How Verizon is Advancing its Fibre Network with AI in Mind
Verizon is advancing its fibre network to support AI workloads, having transported the data at fast speeds across a single wavelength on its live metro fibre network.
During its trial in Boston, US, Verizon moved 1.6 terabits (Tb/s) of data on its live fibre network on a single-carrier wavelength using Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) coherent optical solution. The company hopes this will enable it to be the provider of choice when it comes to AI workloads, given its speed.
“AI is contingent on analysing billions of data points in real-time on an ongoing basis.”
Verizon’s next generation technology is designed to enable data travelling across Verizon’s fibre network to travel farther and faster, which ultimately results in a better customer experience.
Additionally, the upgrade to this new equipment will result in higher reliability and significant energy savings in that portion of the fibre network.
How AI can increase fibre capacity
AI, specifically generative AI (Gen AI), has an immense capability for predictive analytics and is becoming a critical component of digital transformation and future business growth across nearly every industry.
When it comes to fibre, enterprise-grade data networks such as Verizon’s will be instrumental in these processes, as the company continues to advance its network components to deliver on the promises of AI.
“AI is contingent on analysing billions of data points in real-time on an ongoing basis,” says Adam Koeppe, SVP of Technology Strategy and Planning at Verizon.
“Because of the massive, multi-year transformation on Verizon’s network including deploying cloud native architecture from the core to the edge, deploying massive amounts of high-performing spectrum, exponentially increasing the capacity of our fibre infrastructure and deploying advanced technologies and intelligence throughout the network, Verizon’s network provides the ability to power the processes and movements of AI-generated activity.”
He adds: “This continued advancement of our fibre network will further position us to be the provider of choice for AI workloads now and in the future.”
Prioritising sustainable technology
The trial by Verizon took place over a 188km Boston metro route that consisted of 10 hops. It passed through nine reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs) and validated the performance of 1.6 Tb/s using WL6e in a flexible, dense ROADM environment.
Ciena’s WL6e is the industry’s first high-bandwidth coherent transceiver using state-of-the-art 3nm silicon to drive significant economic benefits for operators, including a 50% reduction in space and power per bit.
It also provides massive 1.6 Tb/s, single-carrier wavelengths for metro ROADM deployments and maximizes network coverage for 800G connectivity.
“Ciena’s WL6e is designed to cater to AI traffic growth and the continuing surge in bandwidth-intensive applications,” explains Brodie Gage, Senior Vice President, Global Products & Supply Chain at Ciena.
“WL6e uses coherent DSP innovations to provide the highest capacity over fibre, which will support Verizon’s throughput and capacity goals, supporting more traffic and faster speeds than ever before.”
As well as advancing Verizon’s fibre infrastructure to manage greater workloads, this next generation technology is also able to significant energy savings compared to previous generations.
This is particularly important in today’s networking environments, as AI workloads often result in higher levels of energy use and larger levels of emissions. Prioritising sustainability moving forward is not only going to improve sustainability for a business, but also keep them competitive.
According to estimates by Ciena, the power efficiency of WL6e translates to an 86% reduction in emissions per terabit of capacity delivered (kgCO2e/Tb) compared to previously deployed technology.
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