Vodafone New Zealand announced that it will work with optical transport systems partner Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) to enable 800-Gbps data center interconnect between facilities in Auckland. The fiber network upgrade will help Vodafone manage network requirements in support of its recently launched 5G service.
Digital and connectivity services provider Vodafone is implementing Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) coherent optical engine on line cards plugged into Vodafone New Zealand’s previously fielded Ciena 6500 packet-optical transport platforms.
The new capabilities will enable the service provider to offer transmission rates from 200 to 800 Gbps. The provider also will see a 50% reduction in power consumption, notes Ciena.
Tony Baird, Wholesale and Infrastructure Director at Vodafone, commented: “Ciena’s innovative 800G coherent optics enable Vodafone New Zealand to execute on our vision to provide New Zealanders with access to the world’s best digital services. With Ciena’s WL5e, Vodafone will provide increased bandwidth for a plethora of data-hungry applications, especially necessary as we’ve seen both increases and spikes of data used during the past few months, a trend that is only set to continue as remote working becomes more widespread and New Zealand gears up for a more digitally-focused future. The highly advanced data transport system has been deployed together with Vodafone’s optical partner Ciena and test equipment experts Viavi.”
As noted by CablingInstall.com's sister publication, Lightwave: "Vodafone New Zealand is a longstanding Ciena customer. The service provider leveraged Ciena technology for New Zealand’s first 100G link in 2012 and added 400G capabilities in 2017. As was the case with the 100G deployment, this new 800G deployment is the first in the country."