AT&T announced the successful completion of a live network environment field trial of 100-Gigabit backbone network technology. During the trial, AT&T field tested the new Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System. AT&T also used the Opnext 100 Gigabit CFP client side modules and Ixia’s “K2” 100 Gigabit traffic generator and analyzer. AT&T’s trial demonstrated a single-carrier 100G transmission with real-time coherent processing on a 900-km long-haul transport link between Louisiana and Florida. AT&T in 2008 completed a large deployment of 40G network technology in its US IP backbone network, and in 2008 and 2009, the company led teams that completed two lab trials of 100G technology. The 100G technology is expected to be ready for commercial deployment over the next few years.
During the trial, Opnext demonstrated a single wavelength, real-time coherent 127G PM-QPSK modem. The demonstration also included Opnext's fully IEEE 802.3ba standards-compliant CFP MSA client optical modules which are fully interoperable with 100 GbE interfaces on IP routers. The system is designed to carry a 20 percent overhead forward error correction required for ultra long haul and submarine transmission distance and to carry 100 GbE payload transparently mapped into an ITU OTU4 payload. The design is also extremely tolerant to filtering allowing for metro/regional networking with ten or more cascaded Roadms at 50 GHz channel spacing.
Meanwhile, Ixia’s K2 100 GE Higher Speed Ethernet (HSE) load module provided IP traffic generation and BERT testing for the 100G connection. According to the company, Ixia's K2 40 and 100 GE test modules are the world's first-to-market IP network traffic generation, layer 2-7, and physical coding sublayer measurement and analysis test systems. K2 modules generate and analyze full 40 GE and 100 GE layer 2-7 line rate traffic, with up to 1 million distinct flows per port. The modules support unframed bit error ratio tests (BERT) as well as PCS compliance and performance testing, allowing individual PCS lane BERT testing using a wide range of PRBS patterns. K2 modules also include validation of the defined physical medium dependent (PMD) sublayers in the IEEE P802.3ba standard.