

"Everywhere there is an interface card, there is a laser," Myshrall
says. "And everywhere there is a laser, there is tens of thousands of
dollars of costs."

Rothlis argues that Broadwing holds a six-month advantage over its
competitors–naming Level 3 Communications Inc. (www.level3.com),
Williams Communications, and Qwest–because it has nearly completed its
all-optical network and incorporated Corvis’ products along its network. In
October 2000, Corvis first delivered an all-optical, multiterabit switch to
Broadwing for commercial use.

"All the players in the space are wanting to deploy this
technology," Rothlis says of the optical products.

In March, Nortel Networks Ltd. (www.nortelnetworks.com)
introduced its OPTera Long-Haul 5000, a DWDM platform designed to support up to
160 wavelengths at 40gbps over 1,000 km. The OPTera Long Haul 4000 Optical Line
System, which became available last year, is a 10gbps ultra-long-haul backbone
that reportedly can take signals beyond 4,000 km without electrical
regeneration. Nortel says the product can slash the costs of equipment outlay
and ownership associated with floor space and power requirements.

Although vendors have introduced regeneration solutions in the metropolitan
and long-haul space, companies have yet to develop a full solution to sustain an
optical wave from one end of the network to the other, Rothlis says.