“As expected we have seen the adoption of multiple 100 Gb/s modulation types on single cable networks, sometimes on the same segment,” Anderson said. “To achieve this practically and economically requires very flexible programmable hardware and software, so that one kind of equipment can meet differing needs.”
submarine cable networks and we definitely saw that,” Anderson said. According to him, capacity demand grew more than 30 percent per annum, as forecasted by analysts such as TeleGeography. New SLTE upgrade technology also proved to be as popular as they were hoping, which proved to be a particular benefit for Ciena. According to Ovum’s 3Q 2014 Optical Market Share Report,
Ciena is the only one of the three leading SLTE vendors, which together account for 75 % market share, according to Anderson. They have seen continued focus on maximizing the value of existing cables. While roughly 20 new cables were contracted in 2014, Anderson said that existing cables, with new SLTE technologies, have potential to meet the majority of market demand.
There had been a number of changes in the market that Ciena had been planning for in 2014, but were surprised on a number of occasion when the changes happened more quickly. These include content delivery players and Webscale companies becoming more involved in cable upgrades and new-build cables and the wide-scale adoption of 100 Gb/s as the preferred technology for submarine upgrades.
For that purpose, Ciena has been selling four different 100 Gb/s modulations with a single hardware platform, to meet the needs of specific segments of submarine networks, which they hope will keep them as a leading supplier. • A 8D-2QAM modulation for maximum capacity on ultra-long segments • BPSK for other very long segments • QPSK for segments up to around 6,000 km of existing networks • 16QAM for double the capacity per wave and better economics on shorter length spans