400GE ready for commercial deployment

China Telecom Guangzhou Research Institute and Huawei have announced that the results of the world's first 400 Gigabit Ethernet (400GE) test indicate that 400GE, a new large-capacity port technology, possesses the qualities required for commercial deployment.

With backbone network traffic experiencing average annual growth of over 45%, next-generation port technology such as 400GE can significantly increase network bandwidth to help carriers cope with increased data traffic, Huawei said.

In 2016, China Telecom Guangzhou Research Institute and Huawei established a 400GE joint innovation R&D team to develop live-network service requirements, application scenarios, standards formulation, and technology R&D, driving the standardisation and commercial use of medium-and-long distance 400GE port technology.

Test results have verified 400GE port functions such as line-speed forwarding, multi-service stacking, and fault reporting. The test was performed in China Telecom's network and terminal key laboratory using test cases based on actual network applications. The expert team at the Guangzhou Research Institute was responsible for sorting out network requirements, test-case design, and the process of the all-round test.

Huawei backbone routers were used in the test, and 400GE port networking was used between devices and the tester. Under real-world network traffic conditions, at full bandwidth, 400GE ports experienced zero packet loss in line-speed forwarding. Multi-service stack tests showed that protocol-based forwarding was normal; bundled 400GE and 100GE ports could implement precise load balancing; the transmission distance was as far as 10 km; and loopback and fault reporting functions were normal.

"High-speed traffic growth has contributed to the rapid development of high-speed port technology," said Zhu Yongqing, IP Technology Research Head at China Telecom Guangzhou’s Research Institute. "In the final release of the 400GE technology standard, China Telecom Guangzhou Research Institute and Huawei performed the world’s first 400GE port tests based on requirements of the live network, realising a combination of network requirements and technical research and development (R&D). The test results reached expectations. In the future, we will cooperate with Huawei and other partners to promote development of the 400GE industry and maturation of the supply chain, ultimately driving the development of China Telecom’s network and the national broadband infrastructure."

"This joint venture with China Telecom Guangzhou Research Institute has officially opened up the possibility of commercial use for 400GE single ports," said Chen Jinzhu, GM, Huawei’s Backbone Router Domain. "Moving forward, we will focus on customer requirements and spare no effort in core technologies. Our innovative solutions can assist carriers in seizing development opportunities as we enter the cloud era."

400GE standards are expected to be released by end-2017.