There is a massive explosion of web traffic under way, driven by on-demand video streaming, enterprise cloud adoption, Virtualized Network Functions (VNF), and the enterprise Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) trend. This development has been labeled ‘web-scale IT,’ and while it has been on the rise, network operators have struggled to keep up with the demands of this faster and vastly larger world. Web-scale networking is intended to help providers and enterprises keep pace.

White Paper
Technology Innovation for Web-scale Data Center Interconnect

Web-scale networking introduces new capabilities that enable service providers and Internet content and cloud providers to deliver richer application experiences to their customers and connect rapidly increasing numbers of users to content.

These innovations embrace the web-scale IT philosophy, delivering increased bandwidth and improved economics through greater efficiency, network automation, and agility. Web-scale networking extends the reach and capacity of submarine networks, simplifies and reduces the cost of metro and regional networks, and speeds the deployment of small-cell backhaul (which improves coverage in this mobile-first world).

Ciena embraces web-scale networking with its Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) WAN solutions, which help service providers and enterprises meet demand for both agile bandwidth and service consumption.

Ciena’s optical networking, packet, and software, along with its OPⁿ® philosophy, transform capacity into new network and service capabilities. Ciena puts web-scale networking into action with the WaveLogic 3 Extreme and Nano chipsets, the Coherent Select architecture for metro applications, and new small-cell/mobile backhaul capabilities, as highlighted below:

  • The WaveLogic 3 Extreme chipset provides maximum bandwidth at any distance for Ciena’s 6500 and 5430 Packet-Optical Platforms. It doubles the capacity of metro and regional networks. Combined with Flexible Grid technology, it enables up to 85 percent greater capacity in submarine networks. These enhancements are essential for deploying web-scale networking in metro, regional, and trans-oceanic networks.

  • The WaveLogic 3 Nano chipset is being implemented across Ciena’s 6500 and 8700 platforms. This chipset recognizes that some web-scale applications need power and space efficiency more than raw capacity. WaveLogic 3 Nano is custom-tailored for metro economics, enabling high 100G densities in a much smaller footprint, while consuming less power.

  • Ciena’s Coherent Select photonic architecture creates a simple, flexible metro architecture purpose-built for the high-capacity user-to-content connectivity essential for today’s web-scale dynamics. Leveraging sophisticated software, pairing Coherent Select with the native receiver tunability of WaveLogic chipsets enables service providers to cost-effectively bring 100G closer to the metro using a simple-to-deploy connectivity model that provides the right economics for wide deployment scalability.

  • Enhanced mobile backhaul solutions help mobile operators and wholesale backhaul providers rapidly deploy wireless small cells, both indoors and outdoors. Ciena’s new 3904 and 3905 Service Delivery Switches leverage Ciena’s field-proven packet leadership to ensure the backhaul portion of the small-cell radio antennas is always available and that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are maintained.

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