By Ciena

Ciena Corporation, the network specialist, is leading a consortium of several of the world's leading research institutions, including CERN, SURFnet, NORDUnet, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in a series of unique experiments for the Research & Education community at the TERENA Networking Conference (TNC2012) taking place in Iceland on May 21-24. The event marks the first time that a single fibre pair transports 100G traffic to Iceland, connecting TNC2012 to the global research community through NORDUnet and SURFnet as well as enabling a range of collaborative demonstrations.

TNC2012 demonstrations:

— 100G submarine networking The 100G submarine network, based on Ciena's 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and WaveLogic(TM) Coherent Optical Processors, links Iceland to Denmark and connects TNC2012 to the global research community through NORDUnet and SURFnet. The submarine network spans more than 2,200 km of undersea fibre provided by the international network provider Farice, while the end-to-end link from Reykjavik to Amsterdam is approximately 4,000 km long. The traffic from the submarine cable landing on the coast of Iceland is transmitted to the Reykjavik conference over Mila's Icelandic network. The increased capacity delivered in this way effectively brings Iceland closer to its Scandinavian neighbours, enabling unprecedented service delivery for TNC2012.

— Uncompressed 4K resolution video streaming The highly reliable optical network from Amsterdam to TNC2012 described above enables a demonstration of 4K uncompressed video signal originating at the University of Amsterdam to be streamed and appear on a 4K video monitor at TNC2012. This extreme high-definition multimedia transmission, designed to provide the broadcast industry with more efficient and economical connectivity for production of content such as films and TV series, is now being tested for research environment applications. The demonstration features Ciena's video MOTR multimedia networking card deployed on the 5200 Advanced Services Platform.

— Playing with Light The ‘Playing with Light' demonstration features research undertaken by the University of Amsterdam — using Ciena's technology — on colourless photonic switching. UvA is researching architectures of the future Internet by creating a next generation infrastructure consisting of hybrid (routed, packet and optical) networks connected via multi-layer exchanges. One of the steps in this endeavour is to gain experience in the dynamic switching aspects of the photonic devices. This proof of concept demonstrates the transmission of content at different light frequencies, or colours, and the use of dynamically reconfigurable photonic devices to provide high-capacity media transport. The experiment shows the ability to optimise optical and Ethernet connections according to the type of traffic, the traffic content, or the nature of the application. For instance, a wavelength can be selected based optimum service path — similar to tuning into a radio station.

— High-speed data transfers The demonstration of high-speed file exchange is the result of a collaboration involving Caltech, CERN, SURFnet and Ciena. A new generation of servers with 40G Ethernet interfaces is being deployed to support high-speed file exchange between the SARA High Performance Computing facility in the Netherlands and the CERN facilities in Geneva. The demonstration shows how a well-designed and well-tuned server system is capable of transferring data at highest possible rates over long distances. It highlights the role of long-haul photonic networks in the distribution and analysis of data by research collaborations worldwide. Measurements and analytical data from these experiments will be sent to the TNC2012 venue for presentation and discussion.

Ciena's TNC2012 Speaking Engagements:

Rodney Wilson, director of external research at Ciena, will present:

— The Future Internet – Networking Challenges, part of the Optical networking and beyond session taking place on Thursday, May 24from 9:00 to 10:30 in Hall 1.

— Additionally, Wilson is participating in the panel discussion ‘How can industry help us to be green?', taking place on Tuesday, May 22 from 14:00 to 15:30 in the Main Hall.

About Ciena

Ciena is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they compete. With focused innovation, Ciena brings together the reliability and capacity of optical networking with the flexibility and economics of Ethernet, unified by a software suite that delivers the industry's leading network automation. We routinely post recent news, financial results and other important announcements and information about Ciena on our website. For more information, visit www.ciena.com .