Press Release
DALLAS, TEXAS, USA – (March 25, 2015) – Xtera Communications, Inc., a leading global provider of optical networking solutions, announces the demonstration of record unrepeatered transmission distances using commercial Xtera’s Wise Raman™ solution and large effective area ultra-low loss fiber from Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW), a leading provider of optical fibers. 100G and 10G transmissions were demonstrated over 607 km and 632 km, respectively, with no active equipment between the end points of the links. These demonstrations were made with the support of State Grid Information & Telecommunication (SGIT) Company.
These industry’s leading achievements outline the unrivaled unrepeatered reach performance obtained by combining Xtera’s Wise Raman™ optical amplification solution and Corning® Vascade® EX2000 optical fiber. Both products are commercially available today and already deployed in the field.
Xtera’s Wise Raman™ technology increases the optical span length by turning some parts of the line fiber into an amplification medium; this is achieved via the Raman nonlinear effect where optical pump waves are launched into the fiber to create optical gain for the optical signal carriers. In addition, enhanced, patented Remote Optically Pumped Amplifier (ROPA) configuration was used in the demonstrations.
The span was assembled using Corning Vascade EX2000 optical fiber. The average fiber (including splices and connectors) attenuation was 0.160 dB/km. The Vascade EX2000 optical fiber has an average effective area of 112 µm2 enabling higher optical launch powers for Raman pumping, ROPA, and data transmission. The video describing these 100G, 607 km and 10G, 632 km unrepeatered transmission demonstrations can be viewed in Corning booth 1711 during Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conference® and Exposition, March 24-26, 2015 in the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Ultra-long, “thin” (low-capacity) unrepeatered transmission systems provide a cost-effective and simpler-to-operate solution over a repeatered solution for many applications, including subsea links connecting sparsely populated islands and communication links to offshore oil and gas platforms, and over power utility grids in remote areas.
Xtera pioneered Raman optical amplification in backbone networks with its Wise Raman™ solution and the installation of Raman amplifiers with a 100 nm optical spectrum in 2004. Xtera was also the first supplier to introduce Soft-Decision Forward Error Correction (SD-FEC) in a commercial 100G network in 2011. In April 2013, Xtera launched the industry’s first optical wideband repeater featuring Raman amplification for long-haul subsea cable systems. In December 2013, Xtera introduced the XWDM solution that makes possible a [Capacity x Reach] metric which exceeds, by a factor of six, what is normally achievable by today’s 100G optical transport systems that use Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs).
For terrestrial backbone networks, the multi-purpose Nu-Wave Optima™ optical networking platform delivers unrivaled line capacities of 15 Tbit/s on more than 4,500 km, and 64 Tbit/s on more than 1,500 km over existing fiber infrastructure with no intermediate regeneration. For unrepeatered applications, a capacity of 15 Tbit/s was recently transmitted on 410 km.
