Alcatel-Lucent takes 100 Gbps optical gear commercial

Alcatel-Lucent on Wednesday said that it will launch the first commercially available optical networking technology that can carry 100 gigabits per second on a wavelength.

The company said it is using its so-called Next-Generation Coherent technology. The gear, which is designed to handle the bandwidth requirements demanded by Web video, file sharing and movie downloads, has sold the 100 Gbps equipment to a customer. The Next-Generation Coherent technology is also in field trials with more than 20 service providers including Telefonica.

Softbank Telecom has signed up for the 100 Gbps technology via Alcatel-Lucent's 1830 Photonic Service Switch.

Alcatel-Lucent is trying to gain some first-mover advantage against Cisco Systems. Indeed, Cisco last month bought CoreOptics, which focuses on 100 Gbps transmission technology. Cisco said CoreOptics will allow Cisco to equip service providers with 100 Gbps gear.

To get a feel for 100 Gbps consider that the technology can transfer more than 100,000 MP3 files in 60 seconds or more than 15,000 HDTV channels streamed live.

According to Alcatel-Lucent, its technology was developed internally and is compatible with slower carrier equipment operating at 10 and 40 Gbps. The 100 Gbps equipment is part of Lucent's High Leverage Network architecture.

Related: Alcatel-Lucent upgrades wireless portfolio; Enables tiered data plans, LTE