Alcatel-Lucent brings 100G to the edge

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) today unveiled new 100-gigabit-per-second Ethernet interfaces for its edge networking gear that will be commercially available in the middle of next year.

New line cards for the vendor’s 7750 Service Router and 7450 Ethernet Service Switch will deliver 100G with two options: a single 100G port or 10 10G interfaces that are multiplexed into 100G.

The latter is for service providers that need more than 10G densities to meet growing capacity demands at the edge but aren’t yet ready for 100G speeds. Using 10G links could also help service providers move straight from 10G to 100G and bypass 40G in some areas.

In a recent note, Telecom Pragmatics consultants pointed out that some carriers will prefer using groups of 10-Gb/s interfaces for 100G in order to enjoy the spectral efficiency and low cost of 10G components. They may also find those systems easy to use with their existing networks, where 10G interfaces are common. (Alcatel-Lucent is using its own in-house silicon designs for the new gear.)

However, some carriers will prefer the straight 100G approach, arguing that multiplexing 10 10G links is more difficult to manage and adds too much overhead to the traffic.