Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, and KPN International, a leading telecommunications and ICT provider, announced the successful completion of the world’s first pan-European 400G field trial. The OTN-based 400G network spans 540 km between Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Dusseldorf, Germany. There is ample margin in the system, confirmed by adding 300km in the end terminal station. No longer confined to the laboratory, the successful trial of 400G long-haul transmission on a live network marks a major leap forward for 400G in the region.

The exponential growth of traffic on the carrier backbone is accelerating the large-scale commercial deployment of 100G. The Huawei 100G solution stretches over 55,000 km worldwide, with the high-speed transport industry paying increasing attention to the technology beyond 100G with a keen eye on 400G.

The 400G transmission is tested on KPN International’s pan-European WDM backbone network, which was first deployed by Huawei in 2008 using NG-WDM products and first to be upgraded to coherent 100G by Huawei in 2011. The link tested is one of the busiest links, and the trial confirms the results obtained earlier in laboratory environments and further confirms that the transmission method used is a highly promising technique. The next step is to continue tests with onboard DSP functionality.