Supporting more than 250 customers across the globe, WaveLogic 5 lays the foundation for modern networks

Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) has reached an incredible milestone, surpassing 100,000 modems shipped of its industry-leading WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) programmable 800G technology, providing the foundations for metro, long-haul, and submarine networks that support ever-increasing bandwidth demands and are more energy efficient.

Ciena’s WL5e has brought new levels of scale, programmability, energy advantages and economics to leading service and content providers around the world. The industry’s first 800G solution, WL5e offers programmable capacity from 200G to 800G, and the ability to evolve to high-speed, ubiquitous 400GbE connectivity across any path in the network. Ciena also offers the WaveLogic 5 Nano family of footprint-optimized solutions, comprised of 100-400G pluggable coherent optics.

Key Facts:

  • WL5e has been shipped to more than 250 customers across 68 countries around the world.
  • 100,000 WL5e modems are transmitting more than 50 Petabits/sec of data, which is equal to the entire world streaming an HD video at the same time with capacity remaining.
  • The energy efficiency savings from the 100,000 WL5e modem shipments is equal to more than 82,000 metric tonnes of C02 emissions avoided annually, which is comparable to not using 9 million gallons of gasoline.
  • A single WL5e modem can fit in the palm of your hand. In fact, 100,000 WL5e modems stacked on top of each other would only cover one-third of a kilometer or .22 of a mile.
  • Since its introduction in 2008, the WaveLogic line of products has delivered up to 40 times more capacity over fiber and more than 90% reduction in Watts/Gbps for Ciena customers.

Executive Comments:

  • “Ciena took an early lead in 800G technology when launching WaveLogic 5 and the volume of shipments shows the demand for high-performance coherent solutions is robust. We don’t see that demand waning with the next speed generation such as 1.6-Tbps capable WaveLogic 6, which will be a critical technology for sustainably growing networks to meet bandwidth demand that is rising 30% each year. We anticipate that in five years over 50% of capacity additions will come from DWDM systems built with sixth-generation coherent DSPs.”

    - Jimmy Yu, Vice President and lead on Optical Transport Market Research, Dell’Oro Group
  • “To reach this milestone of 100,000 WaveLogic 5 Extreme modems shipped is hugely significant for Ciena, and a testament to both the quality of our technology and the size of our global footprint. Our pursuit to push the boundaries of optical performance is far from over, and we’re pleased to say customers have already made purchase orders for our next-generation WaveLogic 6 technology, which we’ll begin shipping next year.”

    - Dino DiPerna, Senior Vice President, Global Research & Development, Ciena

Ciena has a long history in technology innovation designed to help service providers do more with less – less power, less space and less cost. Ciena continues to create new innovations to help network providers address growing bandwidth demands. In February 2023, Ciena unveiled WaveLogic 6 which will support up to 1.6Tb/s single-carrier wavelengths for metro ROADM deployments, 800Gb/s over the longest links, and energy-efficient 800G pluggables across 1000km distances. WL6 will be supported across a range of Ciena’s optical and routing and switching platforms and will also be made available for use in third-party solutions.

About Ciena
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a global leader in networking systems, services, and software. We build the most adaptive networks in the industry, enabling customers to anticipate and meet ever-increasing digital demands. For three-plus decades, Ciena has brought our humanity to our relentless pursuit of innovation. Prioritizing collaborative relationships with our customers, partners, and communities, we create flexible, open, and sustainable networks that better serve all users—today and into the future. For updates on Ciena, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, the Ciena Insights blog, or visit www.ciena.com.

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