Verizon Completes 100G Ethernet Field Trial

Verizon has completed a field trial carrying 100 Gbps Ethernet traffic on a metropolitan Ethernet infrastructure. Using Alcatel-Lucent equipment deployed in Verizon’s Switched Ethernet Services network, the trial successfully transmitted data over 12.7 kilometers (7.9 miles) of field fiber in the company’s Dallas area network.

Verizon SES is a next-generation switched Ethernet service enabling customers to interconnect their locations within a metrowide network as well as access private and public wide area networks (WANs) using optical fiber-based access. Ethernet service is well-suited for numerous customer applications, based on its ability to provide point-to-point and multipoint connectivity options combined with multiple classes of service and increments of bandwidths.

The trial, which ran from June 14-18, used existing Alcatel-Lucent 7450 switching equipment with new plug-in cards to place native 100GE traffic on a single fiber, creating the high-speed links. Alcatel-Lucent’s 7450 ESS nodes used 100 GE service interfaces with 100GBASE-LR10 optics, which provide transport over distances of up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

This latest trial follows Verizon’s deployment of a live 100G commercial system on its European optical core network between Paris and Frankfurt as well as a series of successful 100G technology trials the company has previously completed.