The Nokia Siemens hiT 7500 ultra-long-haul, dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing platform -- combined with multi-level modulation, polarization multiplexing and coherent detection -- allowed the signal to be carried over ultra-long distances at high-data rates with significantly better chromatic dispersion and polarization-mode-dispersion tolerances than conventional systems.

The field trial also demonstrated that 100 Gbps traffic can be simultaneously transported with any mix of 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps on a typical 80-channel ULH DWDM system. As a result, current network configurations can support capacity upgrades to 100 Gbps per channel on existing routes over similar distances without modification to the physical network, providing quicker, cost-effective implementation.

Like Verizon's previous 100 Gbps trial in late 2007, this field trial also carried the 100 Gbps signal on a single wavelength, demonstrating true 100 Gbps throughput in a serial configuration. In this field trial, the modulation technology enabled an even higher total system capacity of 8 terabits per second. A terabit is one trillion bits.

The technical details of this field trial were presented Thursday (Sept. 25) in Brussels at the prestigious European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) by Verizon's Glenn Wellbrock, director of backbone network design, as an invited paper from Verizon Communications, Nokia Siemens Networks, Siemens PSE DE GmbH & Co. KG, Technical University of Eindhoven, and the University of the Federal Armed Forces.