Application-optimized optical line systems offer scale, flexibility and resilience for critical networks

It's a hard NOC life

Your metro network is stressed. The latest network performance and capacity analysis reports indicate that two key links in a metro ring are congested. The situation isn’t much better on the backup restoration spans. These links support data centers that drive mission-critical data traffic to customers in a burgeoning financial district. Your C-band DWDM network can’t handle any more traffic. The network needs a capacity boost now. However, transport networks are approaching the Shannon Limit of capacity and spectral efficiency, which makes it tough to add capacity in the C-band.

What are your options? A prolonged overbuild of new fiber cables is cost-prohibitive and prematurely strands network assets. You can’t jeopardize revenue streams with major maintenance breaks. A failed or lengthy network restoration from a fiber break is unacceptable. This lack of options creates stress. Stress on your fiber plant. Stress on your budget. Stress on you.

To relieve stress in your network operations center (NOC), you need a scalable, agile and reliable optical network. Attaining this goal presents three significant challenges to you and your NOC team.

1. How can you seamlessly upgrade optical network capacity? Is there a way to upgrade the critical links and then upgrade others as needed?

2. How can you improve network bandwidth management flexibility and simplify network architectures and operations?

3. How can you maximize service uptime and optimize network resource utilization?

Hit the stress relief button

The right optical line system (OLS) solution can address these challenges and reduce your stress.

A value-added application-optimized optical line system solution provides three key attributes and benefits for every domain from the core to the edge of your network.

1. Scalability – Cost-effectively and seamlessly expand network capacity into the L-band without stranding assets. Complete solutions include modular and integrated C+L-band DWDM options.

2. Flexibility – Improve network bandwidth agility and simplify network architectures, planning and operations. The most effective solutions provide a range of integrated Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexers (ROADMs), chassis and add/drop options for access, metro/regional and core applications.

3. Resilience – Maximize service uptime and optimize network resource utilization. Full-featured solutions leverage Colorless-Directionless-Contentionless Flexible grid (CDC-F) ROADMs as well as SDN- or GMPLS-based control plane functions to provide additional options for fast network protection or restoration, and to act as hooks to automated network operations applications.

Seamless scalability with C+L

Look for modular optical line system solutions that allow you to scale your network capacity with selective C+L upgrades, or integrated C+L solutions that maximize capacity all at once.

Modular C+L optical line system solutions enable you to scale your critical network selectively and seamlessly—link by link, node by node and degree by degree. For example, the Nokia Modular C+L solution doubles your network capacity by adding L-band DWDM capacity to select nodes, links or entire regions. It doubles fiber capacity on existing networks with up to 192 channels at 50 GHz spacings, providing up to 9.6 THz of capacity. As you require additional capacity, you can simply upgrade ROADM and optical inline amplifier (ILA) sites with additional L-band modules as needed.

The Nokia solution also offers an option to install combined C+L nodes at ILA sites during the initial deployment stage without needing to revisit them for future upgrades. When you expand capacity, only ROADM sites are upgraded with additional L-band equipment. This saves time, money and truck rolls.

Both options enable you to avoid the cost of leasing additional fiber pairs, reduce operational costs and minimize future network disruptions. Plus, unlike competing C+L solutions, the Nokia solution lets you progressively and seamlessly upgrade nodes that utilize previous generations of C-band line system technology to new, L-band systems. This optimizes CAPEX and improves your return on investment (ROI) by protecting and extending the life of your embedded equipment.

The Nokia 1830 Integrated C+L line system can maximize your fiber capacity in a single deployment to ensure maximum density and operational simplicity. It combines the C- and L-band components into a single managed and continuous solution for both ROADM and ILA functions. The Integrated C+L band solution delivers up to 9.6 THz capacity in a single card with optimized support for high-capacity large-degree nodes and high-capacity add/drop ports. The single C+L band solution is operated and managed by a common system. This, along with reduced cabling requirements, simplifies installations and operations. It also supports high-performance CDC-F ROADM and economical Colorless FlexGrid (C-F) ROADM configurations to provide the ultimate in flexibility.

For all C+L-band upgrades, it’s important to consider the impact of Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) tilt on WDM network performance and wavelength management. SRS is a nonlinear effect of optical fibers that causes some power to be shifted from shorter C-band wavelengths to longer L-band wavelengths. Nokia 1830 WDM systems automatically monitor and dynamically adjust the system to ensure optimal performance, eliminating the impacts of SRS tilt across the entire C and L bands. This innovative, automated feature simplifies operations.

Flexibility with no compromises

An ideal solution will offer a range of optical line system capabilities to deliver the capacity, reach and flexibility required for access, metro, regional, long-haul and subsea applications. The Nokia 1830 family can support WDM optical line system functions in telco-optimized chassis that also support coherent transponders, or in compact modular, data center-optimized chassis that support optical line system-only functions.

The Nokia 1830 family meets your need for application-optimized, no compromise solutions by providing a full suite of Integrated ROADMs (iROADMs) to support small, low-degree, low add/drop nodes up to iROADMs for large, high-degree, high add/drop nodes. It lets you choose the ROADM configurations that address your needs, from classic fixed-port, static-wavelength ROADMs to dynamic, CDC-F ROADMs.

FlexGrid ROADMs and multiple configuration options that leverage evolving coherent digital signal processing (DSP) modulation schemes are key building blocks for using network automation to meet dynamic traffic needs. Advanced C-F and CDC-F FlexGrid ROADMs with flexible add/drop options enable dynamically reconfigurable networking that can autonomously deploy, optimize and restore wavelengths.

By supporting interoperable hardware and management across data center- and telco-optimized platforms, the Nokia 1830 family maximizes deployment flexibility and simplify operations and sparing plans.

Resilience for maximum uptime

Nokia optical line systems seamlessly upgrade network capacity and improve bandwidth management flexibility. They also help maximize network uptime to ensure that bandwidth utilization and flexibility can't be hampered by network availability and reliability issues.

Optical layer restoration and protection options help ensure high network reliability for mission-critical services. With Nokia optical line systems, you get application-driven network resilience options that let you:

• Implement Layer 0 1+1 protection switching that provides ultrafast <50 ms wavelength switching on reserved dual paths

• Implement optical layer restoration with the ability to automatically reroute and restore traffic around network faults using CDC-F and GMPLS, thus avoiding the 50 percent capacity penalty

• Combine protection switching with optical layer restoration for the ultimate mission-critical services assurance capability.

Stress less

The right optical line system solution can help reduce stress on your network and you. Complete, value-added offers like the Nokia application-optimized line system solution relieve stress by:

• Cost-effectively and seamlessly expanding network capacity

• Improving network bandwidth agility and simplifying architectures and operation

• Maximizing service uptime and optimizing network utilization.

Network operators worldwide have deployed our optical line systems to reduce network stress. Let us help you reduce your stress with the right optical line system for your network.

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