IP test solutions provider Ixia has announced the testing of a pre-deployment 100Gbps network link with German telecoms group Deutsche Telekom (DT). Under the agreement, Ixia supplied its higher speed Ethernet (HSE) K2 test platform, which will enable the telco to generate and analyse full 100Gbps line rate traffic, with up to a million flows per module. ‘With Ixia we are able to test interoperability, performance and features of 100Gbps networking equipment, allowing us to develop the innovative, ultra high speed network service offerings in a timely manner prior to the ratification of the IEEE802.3ba standard,’ commented Wolfgang Schmitz, senior vice president of DT’s Technology Engineering Centre.
In a separate story, Alcatel-Lucent and DT’s corporate customer arm, T-Systems, have announced the connection of high performance data centres at the Dresden and Bergakademie Freiberg technical universities with a 60km link using commercial 100Gbps connectivity that leverages both IP and optical technologies. This will enable end-to-end scalability, performance and compatibility across core, edge and metro networks. The data on the 100Gbps link is processed in real-time and is being transmitted on a single wavelength. ‘As far as network performance is concerned, there is no doubt that we are on our way to the gigabit society, which requires gigabit networks,’ said Hagen Rickmann, responsible for Innovations and Portfolio Management at T-Systems, adding, ‘We must ensure that we can adapt our networks to the constantly increasing demand for bandwidth anytime and in an economical way. Testing the new 100Gbps technology between Dresden and Freiberg under real conditions is an important milestone on this way.’