Optical network equipment maker Infinera has launched new products to support an expected surge in demand for metro 100 gigabit per second (Gbps) packet-optical networking products.

Infinera is merging metro packet-optical solutions from Transmode AB of Stockholm, which it acquired in August, into its own long-haul DTN-X platforms, and announcing two new products, the XTC-2 and XTC-2E,  with software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities, to cover the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) market from long-haul to metro access. IHS Research forecasts that the end-to-end WDM market will exceed $15bn by 2019.

supercomputing infinera

Combining products

Some analysts are forecasting a surge in demand for metro 100 Gb/s during the course of 2016. “Infinera and the DTN-X played a major role in the optical reboot from 10 Gb/s to 100 Gb/s in the long-haul core, and the company is well timed to enter the metro portion of the market which we expect to surge in 2016,” said Andrew Schmitt, senior principal analyst, IHS Research. 

Infinera has launched new hardware and softwcare capabilities, including two new platforms, the DTN-X XTC-2 and XTC-2E, which combine 100 Gbs WDM transmission with packet-aware switching in a platform with the small footprint and low power consumption demanded by metro and regional networks.

Colt has deployed Infinera Intelligent Transport Networks throughout its European backbone, and Colt’s architecture director Nicolas Fischbach welcomed the new products. Randy Nicklas, executive at Windstream, did likewise.

The new products should be available by the end of 2015.