As Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Nano nears commercial availability, it is an ideal time to provide our outlook on the growing market for pluggable coherent optics, the widening range of applications they serve, and what it takes to maximize the value of pluggable deployments.
Ciena’s 800G coherent pluggable, WaveLogicTM 6 Nano, is set to become generally available in the first half of this calendar year—an important milestone at a pivotal moment, with hyperscalers and cloud providers ramping up to meet AI application demand. The deployment of higher-rate coherent pluggable transceivers, starting with 800G this year, will play a key role in supporting the expansion and distribution of data center network architectures.
At the same time, the market for 400G coherent pluggables remains strong. Cloud providers are deploying 400G at scale for data center interconnect, and communications service providers (CSPs) are deploying 400G pluggables to drive convergence of IP and optical layers, particularly in metro networks. The momentum behind these trends is accelerating and will continue for years to come.
Evolution of pluggable use cases
Undeniably, pluggables will make a growing contribution to bandwidth deployment over the next 3 to 5 years. At a time when optimizing for space and power are of paramount importance, pluggables fit the bill. In addition, pluggables have advanced in technological capability, supporting more transmission modes and network applications.
An excellent example of this trend is Alabama Fiber Network’s (AFN) deployment of Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Nano for middle-mile 400G transport. AFN uses WaveLogic 5 Nano’s (WL5n) high-performance, extended-reach PKT-MAX mode in third-party routers to support regional and long-haul transport distances. In fact, with PKT-MAX, AFN can extend 400G pluggable connectivity across 65% more paths in their network compared to using only interoperable 400ZR+, minimizing the number of coherent pluggables and regens required, along with their associated costs, latency, and power. AFN’s middle mile network, which aligns to Ciena’s Coherent Routing vision, also takes advantage of Ciena’s 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS). By combining WL5n with RLS, AFN optimizes link engineering and programmability over middle-mile routes to operate a highly efficient optical transport layer.
This example and many others like it demonstrate the importance of having choice in pluggable transmission modes to best serve the application at hand. With WaveLogic 6 Nano, which is based on the industry’s first 3nm coherent ASIC, Ciena will continue supporting a broad range of transmission modes including OIF 800ZR and OpenROADM 800ZR+, in addition to high-performance 800G modes that extend connectivity across more links.
Pluggables or embedded – what’s the best fit?
As pluggables gain traction across an increasing number of network applications, our customers are looking to strike the right balance between deploying pluggables and embedded coherent modems to meet their demands. The incredible early success of WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e), which became commercially available last October, illustrates the ongoing and critical need for embedded coherent solutions. As disclosed in our first fiscal quarter earnings report, Ciena added 20 WL6e customers in the first quarter alone.
Whereas pluggables are optimized for space and power, embedded solutions like WL6e—the industry’s only 1.6T coherent modem—are an ideal fit for links that require superior spectral efficiency and/or ultra-high performance. Our experience with a diverse range of network operators shows many subsea, long-haul, and regional applications where WL6e’s raw capacity, spectral efficiency, and sustainability advantages result in higher performance and lower total cost of ownership than pluggable alternatives.
Simply put, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to solving the increasingly complex scaling challenges faced by network operators. As a leading innovator in embedded and pluggable solutions, Ciena works with you to match the best solution to your needs.
There’s more to plugs than plugs
One of the most anticipated (yet not fully realized) benefits of pluggables is the ability to deploy them in a standards-based, interoperable manner, enabling network operators to use the best pluggable in the host system they prefer. Despite progress towards this goal, hurdles remain with respect to provisioning, troubleshooting, and optimizing performance over converged networks utilizing pluggables. In addition, some vendors have fallen short of meeting interoperability requirements to either protect their host systems incumbency or to promote non-standard, proprietary solutions that lock in an operator to a single-vendor solution.
At Ciena, we have embraced open interoperability. We have assumed a leadership role in driving the Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS), which provides a standardized interface for the management and monitoring of pluggables within a host router. Beyond CMIS, we have advanced our multi-layer network control solution—Navigator Network Control Suite (Navigator NCS)—to interoperate with Ciena or third-party pluggables in either Ciena or third-party hosts. Our approach is based on open standards in line with YANG data models, NETCONF protocol, and current IETF drafts focused on the management of pluggables in converged IP/optical networks. Standing apart from the competition, Ciena has demonstrated many successful proof points in multi-vendor environments.
Figure 2: Example visualization of multi-vendor infrastructure with coherent pluggables
Another critical factor in the success of your pluggable deployments is planning for and optimizing how pluggables will work with the photonic layer. Link engineering expertise and resources are essential for getting the most out of your pluggables, especially in ROADM-based networks. In addition, it is essential—though not yet commonplace—to have end-to-end service visibility and programmability of the host system, pluggable, and photonic layer to ensure your network performs at its best.
In these areas, Ciena’s expertise and portfolio solutions are unmatched. With a massive installed base of open, programmable line systems proven and trusted across an extensive range of operator networks, Ciena can help you unify and optimize the deployment of pluggables and line systems to maximize your return on optical network investment.
Come see us at OFC
As the world demands more from optical networks, Ciena is leading the way with innovative, forward-thinking solutions. Want to see them firsthand? Join us in our booth at OFC to experience the latest innovations discussed here: WaveLogic 6 Nano; Navigator NCS managing coherent pluggables, also part of OIF interoperability tests; demonstrations of Ciena’s complete portfolio of programmable photonic layer solutions, and much more.
