VTN and Ciena complete successful coherent 100G network trial in Vietnam

The successful trial proves the operator can leverage its existing network assets to cost-effectively upgrade its nationwide core backbone network as bandwidth demands continue to increase, driven in large part by the aggregation of network traffic from across the country for voice, video, broadband, mobile services and large-scale provincial Carrier Ethernet networks.

The trial was conducted in February 2011, spanned 500 kilometres between the cities of Vinh and Danang, and follows the recent deployment of Ciena’s coherent 40G solution across VTN’s nationwide optical backbone.

Using the ActivFlex 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, VTN was able to seamlessly add coherent 100G lines to its in-service network with no re-engineering of existing fiber routes or additional equipment required.

“The successful trial of coherent 100G technology on our network provides us with a seamless upgrade path from 10G and 40G to 100G to accommodate the growth of high-bandwidth services like IPTV, broadband Internet, 3G mobile traffic and Ethernet business services,” said Luong Manh Hoang, managing director of VTN.

“With plans to more than double our network capacity during the next few years, Ciena’s solution provides a painless evolution path to 100G through the use of proven coherent optical technology and extensive field experience, giving us confidence that we can continue to grow the total capacity of our backbone network today and into the future as demand requires.”

“The ability of our ActivFlex 6500 to carry 10G, 40G and 100G wavelengths on a single shelf gives service providers like VTN tremendous flexibility for adding capacity to their network without disrupting existing services,” said Anthony McLachlan, vice president and general manager, Asia Pacific, Ciena.

“Our unique coherent and electronic dispersion compensation technologies – where we have a two- and five-year development lead respectively – allow VTN to upgrade individual wavelengths to 100G with the simple addition of transponder cards while utilizing existing fiber assets and reducing operational cost and complexity.”

The pioneer in coherent technology for optical transmission, Ciena is also the market leader in this area, with more than 6,000 coherent 40G/100G line interfaces shipped to more than 75 customers across the globe, including deployments in eight countries across the Asia Pacific region.