Deployment of 10 Gbit/s TDM technology in the Energis network

A new wave of high capacity optical networks are about to take off in Europe. The installation of new optical fibre cable is not considered a viable and cost-effective option for major network upgrades. Combined with the substantial growth of increasingly bandwidth hungry services requiring an unprecedented rate of network expansion, utilisation of the existing fibre infrastructure more efficiently is now the major goal. In particular for the UK, telecommunications operators are at a stage of completing trials of new technologies namely 2.5 Gbit/s wavelength division multiplexing (WDM STM16) and 10 Gbits/s time division multiplexing (TDM STM64) technology. For Energis, deployment of 10 Gbit/s transmission over 220 km of NDSF using bi-directional optical amplification represents a `European first´. Energis does not only endorse TDM as the means to increase network capacity, but rather a combination of both high-speed WDM and TDM. The ability to deploy both types of technologies within the network enables maximum flexibility for Energis. With the advent of key optical building blocks the first `stepping stones´ to the formation of an optical transport layer are becoming a reality. The complex issues associated with this formation are now being addressed, enabling an `all optical network´ to be phased in