France Telecom injects Alcatel-Lucent's 100G optical system into key network routes

France Telecom-Orange (NYSE: FTE) is the latest service provider to take the 100G optical challenge, upgrading its fiber route between Paris and London to stay apace of the user's never-ending appetite for bandwidth.

Following a field trial of Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) 1626 Light Manager with 100G coherent technology through the 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) conducted this fall, the incumbent service provider put its first 100G connection into operation at the end of November and a second connection will be available by the end of this December.

During the trial, Alcatel-Lucent upgraded France Telecom's 720 km 10 Gbps Paris to London network route with 100G technology. In addition to demonstrating that the vendor's technology increases the traffic handling capacity of optical fiber links that are already in service by a factor of 10, it showed a reduction in operations and maintenance costs and a lowering of power consumption.

"100G technologies can expand the data capacity of our existing fiber links to the multi-terabit capacity necessary to handle exploding traffic growth over longer distances, with an optimized investment," said Didier Duriez, Senior Vice President International and Backbone Networks Factory at France Telecom-Orange.

The deployment has a number of implications for both France Telecom-Orange and Alcatel-Lucent.

Taking a cue from other large service providers like Verizon (NYSE: VZ), France Telecom-Orange's move to put 100G on some of its key network routes illustrates that it's putting in the infrastructure it needs to support the ongoing growth of its consumer and business service customers.

For Alcatel-Lucent, the win with France's main incumbent is another proof point that it can put in its growing 100G resume, which already includes fellow European carriers like P&TLuxembourg and T-Mobile Czech Republic in addition to Canadian cable MSO Shaw Communications.

For more:
- see the release

Related articles:
Alcatel-Lucent extends the reach of its 100G optical network offering
Alcatel-Lucent Q3 earnings take hit from weakened economy, lower carrier spending
Alcatel-Lucent, TE Subcom expand submarine cable maintenance program
P&TLuxembourg employs Alcatel-Lucent for 100G optical, Ethernet network
Alcatel-Lucent brings light to T-Mobile Czech Republic's 100G transmission network