PARIS, FRANCE: Verizon became the first telecommunications carrier to deploy a commercial 100G (gigabits per second) ultra-long-haul optical system for live traffic.

This system was deployed on the company's European optical core network between Paris and Frankfurt. The accomplishment marks the first time for deployment of ultra-long-haul 100G using a single channel on a production network.

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Mark Wegleitner, senior vice president of technology at Verizon, said: "This latest 100G-first gives Verizon the edge in meeting the growing bandwidth demands of our customers. By consolidating traffic onto one large pipe rather than several smaller ones, customers will benefit from increased network capacity, improved transmission quality and greater network efficiencies."

Verizon is using Nortel's commercially available 100G solution to carry live Private IP traffic between Verizon's core routers over the 893-kilometer (555-mile) route without modifying the system. The 100G equipment enables Verizon to economically carry increasing amounts of IP backbone traffic when compared with an equivalent number of 10G links - the current speed for the majority of backbone traffic today.

Philippe Morin, president, Metro Ethernet Networks, Nortel, said: "The progression to 100G optical speeds is a critical next step for forward-looking service providers like Verizon. Nortel's unique 100G technology makes this evolution one that is painless to deploy while lowering total network costs."