As the editor for our Ciena Network Insights blog, I spend a lot of time keeping our calendar of upcoming blog posts organized and on track. To do that I use a good old Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. In fact, I’m still updating the same .xls file I created over 7 years ago when we started the blog. And when we have an upcoming product or technology launch, I highlight that day in red.

We’ve had a lot of red days lately.

Last fall we introduced our new WaveLogic Ai coherent chipset and our Distributed-NFV solution just a few weeks apart. Once we hit the new year we unveiled two new Blue Planet platforms: Blue Planet Analytics and Blue Planet Manage, Control and Plan (MCP). Then just a few weeks ago we introduced our brand new Waveserver Ai platform.

Now’s your chance to see all of this great innovation and new technology in one place. Next week is the OFC’17 Conference in Los Angeles, and we’re bringing the big truck, our Ciena Innovation Lab, filled with all the newest technology our R&D team has been busy developing.

Here are 5 things you’re going to see:

1) The first public showing of our new WaveLogic Ai coherent chip

OFC will be the first public event where we showcase the amazing benefits of our new WaveLogic Ai coherent chipset announced last October. You’ll be able to see the implementation of WaveLogic Ai in both our 6500 Packet-Optical and Waveserver Ai platforms.

Application note
WaveLogic Ai: Laying the Foundation for the Adaptive Network

2) Our newest DCI platform: Waveserver Ai

Waveserver Ai was just unveiled a few weeks ago as the newest iteration of our Waveserver family, and enables a massive 2.4 Terabits of capacity in a single rack unit.

3) 500Gb/slot interfaces on the Ciena 6500 T-Series

While our Ciena 6500 T-Series has been part of previous industry trade shows, OFC will be the first time that we’ve had a demo of the 500G packet/OTN switching interfaces that allow the platform to scale to 12 Terabits per rack.

4) Blue Planet’s latest software innovations

Both Blue Planet MCP and Blue Planet Analytics will be on display at OFC. Blue Planet MCP brings programmability to your Ciena network operations, integrating network and service management with online planning within a single interface.  Blue Planet Analytics collects network telemetry data from multiple sources across the network and pulls it into analytics applications that enable smart business decisions. It provides an advanced analytics framework that separates data analyses and management from business logic so network operators can focus on the important business issues at hand.

5) Dynamic MPLS-TP on Ciena 6500

The packet switching capabilities of our 6500 platform, in addition to flexible OTN switching, tunable coherent optics and flexible grid reconfigurable photonics, make it one of the most versatile packet-optical switches on the market. These will be on full display at OFC with the first ever public demonstration of dynamic MPLS-TP switching on the 6500, which allow for new SLA offerings and extend multi-layer control plane resiliency from Layers 0 and 1 through to Layer 2.

White Paper
IHS Markit 2017 Optical Equipment Vendor Leadership Service Provider Survey Excerpts