Infinera today announced the first successful demonstration of a 100 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) optical signal enhanced with Soft Decision Forward Error Correction (SD-FEC) across Telstra Global’s dedicated fibre pair within Segment S5 of AAG Hawaii to California submarine cable. Infinera’s SD-FEC technology has the potential to double the transmission capacity of existing submarine cables. This trial demonstrates the power of SD-FEC in concert with Infinera’s long haul FlexCoherent™ super-channel technology and how it can optimize both reach and capacity on submarine cables worldwide.
The subsea trial was performed over Telstra Global’s dedicated fibre pair within Segment 5 of the AAG cable, connecting San Luis Obispo in Southern California to the island of Oahu in Hawaii and spanning 4,200 km across the Pacific. The trial was staged using Infinera’s DTN-X platform and a prototype super-channel line card enabled with Infinera’s 3rd generation FlexCoherent™ Processor for real time SD-FEC processing combined with the industry’s only 500 Gb/s Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs).
Using the additional error recovery capability enabled by the SD-FEC, multiple Infinera FlexCoherent modulation formats were able to close this link with no bit errors detected. The SD-FEC enabled higher order modulation formats to be used which could allow Telstra to increase the available capacity on this link increasing the commercial life of the cable in the face of aggressive increases in internet demand. A key characteristic of Infinera’s FlexCoherent™ technology is that the line card can be configured for a specific modulation format via simple software controls, increasing flexibility and maximizing capacity and reach while lowering operational and inventory sparing costs.
Telstra Global is a part of Telstra Corporation Limited, Australia’s leading telecommunications and media services company and owner of one of the most technologically advanced IP backbone networks in the world. Telstra’s dedicated fibre pair within Segment S5 of the AAG submarine cable is part of a system of cables linking the powerhouse economies of Australia and the Far East to the West Coast of the United States. Telstra Global forecasts more than 60% annual growth in its trans-Pacific submarine cable traffic over the next three years.