Ciena's WaveRouter, now powered by WaveLogic 6 Extreme, is set to achieve an unmatched level of scale, performance, and spectral efficiency by integrating the industry’s only 1.6T solution. Wayne Hickey explains how Ciena is transforming IP and optical convergence to meet the demands of even the most challenging metro aggregation networks.
As the demand for high-capacity cloud on-ramps continues to surge, fueled by the ever-increasing need for AI applications, network operators face the challenge of managing the growing complexity of supporting a diverse range of IP and optical services. With the rise in application traffic, the pressure to control costs becomes even more critical. In this dynamic landscape, finding efficient solutions that strike a balance between scalability, performance, and cost-effectiveness is paramount.
Figure 1: WaveRouter 2, 7, and 13
WaveRouter Family: Redefining the boundaries of networking excellence
The WaveRouter family is once again making waves in the industry by becoming the world's first available 1.6T coherent router. This achievement represents a significant milestone in networking technology, as it enables network operators to handle massive amounts of data traffic with unparalleled ease and proficiency.
Coherent Routing: You choose. 400G, 800G, or 1.6T !
Ciena’s WaveRouter, a part of our Coherent Routing solution, now combines high-performance WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) modems, advanced modulation techniques, and digital signal processing, with advanced IP capabilities. This powerful combination achieves unmatched levels of scale and DWDM integration.
With its 1.6T coherent routing capabilities, WaveRouter meets the growing demand for high-speed connectivity, ensuring seamless performance for bandwidth-intensive applications like AI, video streaming, cloud computing, and IoT. The integration of WL6e modems into WaveRouter marks a significant advancement in transport and networking technologies, enabling unparalleled capacity and convergence for terrestrial and submarine networks.
With two choices, operators can now leverage both footprint and performance-optimized optics within a single platform to address capacity and reach requirements while right-sizing their deployments for power, space, and cost. The continued integration of IP and optical technologies promotes streamlined operations with Navigator Network Control Suite (Navigator NCS), which correlates L0 to L3 parameters within a single unified data model, enabling advanced multi-layer coordination use cases.
But Ciena's innovation doesn't stop there. Let’s take a look at the industry leading technology enabling WaveRouter to help network operators transform their networks.
Pluggable optics: Flexibility meets scalability
Along with the world's first 1.6 Tb/s embedded modem for submarine and terrestrial applications, the WaveRouter family of products also unleashes the power of pluggable optics. Pluggable optics technology allows for easy and flexible installation of optical transceivers, enabling network operators to upgrade and scale their networks with minimal disruption. With WaveRouter's pluggable optics compatibility, network operators can achieve a cost-effective implementation of coherent DWDM, eliminating the requirement for embedded modems or dedicated transponders.
Automation and efficiency: The WaveRouter advantage
WaveRouter's advancements in pluggable optics and embedded modems offer network operators a range of benefits beyond increased capacity. With advanced traffic engineering, WaveRouter’s modem capabilities optimize network efficiency and resource utilization, ensuring maximum throughput and reduced congestion. Its built-in automation and management features simplify network operations, reducing manual configuration and minimizing downtime. Furthermore, Ciena's extensive experience and expertise in the networking industry provide network operators with confidence in the reliability and operational effectiveness of WaveRouter.
Unleashing the full potential of WaveLogic 6 Extreme
Part of Navigator NCS, Ciena’s Liquid Spectrum uses cutting-edge analytics to deliver unparalleled visibility and insights for optimizing optical network assets. This means operators have the tools at their fingertips to optimize performance across multiple layers– starting from the photonic layer, to extract the most value from their infrastructure investment. These intelligent AI-driven apps help operators ensure efficient utilization of available spectrum, maximize networking efficiencies, and enable high-speed, reliable data transmission while reducing OPEX.
With WaveRouter and Navigator NCS, network operators can unlock the full capabilities of WaveLogic 6 Extreme 1.6 Tb/s capacity to meet the ever-increasing demands of modern communication networks.
Comprehensive range of services for modern networking demands
Finally, WaveRouter enables a comprehensive range of services, including L2VPN, EVPN, and IPVPN, which are supported by SR (Segment Routing) or RSVP-TE transport over a multi-layer infrastructure. These services enable network operators to achieve versatile and efficient connectivity solutions.
WaveRouter excels as a high-speed PE (Provider Edge) router, providing seamless connectivity for demanding applications. It also serves as a converged metro/regional router, consolidating network functions and simplifying operations. Additionally, WaveRouter functions as an LSR (Label Switching Router), enabling efficient traffic forwarding and optimized network performance.
With its diverse use cases, WaveRouter proves to be a highly capable and adaptable solution for modern networking needs.
Enabling the future of connectivity
Ciena's WaveRouter is transforming network connectivity through its innovative coherent routing technology. Leveraging the world’s first coherent 1.6Tb/s innovation and seamless compatibility with 800 Gb/s pluggable optics, it empowers network operators to address the escalating need for high-speed connectivity and effectively manage the complexities of growing data traffic. WaveRouter's advanced features, coupled with Ciena's expertise, guarantee exceptional performance, scalability, and dependability, and is uniquely positioned to assist operators in meeting the unmatched surge in data requirements.