BT Field Trials Fibre Network with Adtran’s Pluggable 100Gbps Transceiver

Network technology firm Adtran and UK broadband giant BT Group today revealed that they’ve conducted Europe’s “first successful field trial” of optical transport in a live research network, using Adtran’s Coherent 100ZR pluggable transceiver – achieving “high levels of spectral efficiency and low power consumption.”

Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) Optical Transceivers are a compact (a little bigger than a USB flash drive), hot swap-able device (i.e you don’t have to shut down the network to add it) for connecting a network device to a fibre optic network cable. But Adtran’s new kit is said to be the market’s first QSFP28 pluggable device for 100Gbit/s Dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) coherent transmission, which is compliant with the 5W QSFP28 specification.

The new trial is said to have successfully demonstrated the transceiver’s ability to enable the transport of 100Gbit/s wavelengths, over longer distances, across routes at metro and edge aggregation networks, offering scalable and efficient solutions for the future.

The trial itself was conducted across a complex network infrastructure, spanning 90km over a third-party optical line system, incorporating four ROADM nodes and six amplifiers. Utilizing a tight 50GHz ROADM channel, the trial achieved enhanced spectral efficiency. Operating at less than 5 watts, the trial also said to have set new benchmarks for energy efficiency.

Andrew Lord, BT’s Senior Manager of Optics Research, said:

“Adtran’s plug-and-play solution has enabled us to demonstrate the feasibility of boosting capabilities within existing networks and doing so in a cost-effective and scalable manner. As we continue to innovate and push boundaries, technologies like this will be instrumental in achieving our goals for a greener, more efficient telecommunications landscape.”

Ryan Schmidt, GM of Optical Transport at Adtran, said:

“Together with BT Group, we’ve showcased a method for transforming network infrastructure with highly efficient, low-power solutions. It’s a strategy that requires significantly less equipment and fewer sites. The demo also proves the advantages of deploying one amplifier in the optical line system rather than multiple amplifiers within each transceiver module. This streamlined approach helps boost network performance, reduces operational spending and shrinks carbon footprint.

As well as big potential savings – as much as 50% in some cases – this strategy offers a clear path to more sustainable network development.”

The announcement contains a bucket load of jargon, which will no doubt be unfamiliar to some people. But this is all about creating a more energy efficient network, at a lower cost, that can handle greater data capacities and be introduced into BT’s (Openreach) existing live fibre optic network infrastructure.