NTT Communications will begin deploying an ultra-large-capacity, space-saving and energy-saving 400Gbps optical transmission system in data centers

OREANDA-NEWS. NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), the ICT solutions and international communications business within the NTT Group, announced today that they will begin deploying an ultra-large-capacity, space-saving and energy-saving 400Gbps (400G) optical transmission system in data centers for network connection. Deployment will be implemented sequentially from April 14th.

The main features and advantages of the 400G system are as follows:

• Top-level energy and space savings
  The new system reduces energy consumption per bps by 75% and space requirements by 80% compared to the existing system. The savings were achieved through a synergistic combination of advanced digital-signal processing technology and 16nm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Energy-saving integrated circuits can be constructed rapidly, enabling transmitters to be quickly deployed even in confined spaces at data centers.
• More than double existing transmission capacity
  The new system achieves more than double the transmission capacity per optical fiber compared to its predecessor system. To generate 400G signals, the system utilizes NTT’s research result :16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) for both phase and amplitude, and sub-carrier multiple transmission.
• New OTN and 400GbE interfaces
  In connection with the deployment, NTT Com will offer new optional network services for enterprises, including the sequential launch of OTN interfaces (OTU2, OTU2e and OTU4) mainly for wholesalers and data center users, and a 400GbE interface incorporating framing technology compatible with OTUCn which is the result from NTT's R&D.
• Dis-aggregation architecture
  To deliver new services and functions with even greater speed and flexibility, NTT Com will combine SDN technologies and dis-aggregation architecture, which can be redeployed as required according to function or module, replacing existing high-function, all-in-one dedicated equipment.

Going forward, NTT Com and NTT will jointly investigate further possibilities, including the deployment of PoC to deliver high-speed Ethernet signals, including 400GbE. Mindful of IEEE standardization trends, they will pursue increased flexibility and agility for transmission networks by leveraging dis-aggregated equipment and SDN technologies.

Background

NTT Com achieved its existing 100Gbps-per-channel optical transmission system through the early adoption of digital coherent optical transmitting technology in response to rapidly increasing traffic on its core optical fiber network, as well as expanding video data and cloud services. NTT Com has now taken practical steps to upgrade to 400G transmission technology due to ever-increasing network demands for higher speeds and more data, including for 4K/8K and other high-resolution video data, the full-fledged expansion of IoT and big-data processing.