Earlier this year at the Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conference and Exhibition, Cisco demonstrated the new NCS 1014 with the 2.4T WDM line card based on the Acacia Coherent Interconnect Module 8 (CIM 8). I’m excited to announce general availability of the NCS 1014 and 2.4T WDM line card today. This latest generation NCS 1014 platform supports 100G, 400G, and 800G clients and up to 1.2T multi-rate trunks—doubling capacity in the same footprint as the previous generation of compact modular systems and addressing the sustainability needs providers seek today.
The NCS 1014 is the latest in Cisco’s compact modular platform series, which now includes precision timing support for enhanced monitoring insights and supports both layer 0 (photonics) and layer 1 (transponders) functionalities. NCS 1014 can be applied to a wide variety of use cases, including standalone multi-haul transponders, QSFP-DD-based line cards, metro DCI line systems, and multi-degree ROADMs, combining these into a common system for low-footprint requirements.
This next-generation platform incorporates the state-of the-art Jannu digital signal processing (DSP) in the CIM 8 pluggable module from Acacia to enable multi-haul transport with up to 2.4 Tbps on a single line card for high-capacity applications.
Advancements in DSP algorithms, high baud-rate optics, and 3D siliconization have sped time-to-market for this new 2.4T WDM line card. For our customers, this means massive capacity in both C- and L-bands to enable high-performance networks for long-haul and subsea applications to transport 100G, 400G, and 800G clients. NCS 1014 also offers a dense 3.2T QSFP-DD line card leveraging 400G Bright ZR+ optics to optimize space, power, and cost, while guaranteeing interoperability with multi-source agreement (MSA) standards and routed optical networking deployments.
Dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) remains one of the few areas in networking where standardization has been slow. Incremental improvements offered by proprietary solutions no longer outweigh the benefits of standardization, and all Cisco line systems are open. Any vendor’s coherent transponder can run today over the NCS 2000, NCS 1010, and NCS 1014, allowing customers to avoid vendor lock-in (technically or commercially).
Cisco is committed to open standards and continues to participate in key interoperability forums, such as OpenConfig, Open ROADM, OFCnet, OIF, and TIP to develop open management support for multi-layer, multi-domain, and multi-vendor networks.
Get more at Cisco PONC 2023
We’re excited to connect with our customers and partners to discuss these and other innovations at our annual Packet Optical Networking Conference (PONC), Sept. 20-21, in Richardson, Texas.
At the conference, attendees can see our lab and experience the full portfolio of current and future platforms, including a demonstration of the NCS 1014 and the 2.4T WDM line card. Customers at the conference will speak about their routed optical networking deployments and have the possibility to interact during the multiple breakout sessions.
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How do you plan to protect these very high speed DWDM links from optical fiber faults at the physical (PMD) layer? For example, hungry rodents, or wayward backhoes?
Generally speaking, Cisco is offering systems that connect to fiber that may be buried or, in some cases, aerial. Physical layer disruptions (due to back-hoes, rodents, etc.) are anticipated and protection is available at either the optical layer or the IP layer. This does require some level of redundancy in the fiber infrastructure as alternate paths must be available. Please feel free to reach out to your Cisco account rep if you want to hear more about protection options at the optical or IP layer.