Telstra sets speed record with metro network trial

Australia’s Telstra, Ericsson and Ciena say they have achieved the world’s fastest speeds during a demonstration using Telstra’s transmission network in Melbourne.

The companies achieved 400Gbps speeds over 61.5-GHz spectrum using Telstra’s transmission network, representing the highest spectral efficiency per fiber pair achieved in a live environment.

This represents transmission speeds of up to 30.4Tbps per fiber pair, a significant improvement from the previous record of 25.6Tbps.

Such speeds were made possible using software programmable wavelengths controlled by Ciena’s WaveLogic Ai modem technology and Blue Planet manage control plan and Liquid Spectrum applications.

Telstra plans to introduce the technology as part of an upgrade to its long haul, metro and regional optical networks. Ericsson is providing end-to-end systems integration for the project and managed the deployment of technology for the demonstration.

Telstra has already deployed Ciena’s industry-first programmable coherent modem, which offers up to three times the data capacity of the earlier modem technology deployed on the Telstra network.

“Over the next five years we forecast traffic on our network will grow by five times. We are investing in our network and developing these innovations to meet this growing demand by providing unprecedented levels of scale, automation and intelligence,” Telstra director of IP and transport engineering David Robertson said.

“This technology will be deployed in our domestic transmission network and we will look for opportunities to use it in Telstra’s international subsea cable network, which is the largest in the Asia-Pacific region.”