Ontario’s Orion research network says it has successfully completed the first North American field test of a 400 Gigabit education network.
The test, conducted last week on the Orion network, was done with Alcatel-Lucent’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch and tested data between Orion’s point of presence in downtown Toronto and another PoP located inside York University’s campus at the north end of the city.
The results of the test demonstrate the Orion network is 400G capable, the agency said in a statement, which could open up new opportunities for Ontarior esearchers, educators and innovators as they collaborate on local, national and international projects.
It says a single 400G signal could support 6.25 million voice calls or 20,000 CDs.
“Ontario’s research, education and innovation communities depend on Orion’s digital infrastructure to develop solutions for the world’s toughest problems,” CEO Dr. Darin Graham said in the statement. “Our user’s needs continue to expand exponentially, making this field test critical in preparing for future demand. Orion and Ontario will be ready.”
Orion currently supports nearly 2 million users in colleges, universities, school boards, hospitals and other innovation centres on its 100G network. It has 27 PoPs across the province connecting to other research and carrier networks.
There was no word on when the 400Gb network will go live. An Orion spokespersons said in an email Alcatel’s 400Gb cards aren’t commercially available yet, so no date can be set.