Deutsche Telekom: 512 Gbps on a single optical fiber channel

The future of networking is in the fiber, and Deutsche Telekom (DT) has just given a glimpse of what the upcoming future of Internet might hold: the German telecommunication company reached the remarkable transmission speed record of 512 Gigabits per second using only a single optical-fiber wavelength channel.

By using a new routing technology named OSIRIS (or Optically Supported IP Router Interfaces) and working in partnership with Alcatel-Lucent, DT’s T-Labs (Telekom Innovation Laboratories) have achieved the new speed record while sending digital data on a 734 kilometers-long route from Berlin to Hanover and then back to Berlin again.

DT states that aside from the 512 Gbps breakthrough, the usable bit rate of the transmission was “only” 400 Gbps or “the simultaneous transmission of 77 music CDs”. Still a quadrupled capacity per single channel on the current Deutsche Telekom optical fiber infrastructure, anyway, and a feat accomplished in real-world conditions not just in sanitized lab conditions.

By using all the 48 wavelength channels available on each one of its fibers, DT states, the OSIRIS tech could accomplish something like a 24.6 Terabits per seconds transmission rate (or a collection of 3.696 CDs at the same time). The best part of OSIRIS? There is no need to deploy new cables, telecom companies could double the transmission capacity of their networks by simply upgrading terminal stations for signal routing.

“We are very proud of having attained this tremendous transmission performance over the Internet under real-world conditions”, T-Labs Manager Heinrich Arnold said, highlighting the importance of the new successfully developed “innovative method by which the transmission capacity of optical fiber can be increased significantly in network operation”.