Orange and Nokia report the first successful trial of 5th-generation optical technology over a live pan-European network

Orange and Nokia have achieved the successful completion of a significant trial testing 5th generation Photonic Service Engine (PSE-V) chipsets over a live transmission on the Orange network in June 2020. Among the direct applications of this technology, there will be possibilities to support the new ultra-high bitrate services on long-distance networks and the broadcasting of large-scale live sports events.

Over three weeks, tests were run alongside live commercial traffic on the Orange International Networks Infrastructures and Services pan-European backbone. The tests were conducted from Paris’s network node to 15 Points of Presence (PoPs) creating 400Gbps services with reaches up to 3400km, enabling non-stop transmission from Paris to anywhere in Europe and beyond. In addition, bitrates up to 600Gbps with spectral efficiency of more than 6 Gbits/s/GHz have been implemented over paths longer than 1000km.

This opens new possibilities to interconnect European data center hubs as well as integrating them into new generation global submarine systems and allows to carry 27Tbps on a single pair of fibers between Paris and Lyon for example.

This new technology allows tripling of the total transported capacity on long haul links and also a reduction by 50% of energy consumption, thanks to the performance leap offered by thebubuc Probabilistic Constellation Shaping (PCS) , while leveraging the existing highly flexible and future proof infrastructure.