Infinera “What is…” Videos

Compact Modular platforms are a new type of optical networking solution used by network operators to build fiber optics based telecommunications networks. These types of platforms have become increasingly popular for network operators because of a handful of benefits that they provide over traditional optical networking solutions. The first benefit is that compact modular platforms are built from the ground up with open architectures. This makes them easier to operationalize and easier to introduce into a network, and make facilitate multi-vendor interoperability, which reduces vendor lock in and gives network operators more choices in the solutions that they choose. The second reason is that the latest generation of products are built using a modular sled based architecture. This enables a single platform to be seamlessly and flexibly configured with a variety of different functions by simply sliding in the appropriate sled for the function that you want. The result is a single platform that can be used to address a wide range of network applications, which reduces operational hurdles for network operators to introduce new technologies and capabilities into their network. Now, while relatively new to the industry, compact modular platforms already comprised more than 15% of all solutions sold in this space, and they're projected to grow at more than three times the market rate and become more than 50% of all solutions sold within the next few years.

February 02, 2022

What is Compact Modular

Coherent optical transmission technology utilizes lasers to enable the transmission of large amounts of information over fiber optic cables. This technology has been commercially available for a bit more than 10 years. In that time, we have seen five distinct generations of technology – the first generation enabled 100 gigabits per second, and the latest or fifth generation enables transmission of up to 800 gigabits per second. That’s the equivalent of downloading about 20 to 30 high-definition movies every second. In addition to increasing the capacity per laser or wavelength, each new generation of this technology has also enabled a substantial increase in the total amount of information that can be transmitted over a single fiber optic cable. 800G technology also provides substantial savings to network operators - saving as much as 30 percent over fourth generation 600G technology and 60 percent over third generation 400G technology. So, how did this happen? 800G transmission is enabled by three key technological advances. First is the ability to send data or symbols at a faster rate. This is referred to as the baud rate. Second is improvements in advanced modulation techniques including probabilistic constellation shaping and Nyquist digital subcarriers that enable us to send more information with each symbol. Finally, advances in digital signal processing enable us to compensate and overcome transmission impairments found in ultra-high-speed signals like 800G.

January 20, 2022

What is 800G?

Data Center Interconnect or DCI refers to high speed connectivity to connect two or more data centers. But, to fully understand DCI one must first understand Data Centers. Data centers are the heart and the brains of the internet in our cloud connected world. Data centers host applications and store the data for the Internet and cloud-based services. Without data centers, we would not have instant and consistent access to the information and applications that we all enjoy and expect today - even as we travel to different destinations across the country or across continents. There are thousands of data centers around the world. A single city can have numerous data centers. In fact, the city in the world with the largest number of data centers is London with over 300. Now obviously Data centers need to be connected to end users through service provider networks – like Verizon, ATT, T-Mobile, Orange. But data centers also communicate and transfer large amounts of data amongst themselves. Think of Netflix. Netflix has numerous deployment locations around the world to serve local communities. When they release a new video – it is distributed across a myriad of data centers. This same process is also used for business services. Take Infinera as an example. We use cloud-based solutions for our email, file sharing and video conferencing. Our data is replicated and stored at multiple data center locations including in the countries or cities closest to our offices. DCI provides the high-speed inter-data-center connections necessary to rapidly transfer mass amounts of information to ensure content consistency across all locations. As you can imagine, DCI traffic is one of the fastest growing segments in our networks. In order to keep up, DCI utilizes the latest high speed optical transmission technologies such as coherent optical networking and Dense Wave Division Multiplexing - which are two topics that we address in other videos.

January 20, 2022

What is DCI or Data Center Interconnect?

Coherent optics is a specific type of laser technology used by service providers to transmit large amounts of information over fiber optic networks. Historically, lasers transmitted information by controlling just the power levels of the signal – high power to transmit a “1” and low power to transmit a “0.” This type of technology – called “direct detect” – is only good for transmitting information up to about 10 gigabits per second. This may seem like a lot but is not nearly enough to cope with the massive amounts of bandwidth required by today’s networks, which often measure in the 100s of terabits of capacity. To overcome the limitations of direct detect technology, the industry developed a technology called coherent optics that is capable of transmitting more information and transmitting over longer distances. Coherent optics technology transmits 1s and 0s by altering the phase of the optical signal rather than the power levels. And while coherent optics is a far more complex technology, it has enabled us to increase the amount of information each laser can transmit over fiber optics by 80 times – from 10 gigabits per second to 800 gigabits per second. And of course, this technology continues to evolve.

August 06, 2021

What is coherent optics?

XR optics is the industry’s first multipoint coherent optical technology. XR optics solves a significant challenge that has plagued the optical networking industry for a long time. Since the inception of optical networks, there has been a significant mismatch between actual traffic patterns and the technology used to transport that traffic. Network traffic patterns, particularly in metro networks, are overwhelmingly hub and spoke – where you have lots of endpoints generating traffic and a much smaller number of locations aggregating that traffic. Traditional optical transmission technology provides only point-to-point solutions – a laser on one end of the fiber and an identical laser on the other end. As a result – by having to bookend every laser – network operators are forced to buy way more lasers than they need and use electrical aggregation solutions – like routers and switches – to aggregate traffic from multiple fibers. XR optics is a technology that enables a single laser to simultaneously communicate with multiple lower-speed lasers. This enables network operators to use a single higher-speed laser at the aggregation locations and collect traffic from numerous end-user locations, cutting the number of lasers required in half and eliminating the need for electrical aggregation devices – routers and switches – at those locations. The result of XR optics is a more cost-effective and streamlined network that is easier to operate and scale.

August 06, 2021

What is XR optics?

DWDM or Dense wave division multiplexing is a complex term for a relatively straightforward concept. It is a technology that transmits optical signals across fiber optics cables using a single color of light also called a wavelength. Traditional optical transmission solutions emitted broad spectrum – or white – light. Using that technology each fiber optic cable could only support the transmissions from a single laser. With dense wave division multiplexing, the data transmitted by numerous lasers – each transmitting in a different color of light - can be aggregated and transported over a single fiber. With modern DWDM technology 80 or more different optical signals can be carried over a single fiber dramatically increasing the capacity of fiber optics networks.

August 06, 2021

What is DWDM?

Open optical networks are networks that comprised a number of individual components that can be purchased from a variety of different suppliers and managed seamlessly as a single network. With an open optical network, the network operator can choose from the best-in-class components when building their network. The two key parts of an optical network are the optical line system and the transponders. Historically, network operators would be forced to buy all their transponders from the same vendor that supplied their optical line system. With open optical networks, network operators can buy the optical line system from one vendor and the transponders separately from a number of different vendors, while also ensuring that all these devices work together seamlessly and the overall network remains easy to operate. Open optical networks give network operators the ability to more rapidly introduce the latest technologies into their networks, irrespective of which vendor develops them. This ultimately results in the ability to be more competitive and offer more differentiated services to the market.

August 06, 2021

What is an open optical network?

Fiber optic networks are built with thin strands of glass about the width of a human hair that is wrapped in a protective rubber cladding. Lasers are used to transmit information across those cables. These networks provide the foundation for the internet that connects the world and enable the applications and methods of communication we enjoy today, such as phone calls, video conferencing, streaming videos, and social media. Now, people can connect to the network using a variety of different methods – mobile, cable, DSL, or WiFi – which all use either radio or electrical signals to transmit information. But very quickly, all this data is carried to a point in the network where it is aggregated and converted to an optical signal. Fiber optic networks enable the transmission of vastly more information over far greater distances than any other technology. This includes transmission across metropolitan areas and entire continents and even across oceans. Since the inception of fiber optic networks, service providers have deployed more than 5 billion kilometers – that’s enough cable to wrap the earth more than 120,000 times. And you can expect that, as bandwidth requirements continue to go up, we’ll continue to see more and more fiber cables deployed…. including all the way to people’s houses.

August 06, 2021

What are fiber optic networks?