TIM Brasil and Xtera deploy 100G optical network

TIM Brasil, the fastest growing operator in Brazil, selected and deployed 100G optical networking equipment supplied by Xtera Communications, Inc., a leading global provider of optical networking solutions, on a long-haul transmission infrastructure in north east Brazil. This infrastructure links Salvador and Fortaleza, the capital cities of the Bahia and Ceara states, respectively, using a terrestrial Dispersion-Shifted Fiber (DSF) spanning more than 1,000 km. Fortaleza is also the landing point for several high-capacity submarine cables connecting Brazil with North America and Europe. Xtera's 100G solution enabled TIM Brasil to achieve a tenfold capacity increase from the previous implementation of this route.

Wednesday, 18th December 2013 Posted 11 years ago in by Phil Alsop

"The investments in innovation which enabled us to be the first operator to achieve 4 Tbit/s of capacity, with minimum regeneration in such a challenging link, reinforce TIM's commitment to improve and expand its networks throughout Brazil," said Cicero Olivieri, Director of Fixed & Transport Network of TIM Brasil. "This benefits not only our customers but also our international partners, who, with the approach of the World Cup and Olympics, require reliable and robust terrestrial connections for their traffic passing through the submarine cables in Fortaleza."

"This deployment further illustrates the value of Xtera's 100G solution for high-capacity backbone infrastructure in diverse network environments. Our advanced, integrated and field-proven Raman optical amplification technology, based on distributed optical gain inside the line fiber, has enabled TIM Brasil to increase capacity tenfold," said Manuel Andrade, SVP Sales Americas of Xtera. "This was achieved over a fiber plant that was originally designed for a single wavelength carrying a STM-16 signal thus maximizing the value of TIM Brasil optical fiber asset. Xtera efficiently addressed the challenges of deploying the system and migrating traffic in record time with close cooperation with TIM Brasil and our local implementation partner Tellabs do Brasil."

DSF is a fiber type that was standardized (ITU-T G.653) to enable single-wavelength transmission at the wavelengths where optical fiber attenuation is minimal (in the 1550 nm region) with no need for chromatic dispersion compensation. With the advent of Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM), DSF turned out to be a poor choice for high-capacity links. In addition to 100G coherent detection and soft-decision forward error correction, Xtera's Nu-Wave Optima(TM) features advanced Raman distributed optical amplification which minimizes the amount of nonlinearities and maximizes the capacity carried by the DSF fiber.

Xtera's Nu-Wave Optima(TM) platform is a unique modular optical transport system designed to lower the total cost of ownership by using a common, integrated set of modules for long-haul, unrepeatered and regional repeatered submarine applications.

The proven, multi-purpose Nu-Wave Optima(TM) platform supports Xtera's XWDM solution for high-capacity, long-haul optical networking in real network conditions. This is made possible by combining the industry's most powerful 30 Gbaud technology with the industry's most advanced line equipment based on Raman amplification. For terrestrial backbone networks, the Nu-Wave Optima(TM) equipment delivers unrivaled line capacities of 15 Tbit/s on more than 4,500 km, and 64 Tbit/s on more than 1,500 km with no intermediate regeneration. For unrepeatered applications, a capacity of 15 Tbit/s was recently transmitted on more than 370 km.