AT&T recently achieved a groundbreaking milestone in data transport by successfully testing
1.6 terabits per second (Tbps) speeds on its commercial long-distance fiber network. This achievement sets a new record-breaking industry standard, addressing the growing demand for increasingly faster and more reliable network connectivity.
An Industry First in Data Transport
Imagine a bustling highway where cars travel at incredibly fast speeds without a single traffic jam. This is very much like what AT&T accomplished by transferring an impressive 1.6Tbps of data across a single wavelength over a 296km route, connecting Newark and Philadelphia. This test was carried out alongside existing live traffic on 100Gbps and 400Gbps wavelengths, effectively quadrupling the network’s speed without disrupting operations.
Why This Matters
- Meet Rising Demand: Addressing the rapid growth of AI and surging customer needs for faster data, video, and streaming services, AT&T’s next-generation network speeds are crucial for continuous success.
- Enhance Sustainability: Reducing space and power consumption per transmitted bit by an impressive 50%, this advancement offers an eco-friendlier solution for scaling network infrastructure.
Technical Highlights
- 800GE Switch/Router: The test utilized open-sourced white box switches powered by Broadcom Jericho3 packet processor chips, supporting up to 18 x 800GE network interfaces per 2RU unit.
- Network Operating System: DriveNets Network Cloud software managed the open-sourced white box switches, handling data and control plane functions, including switching and routing at 800G speeds.
- Optical Network: Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) coherent optical solution, the first coherent optical transmission to use a 200Gbaud design and 3nm coherent DSP ASIC, achieved data transport speeds of 1.6Tbps on a single wavelength.
- Traffic Generator: Keysight’s AresONE-M 800GE test platform generated realistic real-world traffic to validate and measure end-to-end standards-based 800GE services, ensuring reliable performance across the network.
Keysight’s Pivotal Role
Keysight played an instrumental role in this success, supporting AT&T from the initial Proof of Concept (PoC) in the lab to the final field trial on the production network. The Keysight AresONE-M 800GE is the industry’s most comprehensive high-speed Ethernet test system, supporting 10GE through 800GE speeds in both PAM4 and NRZ modes – on a single platform.
It offers advanced Layer 1 testing capabilities, such as Media Access Control (MAC), Physical Coding Sublayer (PCS), Forward Error Correction (FEC) symbol error correction, error injection, and PAM4 Rx Eye Histogram analysis. These features enhance link stability, robustness, and interoperability. Beyond Layer 1, the platform provides extensive protocol coverage for validating high-scale Layer 2/3 multi-protocol networking switches and routers, measuring packet latency with sub-nanosecond precision up to 800GE.
Lab PoC and Field Trial
In the lab PoC, Keysight’s AresONE-M 800GE platform first validated the open-source switch/router running DriveNets OS, by:
- Testing 800G DR8 pluggable transceivers from Coherent.
- Validating system-level packet switching and routing at 800GE speeds, measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) such as throughput, latency, jitter, and packet loss.
Next, a full end-to-end integration test was conducted in the lab. Open-source switches/routers with Coherent 800G DR transceivers and Ciena’s WL6e transponders formed a complete packet and optical network. Two Keysight AresONE-M units fed a pair of 800G links to the open-source switches/routers from both ends, achieving a total of 1.6Tbps. This setup verified end-to-end connectivity and measured KPIs for two standards-based 800GE services across the full path, proving the concept.
Following the lab success, AT&T deployed the same equipment for a field trial on its commercial fiber network. The test spanned 296km between Newark and Philadelphia, carrying 1.6Tbps on a single wavelength alongside live 100Gbps and 400Gbps traffic. Keysight’s AresONE-M units, installed at AT&T’s Newark and Philadelphia central offices, replicated the lab tests, confirming the system’s performance in the real-world.
Final Notes
AT&T’s successful 1.6Tbps trial underscores Keysight’s leadership in validating high-speed telecom networks, which empowers innovation across design, deployment, and operational phases. Just as a well-engineered highway allows cars to zip by without traffic jams, Keysight test solutions ensure that data flows smoothly and efficiently across networks. Operators can rely on Keysight to continue pioneering first-to-market technologies that deliver carrier-grade service level agreements (SLAs).
Visit our website to learn more about the Keysight AresONE-M 800GE platform.
Read the AT&T press release for more details about this groundbreaking achievement.