Ciena is extending its leadership in coherent optics with its latest WaveLogic technology that supports greater scale, programmability and intelligence from network edge to core.

As cloud, internet of things (IoT), video, 5G, fiber deep and edge computing continue to create unpredictability for network operators of all types, customer demand is increasing for coherent optical solutions spanning long-haul, metro, 4G/5G access, and data centre interconnect (DCI) applications. Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 innovation addresses these customer requirements through a range of coherent solutions for vastly improved network economics, reach, cost, power and footprint.

The market-leading Ciena technology will be delivered in two solutions – WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) and WaveLogic 5 Nano (WL5n) – to address the need for both performance-optimised and footprint-optimised solutions. In WL5e, tunable bandwidth up to 800G provides significant efficiency advantages over 600G solutions and allows customers to take greater advantage of the pending introduction of 400G interfaces in the data center. In WL5n, a range of form factors allows customers to choose the best option in meeting network architecture requirements for certain applications based on specific space, power and operational requirements.

Commenting on the development, Scott McFeely, senior vice president of global products and services, Ciena, said, “An important part of Ciena’s success has always been our ability to anticipate market trends and strategically invest and out-innovate the competition to solve our customers business problems. WaveLogic 5 is another example of that leadership ability at work, underpinned by the financial strength, global scale and superior engineering expertise that affords us the confidence in continuing to deliver as promised on our forward roadmap commitments.”

Key Facts

WL5e provides programmable capacity in 50G increments over the industry’s first single-wavelength 800G solution. The technology leapfrogs the nearest competitive offerings by delivering 50 percent more capacity per wavelength and up to 20 percent higher spectral efficiency. WL5e also enables an elegant evolution to emerging 400GbE-interface routers, with the ability to efficiently transport 400GbE client rates at any distance, from across the metro to across the ocean.

WL5n addresses the market of footprint-optimized coherent solutions for 100G-400G applications. It supports a range of solutions that meet specific space, power and operational requirements, from standalone pluggables for 400ZR single-span DCI applications, to extended-temperature, standards-based optical modules for access applications, to compact coherent optics with seamless photonic layer integration for certain metro/regional applications.

With WaveLogic 5, Ciena has focused its investment in key foundational technologies beyond digital signal processing (DSP) to include high-speed electro-optic components based on both silicon photonics and indium phosphide. This gives Ciena full control of the design of its coherent optical solutions to accelerate innovation and deliver significant time-to-market and cost advantages for customers.

The WaveLogic 5 solutions will begin to become available in the second half of 2019. WL5e and WL5n technology will be offered across Ciena’s Converged Packet Optical and Packet Networking portfolios, and will also be made available for use in third-party equipment via Ciena’s Optical Microsystems portfolio.