Allied Fiber, Coriant hold 1 Terabit super-channel trial on southeast Florida network

Allied Fiber, a dark fiber provider, is pushing the limits of its existing fiber by completing a 1 terabit (Tbps) super-channel transmission trial over a 1,700 km ring connecting West Palm Beach to Jacksonville, Fla., using Coriant's FlexiGrid technology.

The trial was conducted on Allied Fiber's Technology Showcase, which sits within its southeast Florida segment that covers more than 360 miles throughout the state of Florida and is available to any service provider that needs connectivity in this area.

Leveraging Coriant's hiT 7300 Multi-Haul Transport Platform, Allied Fiber said the "trial was established to show network operators how the Coriant solution works together with the Allied Fiber infrastructure to enable connections between access networks, including fiber and wireless, through to long-haul carrier, content and enterprise networks through points of interconnection within the Allied Fiber system."

During the trial, the two companies demonstrated 1 Tbps super-channel transmission in a 368.7 gigahertz (GHz) grid over 1,700 km. This trial also showed what they claimed was a greater than 35 percent improvement in spectral efficiency, which significantly increases the capacity of the system compared to conventional fixed grid technology.

In addition, the network experiment focused on how to better use existing fiber network resources by allocating the 1 Tbps super-channel by placing it in three separate locations within the C-band. By using this capability, the companies were able to gain a spectral efficiency of 3.4 bits per second per Hertz (b/s/Hz), while providing a maximum fiber capacity of 13 Tbps over a distance of 1,700 km on field-installed fiber while using commercial-grade equipment.

The demonstration highlights how Allied Fiber is using its newly installed Corning SMF 28e+ fiber and how it performed carrying 1 terabit transmission.

Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber, said in an interview with FierceTelecom that while there's a lot of movement to 100G, the real need is to get bandwidth speeds of 400G and terabit.  

"We're doing this trial as a showcase," Newby said. "One of the trends we're seeing is that 100 Gig does not cut; you want to go to 400 Gig. We decided to step up to show people that terabit superchannels exist and vendors like Coriant that have it are game to be in the Allied system and we're game to show people we're open and neutral."

Newby added that "we're like the showroom floor where a service provider, content provider, or an enterprise can buy it if they like it." 

For more:
- see the release

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Updated article on July 17 with quotes from Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber.