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MCI, CIENA, Mintera Demo Ultra Long-Haul Connection At 40 Gbps

In an unprecedented joint industry effort, MCI Inc, CIENA Corp and Mintera Corp announced they have achieved the world's fastest Ultra Long-Haul (ULH) connection at 40 Gigabits per second (Gbps) -- four times faster than the highest-speed ULH routes deployed today. Utilizing an MCI long-haul network route spanning more than 1200 km, the technology trial highlights how the MCI network can seamlessly activate 40 Gbps ULH wavelengths to facilitate the roll-out of next-generation IP-based services over its existing 10 Gbps backbone.

The technology trial took place over MCI's ULH Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical network route between Sacramento, Calif., and Salt Lake City. This network route was selected because it uses the company's existing fiber plant, and includes a mix of fiber -- TrueWave Classic, Dispersion Shifted Fiber (DSF), Long Span Fiber (LS) and Single Mode Fiber (SMF), illustrating the real-world scalability of the MCI network. Mintera's production quality MI 40000 40 Gbps DWDM fiber optic transport terminals interoperated directly on CIENA's CoreStream Agility optical transport system, which provides an automated ULH backbone for the MCI network. MCI demonstrated true "plug and play" capability of 40 Gbps transmission with the ULH system. The 40 Gbps wavelength was commissioned in less than an hour, and then performed error-free on the same optical fibers already carrying 10 Gbps wavelengths throughout the trial.

"MCI continues to build on its legacy of innovation with this important industry achievement," said Jack Wimmer, MCI vice president of Network Architecture and Advanced Technology. "Only a few weeks ago, MCI became the first network carrier to demonstrate live 40 Gbps IP networking between our locations in San Francisco and San Jose. Today, we are the first to extend the reach of 40 Gbps wavelengths over our Ultra Long-Haul backbone network." In February, MCI became the first network provider to deploy an Ultra Long-Haul network route in the United States.

Once implemented, MCI's Ultra Long-Haul 40 Gbps solution will allow customers to obtain near real-time bandwidth upgrades and accelerated installation schedules to facilitate the adoption of next-generation IP services.

"This joint technology trial confirms the viability of 40 Gbps technology over our Ultra Long-Haul network and sets the stage for MCI customers to easily migrate to bandwidth-intensive business applications like Web Services, multimedia content distribution, Grid computing and storage networking," said Wimmer.

This ULH solution allows MCI to place the 40 Gbps equipment at both ends of the ULH network route and literally plug in the equipment and turn up customers -- known in the industry as "plug and play." No longer will customers have to wait months for a complete network build to receive bandwidth-intensive next generation services.

Mintera's optical transport equipment enables carriers like MCI to deploy 40 Gbps wavelengths, without traffic interruption, on their 10 Gbps infrastructure. This permits significantly more bandwidth to be obtained from the existing infrastructure investment with low, incremental capital expenditures for added capacity. The ultra long reach of the MI 40000 permits this boost in bandwidth efficiency to be implemented at the lowest cost without additional regeneration sites and without the need to re-engineer or alter the existing infrastructure.

"We are privileged to have participated in this demonstration of the next generation of optical transport with MCI and CIENA," said Terry Unter, Mintera president and chief executive officer. "The MI 40000, with its variety of client side interfaces, will allow service providers such as MCI to gain a significant bandwidth boost from their installed infrastructure thus delaying capital investments in equipping new dark fibers and, at the same time, permitting the deployment of new, bandwidth intensive services."

MCI's recently announced ULH network buildout utilizes CIENA's CoreStream Agility, which will enable MCI to converge its legacy networks to deliver all types of customer traffic -- from voice to IP -- on a single, automated, 40G-ready network. CoreStream Agility's scalability and integrated ULH and wavelength switching capabilities eliminate costly electrical signal regenerations and automate the remote provisioning of wavelengths, creating a seamless path to flexible and efficient services up to 40 Gbps across the country.

"MCI has built its network on the most advanced and scalable technology available, and we're proud to help enable MCI to maintain its networking leadership position," said Steve Alexander, chief technology officer and general manager of CIENA's Core Networking Group. "To us, it's all about helping MCI deliver the high-value services their customers want, and together, we're working to enable a new generation of bandwidth-intensive services delivered with optimal efficiency."