Communications company Sprint and network player Ciena have successfully deployed one of the longest 100Gpbs circuits in the US, with a live transmission that required no signal regeneration over a distance of 2,100km.

The have also completed a live 400Gbps trial on Sprint’s network in Silicon Valley.

They say the trials validate the deployment of new network technologies for bandwidth-intensive cloud services and other applications like streaming HD video, telepresence and high-capacity data center connectivity.

Until recently, the Sprint network offered wireline services at speeds of up to 10Gbps.

The trials demonstrated the viability of using innovative technology to achieve speeds up to ten times faster (and up to 40 times faster in the future), without requiring costly network upgrades to Sprint’s robust fiber infrastructure, Sprint said.

Sprint said its Ethernet Wave Services will support 100Gbps speeds now, and Sprint expects to leverage Ciena’s coherent optical technology to support services operating at 400Gbps in the future.

The 100Gbps circuit trialed earlier this year is now integrated into the Sprint optical network infrastructures and is in-serviced between Chicago and Fort Worth, Texas.

The 100Gbps link uses Ciena WaveLogic 3 coherent optical processors on the 6500 Packet Optical Platform to enable Sprint to successfully transmit data at 100Gbps over the 2,100km (1,304-mile) circuit, with no regeneration of the signal at points in between.

Sprint said the longer distance between regeneration points provides reduced latency, hardware benefits and improved reliability, flexibility and performance for customers.

The 400Gbps trial was performed in the Silicon Valley area using existing Sprint fiber infrastructure and Ciena’s 6500 with WaveLogic 3 cards; this high-capacity link operated without error.

Sprint said this demonstrated the viability of using 400Gbps channels alongside existing channels carrying live customer traffic. As a result, Sprint said it foresees the opportunity to add a network equivalent of high-speed traffic lanes for customers with high-demand requirements.

“The 400Gbps trial demonstrates our ability to offer higher speeds with our existing fiber, which means that our customers can feel assured that our network is future-proofed to meet their needs as they evolve.” Wayne Ward, VP of busines product development at Sprint, said.

“The delivery of 100Gbps and 400Gbps speeds will be critical as we launch our Ethernet Wave Services and support a growing wireless infrastructure.”

Sprint is upgrading its optical backbone network with Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform as part of its Network Vision initiative.

The advanced network is expected to enable Sprint to enhance transport network scalability, cost and performance. By adding Ciena's coherent optical technology to the mix, Sprint said it can scale its core network initially to 40Gbps and 100Gbps, and later to 400Gbps and beyond, as network demands dictate.