Verizon fiber technology advancement results in increased speed, reliability and overall capacity

LONG ISLAND, NY –Verizon, along with vendor Cisco, has recently completed trials in its commercial fiber network in metro Long Island, NY demonstrating increased speed, increased reliability, and increased overall capacity for Verizon’s fiber network. Through the trial, Verizon carried 1.2 Tbps of data using a single wavelength over longer distances through more nodes by upgrading the optical to electrical conversion cards that manage the flow of customer data through fiber optic cables. This upgrade allows data traveling across Verizon’s fiber network to travel farther and faster, leading to a better customer experience. In addition the upgrade will result in higher reliability.

Verizon has invested heavily in one of the most robust fiber networks in the nation. In recent years, Verizon has accelerated its fiber build plan, deploying nearly 57,000 fiber miles since 2020, and now connects over 51% of its cell sites with its own fiber. And Verizon continues to expand its fiber to the premise (FTTP) presence in the Northeast as well. Verizon recently announced it is expanding high-speed internet in Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, central New York and more.

“We have bet big on fiber. Not only does it provide an award-winning broadband experience for consumers and enterprises, it also serves as the backbone of our wireless network. As we continue to see customers using more data in more varied ways, it is critical we continue to stay ahead of our customers’ demands by using the resources we have most efficiently,” said Adam Koeppe, SVP of Technology Planning at Verizon.

In addition to increasing data rates, the new optics technology from Cisco reduces the need for regeneration of the light signal (conversion to electrical and back to optical signals) along the path by compensating for the degradation of the light signal traveling through the fiber cable. This adds reliability and leads to a reduced cost per bit operating expense for more efficient network management.

“This trial demonstrates our commitment to continuous innovation aimed at increasing wavelength capacity and reducing costs.” said Bill Gartner, SVP/GM Cisco Optical Systems and Optics. “The Verizon infrastructure built with the Cisco NCS 2000 open line system supports multiple generations of optics thus protecting investments as technology evolves.”

About the trial

The trial was conducted over Verizon’s live production network using Cisco’s NCS 1014 transceiver shelf and Acacia’s Coherent Interconnect Module 8 (CIM 8). The CIM 8 is Acacia’s 8th generation solution, an improved generation of silicon semiconductor chips with increased transistor density. The CIM 8 combines 5nm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) digital processing and 140 Gbaud silicon photonics optics using advanced 3D packaging technology.

In the trial, a 1.0 Tb/s single-wavelength was transmitted over the Cisco NCS 2000 line system over 205km traversing 14 fiber central offices. In metropolitan networks, the number of central offices traversed is a key performance metric due to the progressive filtering and signal-to-noise ratio degradation as the wavelength passes through each office. Additionally in the trial, 800 Gb/s transmission was achieved over 305km through 20 offices and a 1.2 Tb/s wavelength traversed three offices.