RASCOM and Ciena light first 100G link from Russia to Western Europe

Russian carrier RASCOM is deploying Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform to support the 100G upgrade and network expansion of a route connecting Russia to Western Europe. This critical international network provides RASCOM’s wholesale and enterprise customers with a fully redundant ring architecture supporting cross-border traffic and the region’s first 100GE services.

RASCOM is a leading telecommunications operator targeting service providers and large enterprises with a private 8,600 km next-generation international network covering key geographical areas for cross-border traffic. The recently expanded international network is based on Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and includes WaveLogic 3 coherent processors. It connects Moscow in Russia to Western Europe through St. Petersburg and the Nordic countries and is fully redundant, including a ring topology linking the cities of Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Copenhagen.

The network is believed to be the first 100G route connecting Russia to Western Europe and provides carrier and enterprise customers with low-latency connectivity and the region’s first international 100GE services.

The Ciena-based infrastructure supports up to 8.8 Tb/s of traffic and enables RASCOM to run 10, 40, and 100G wavelengths simultaneously and easily scale (sections of) the network to 100G and beyond to support new services and increasing customer demand.

Ciena’s Common Photonic Layer supports ROADM functionality in RASCOM’s entire network, which covers a very large and diverse geography, including taxing terrain and underwater links. That means wavelength add/drops can be remotely configured at any node point in the network - providing system simplicity and full agility for the addition and routing of new services.