Tellabs adds OTN switching to optical transport system

Tellabs said today it will support optical transport network switching on its 7100 optical transport system. “We’re adding it to a system that supports ROADM, packet switching and aggregation, Sonet/SDH and now also OTN switching,” said Tellabs Global Portfolio Staff Manager Bill Kautz in an interview with Connected Planet.

Kautz said OTN can lower per-bit transport costs by as much as 80%. Unlike with traditional WDM systems that require separate wavelengths for separate services, OTN enables multiple services to share the same wavelength, enabling each wavelength to carry more total traffic, he said.

Previously an OTN multiplexer module was available for the 7100 but it did not provide switching capability. That module has been deployed primarily in business services applications, Kautz said.

With the new capabilities announced today, the 7100 now can switch at the optical transport layer, at the electronic layer and at the sub-wavelength level, said Kautz. “If you can fill [a wavelength] up early and switch at the wavelength, that will give you the lowest cost per bit,” he explained.

Kautz expects the new OTN switching capability in the 7100 to have the greatest initial appeal to wireline carriers because of the wide variety of traffic types they must support. But eventually he believes wireless carriers also will be interested in OTN switching capability.