Fujitsu Network Communications and Bright House Networks said they have connected on a field trial that pumped out 400 Gbps and 800 Gbps speeds on the MSO’s live product network using the vendor’s 400-Gig optical networking transceivers via the vendor’s Flashwave 9500 Packet Optical Networking Platforms.
Bright House, which is eyeing more capacity as it eyes future demand for broadband and video services, hit the higher end of that range via a “super channel” generated by Fujitsu’s currently shipping 400G gear, while setting a “future path for Terabit speeds.”
“Our work with Fujitsu allows us to further advance our current transport infrastructure, from 10G to 100G and now 400G and beyond,” said Craig Cowden, SVP of network engineering, operations and enterprise solutions at Bright House, in a statement. "Our technology is part of people’s lives, so we continually invest in our network to deliver new and innovative solutions. This initiative provides us with the ability to upgrade the amount of bandwidth available on our existing DWDM infrastructure to support the ever-increasing High speed data requirements of our customers and new initiatives, such as fiber to the home, for years to come.”
Bright House and other cable operators are starting to flirt with 1-Terabit capacities on their core optical networks.
Comcast, for example, recently hooked up with Ciena on a 1-Terabit trial that also used an aggregated “super channel."
John Schanz, executive vice president and chief network officer for Comcast Cable, told Multichannel News (subscription required) earlier this year that the operator is considering deployments of terabit wavelengths in a targeted fashion toward the end of 2014.
