100G transport systems: Technology bench-mark testing in China and evolution to Terabit/s interfaces

To meet the exponentially growing demand for bandwidth in Optical Transport Networks (OTNs), 100-Gb/s (100G) coherent technology based on Polarization-Division Multiplexed Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (PDM-QPSK), which enables the capacity of a Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) system to approach 10 Tb/s, is being widely deployed globally. As the first vendor to introduce a single-carrier 100G solution, Alcatel-Lucent has developed key transponder and network management technologies, which are reviewed in this paper together with their commercial evolution to 400G. Focusing on the Chinese market, we also review some key bench-mark testing results obtained in partnership with major Chinese operators. Finally, we discuss enabling technologies that are currently being researched to allow interfaces to scale to Terabit/s rates.