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COMMENTARY

THE ROAD TO 100G DEPLOYMENT

GLENN WELLBROCK AND TIEJUN J. XIA
Abstract
This article contains a detailed review of the field trials and
eventual deployment of 100 Gb/s at Verizon including test
setup, measured results, and industry first deployment data.
New data-centric applications continue to drive double
digit traffic growth rates [1, 2]. To increase capacity of the
transport network, several approaches have been studied. Of
these methods, three stand out: using higher data rates, wider
amplifier bandwidth, and/or narrower channel spacing.
Because higher data rates can be supported on existing systems, this is the most likely first step. To that end, Verizon
conducted three separate field trials using 100 Gb/s per wavelength. The intent is to establish performance expectations
and push the industry toward similar solutions so that the
entire ecosystem of component, subsystem, and system suppliers work together to bring products to market quicker and at
better cost points. While the amplifier has always been an
integral part of any line system, it becomes even more important when advanced modulation formats and very-high-end
signal processing are used to mitigate fiber impairments like
polarization mode dispersion (PMD) and chromatic dispersion (CD). In this regime system reach is dictated primarily by
optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) tolerance. Granted, very
sophisticated forward error correction (FEC) algorithms are
being developed, but the amplifier is a key building block to
achieve ultra-long-haul (ULH) distances.
100 Gb/s technology development is a major breakthrough
for the next-generation transport network. In the foreseeable
future, Internet traffic is expected to grow at a fast pace
because of bandwidth-hungry services, such as video services,
large-scale data storage and mirroring, increased social networking, real-time gaming, and other services taking advantage
of broadband communications. In the past several years U.S.
broadband services have grown about 40 percent annually [1].
In the next several years global Internet traffic will likely maintain a similar, if not higher, growth rate [2]. Figure 1 shows
global IP traffic predictions up to 2012. In 2012 global IP traffic is expected to exceed 40 exabytes (1018 bytes) per month,
of which consumer IP traffic is the largest portion. Increased
50
Mobile IP
Business IP
Consumer IP

Global IP traffic (EB/month)

40

Source: Ref. [2]

30

20

10

0
2006

2007

2008

2009

Figure 1. Global IP traffic growth.

S14

2010

2011

2012

Internet traffic growth is driving large carriers to prepare to

provide enough bandwidth to meet market demand.
While carriers and service providers feel the urgency to
develop more powerful networks, equipment suppliers also
feel that urgency. In the optical transport equipment community technology development is chasing the pace of bandwidth
demand growth. In terms of channel data rates 100 Gb/s is the
next step. Most recently, 100 Gb/s development has gained
huge momentum [321]. Figure 2 shows the trajectory of 100
Gb/s dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) evolution based on published papers from major optical communication conferences. If transport capability is defined as
capacity times distance in a unit of Pb/s-km, 100 Gb/s capability quickly grows from below 1 Pb/s-km to near 100 Pb/s-km in
less than three years. This is a result of tremendous industrial
investment. This result proves the 100 Gb/s optical channel is
able to match, if not exceed, the performance of the traditional 10G channel but with 10 times the capacity for each fiber.
In 2007 the first real-time traffic carried by a single-wavelength
100 Gb/s channel over a deployed long-haul system was accomplished [2225]. This trial demonstrated that 100 Gb/s channels
can be overlaid onto an existing in-service DWDM infrastructure,
which would provide notable economic advantages for carriers. In
a joint field trial with Verizon and Alcatel-Lucent, a 107 Gb/s
channel carrying live video traffic traveled over a 504 km in-service
DWDM route between Tampa and Miami, Florida. The 100 Gb/s
channel propagated together with nine commercial 10 Gb/s channels. This long-haul system is a 50-GHz-spaced Raman-pumped
DWDM system. The 100 Gb/s channel was added at the Tampa
ROADM as an alien wavelength and dropped at a ROADM in
Miami. Figure 3 shows the field configuration for the trial.
The modulation format used in this 100 Gb/s trial was
return-to-zero differential quadrature phase shift keying (RZDQPSK) at 53.5 Gbaud with all the necessary real-time signal
processing functions. At the transmitter, an OC192 signal,
which contained live HDTV traffic in a GbE channel, was
tapped optically from Verizons national video service network
and fed to the client port of the 100 Gb/s equipment. The 107
Gb/s RZ-DQPSK signal was then fed into a reconfigurable
optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) and transmitted over
504 km. Then the signal was dropped using a different
ROADM and fed into the 100 Gb/s receiver. The original OC192 signal containing the live HDTV video traffic was then
reconstructed in the receiver. The OC-192 was fed into an
ADM to re-create the GbE channel, which was then fed into a
video test set to extract different HDTV channels for display.
During the trial, neither synchronous optical network (SONET)
errors nor video signal defects were observed on the 100 Gb/s
wavelength, and all 10 Gb/s channels remained error-free.
Many modulation formats have been proposed for longdistance 100 Gb/s transmission. Taking advantage of mature
DWDM technology and balancing capacity and reach distance, dual polarization quadrature phase shift keying (DPQPSK) with coherent detection is gaining more attention over
other modulation formats for 100 Gb/s transport equipment
[26]. The baud rate of DP-QPSK 100 Gb/s channel is a quarter of the data rate, so the channel easily fits into a 50-GHzspaced channel plan. Coherent detection with ultra-high-speed
analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) and digital signal processing (DSP) improve the requirement for OSNR and help the
(Continued on page S16)

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(Continued from page S14)
channel reach a long-haul, or even an ultra-long-haul, distance. Figure 4 shows a diagram of a DP-QPSK transmitter
and receiver. In the transmitter the 100 Gb/s signal is generated by two phase modulators with the same wavelength, while
the orthogonal polarizations are combined by a polarization
beam combiner. At the receiver, the 100 Gb/s signal is arbitrarily split into two polarizations. The 90 hybrid interferometers help obtain amplitude and phase information of each
polarization. The detected signals are then converted into digital formats. With the help of the DSP, the received signal is
reconstructed in time with phase, amplitude, and polarization
information. With coherent detection and powerful digital
processing, all linear fiber impairments (e.g., CD and PMD)
can, in principle, be corrected at the receiver.
In another 100 Gb/s trial, jointly carried out by Verizon and
Nokia-Siemens Networks, DP-QPSK was shown to travel over
a long-haul distance with significant tolerance for fiber impairment [27, 28]. In this trial the optical transmission performance
of a 111 Gb/s coherently demodulated polarization multiplexed
RZ-QPSK channel with electronic post-processing (100 Gb/s) is
characterized. The 100 Gb/s channel traveled, neighbored by
both 10.7 Gb/s on-off keying (OOK) channels (10 Gb/s) and 43
Gb/s differential PSK (DPSK) channels (40 Gb/s) over 1040 km
of field fiber (13 spans). The 1040 km link had one ROADM at
each end and one center-span ROADM. The 10 Gb/s, 40 Gb/s,
and 100 Gb/s channels were fed into the ROADMs at the ends
of the link. The composed optical signals traveled for 80 km on
each span, then were fed into an amplifier with mid-stage dispersion compensation, using an optimized 10 Gb/s dispersion
map. No Raman amplification was used, and the optical amplifiers consisted of erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). The
100 Gb/s equipment consists of a full C-band tunable return-tozero (RZ) pulse shaped DP-QPSK transmitter and a coherent
receiver. The transmitter was fed by two 27.75 Gb/s PRBS signals with lengths of 216 1 bit. The received data was then captured by a 50 Gsamples/s digital storage oscilloscope and
processed on a computer. In this trial the 100 Gb/s channel was
surrounded evenly by two 40 Gb/s channels and eight 10 Gb/s
channels with 50 GHz channel spacing. To examine the impact
of the neighboring channels on the 100 Gb/s channel, the bit
error rate (BER) of the 100 Gb/s channel was analyzed along
the input power of the 10 Gb/s and 40 Gb/s channels. The
results showed the performance of the 100 Gb/s channel could
be optimized by carefully choosing the power levels of the

neighboring 10 Gb/s and 40 Gb/s channels. This trial confirms

the suitability of 100 Gb/s DP-QPSK for multirate operation in
existing systems on deployed fiber infrastructures.
Using coherent detection has another advantage because of its
tremendous tolerance to fiber impairment, as mentioned above.
Verizon and Nortel conducted a field study showing a significant
PMD tolerance for a 100Gb/s-like channel [29, 30]. The trial
involved 92 Gb/s, 46 Gb/s, and 10.7 Gb/s channels for comparison. The 92 Gb/s channel employed dual-subcarrier DP-QPSK
modulation, while the 46 Gb/s channel used single-carrier DPQPSK modulation, and the 10.6 Gb/s channel used standard
OOK modulation. The 92 Gb/s channel used two subcarriers,
which together occupied only one wavelength on the 50-GHz
grid. The field fibers used for this trial were four aged spare fibers
between two field sites for a span of 36 km. In the trial the spare
fibers were patched at one of the sites and looped back to another site, where the 92 Gb/s transmitter and receiver sat. The four
spare fibers exhibited different mean differential group delay
(DGD) values. The spare fibers were patched in different combinations to find those with high PMD values. In the trial a pair of
fibers with mean DGD of 65 ps was used. The wavelengths of the
channels were tuned to the ITU-T grid with a high instantaneous
DGD value; then the BER of the channel was measured. The
performance of the channels was measured by the error seconds
of the OC-192 tributary signal, which was fed to the client ports of
the transport channels. Figure 5 shows the measured error seconds (ES) for the channels vs. instantaneous DGD values. The
10.7 Gb/s channel begins to fail when the value is more than 50
ps, while 92 Gb/s and 46 Gb/s channels maintain error-free performance for DGD values up to and beyond 100 ps.
All three field trials and associated laboratory testing provided the necessary confidence for Verizon to be the first carrier
to deploy 100G in the production network. On December 14,
2009, Verizon deployed a full GA certified Nortel 100G muxponder on the 893 km route between Paris, France and Frank(Continued on page S18)

Sumter
Lake
Hernando

Seminole
Orange

Pasco
Osceola

Tampa

Polk

Pinellas
Manatee

Hardee

Verizon national
video service network
Indian River

Okeshobee
Lucie

100

100G capacity-distance (Pb/s-km)

Sarasota

Desoto Florida, USA

Charlotte

Martin

Glades
Palm Beach

Lee

10

Hendry

100G field trial route

Collier

1
100G
DWDM
50-GHz ch. space

Broward

Miami-Dade

Miami

Monroe

Source: Ref. [3-21]

0.1
2006

2007

2008

2009

Figure 2. 100G DWDM transport capacity development.

S16

Figure 3. Route of the first single wavelength 100G real-time field

trial.

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COMMENTARY
DP-QPSK transmitter

DP-QPSK receiver

/2
ADC
and
DSP

Data
generator

Laser

/2
Laser

Phase modulator

90 hybrid

Figure 4. DP-QPSK transmitter and receiver proposed for 100 Gb/s transmission.

furt, Germany. No changes were made to the existing Nortel

line system that also carries many 10G circuits between these
two locations. Live traffic was placed on the 100G channel, and
other routes are being considered for turn-up in 2010 [31].

REFERENCES
[1] S. Elby, Bandwidth Flexibility and High Availability, presentation at
Service Provider Summit, OFC/NFOEC 2009.
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Methodology, 20072012, 2008.
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Equalized NRZ Transmission over 400 km, OFC/NFOEC 2006, PDP32.
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[6] A. Sano et al., 14-Tb/s (140 111 Gb/s PDM/WDM) CSRZ-DQPSK Transmission over 160 km Using 7-THz Bandwidth Extended L-band EDFAs,
ECOC 2006, Th4.1.1.
[7] H. Masuda et al., 20.4-Tb/s (204 111 Gb/s) Transmission over 240 km Using
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Transmission over 2375 km Employing Coherent Equalisation,
OFC/NFOEC 2007, PDP22.
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480km SSMF, OFC/NFOEC 2007, PDP23.
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b/s/Hz over 12 100 km Including 6 Optical Routing Nodes,
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[11] K. Schuh et al., 8 107 Gb/s Serial Binary NRZ/VSB Transmission over
480 km SSMF with 1 bit/s/Hz Spectral Efficiency and without Optical
Equalizer, ECOC 2007, Mo2.3.1.
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1300 km SMF with 10 ROADM Nodes, ECOC 2007, PD 1.7.
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ECOC 2007, PD 1.9.
[15] X. Zhou et al., 2Tb/s (20107 Gb/s) RZ-DQPSK Straight-Line Transmission over 1005 km of SSMF without Raman Amplification, OFC/NFOEC
2008, OMQ3.
[16] G. Charlet et al., Transmission of 16.4Tbit/s Capacity over 2,550km
Using PDM QPSK Modulation Format and Coherent Receiver,
OFC/NFOEC 2008, PDP3.
[17] J. Yu et al., 20112 Gb/s, 50GHz spaced, PolMux-RZ-QPSK StraightLine Transmission over 1540km of SSMF Employing Digital Coherent
Detection and Pure EDFA Amplification, ECOC 2008, Th.2.A.2.
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Networks, ECOC 2008, Th.2.A.3.

S18

[19] A. Sano et al., 13.4-Tb/s (134 111 Gb/s/ch) No-Guard-Interval Coherent OFDM Transmission over 3,600 km of SMF with 19-ps average
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[20] H. Masuda et al., 13.5-Tb/s (135 111 Gb/s/ch) No-Guard-Interval
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[22] Verizon News Release, Verizon Successfully Completes Industrys First
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Commercial LambdaXtreme Transport System, OFC/NFOEC 2008, NMC2.
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Video Traffic over 504 km In-Service DWDM Route, 21st IEEE/LEOS
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Transmission at 50-GHz Channel Spacing over 1040-km Field-Deployed
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[29] Verizon News Release, Verizon Confirms Quality of 100G Transmission, Oct. 6, 2008.
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107-ps DGD, OFC/NFOEC 2009, NThB3.
[31] Verizon News Release, Verizon Deploys Commercial 100G Ultra-LongHaul Optical System on Portion of Its Core European Network, Dec.
14, 2009.

100%

92 Gb/s
46 Gb/s
10.7 Gb/s

80%

Error seconds (ES)

(Continued from page S16)

60%

40%

20%

0%
0

30

60
Instantaneous DGD (ps)

90

120

Figure 5. Measured error seconds of the 92Gb/s, 46Gb/s and

10.7Gb/s channels.

IEEE Communications Magazine March 2010