A successful trial held by mobile network operator Verizon in partnership with Ciena has demonstrated the important role enterprise-grade data networks will play in supporting Generative AI and its capability for predictive analytics.
The trial, which was held in Verizon’s live fibre network in Boston, US, Verizon moved 1.6 Tb/s of data in its live fibre network on a single-carrier wavelength using Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) coherent optical solution.
This technology allows data travelling across Verizon’s fibre network to move faster and farther, providing a better customer experience. Additionally, the upgrade to this new equipment will result in higher reliability and energy savings in that portion of the fibre network.
“AI is contingent on analysing billions of data points in real-time on an ongoing basis. Because of the massive, multi-year transformation on Verizon’s network including deploying Cloud native architecture from the core to the Edge, deploying massive amounts of high-performing spectrum, exponentially increasing the capacity of our fibre infrastructure and deploying advanced technologies and intelligence throughout the network, Verizon’s network provides the ability to power the processes and movements of AI-generated activity,” explained Adam Koeppe, SVP of Technology Strategy and Planning at Verizon. “This continued advancement of our fibre network will further position us to be the provider of choice for AI workloads now and in the future.”
The trial took place over a 118km Boston metro route that consisted of 10 hops and passed through nine reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs). The trial over this live metro network validated the performance of 1.6 Tb/s using WL6e in a flexible, dense ROADM environment.
According to Ciena, its WL6e is the industry’s first high-bandwidth coherent transceiver using state-of-the-art 3nm silicon to drive significant economic benefits for operators, including a 50% reduction in space and power per bit. WL6e provides massive 1.6 Tb/s, single-carrier wavelengths for metro ROADM deployments and maximizes network coverage for 800G connectivity.
“Ciena’s WL6e is designed to cater to AI traffic growth and the continuing surge in bandwidth-intensive applications,” said Brodie Gage, Senior Vice President, Global Products & Supply Chain, Ciena. “WL6e uses coherent DSP innovations to provide the highest capacity over fibre, which will support Verizon’s throughput and capacity goals, supporting more traffic and faster speeds than ever before.”
