Alien wavelengths: Adding capacity at a low cost

Data from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) shows that digitalization has increased by an average of 6 percentage points in advanced economies since the COVID-19 pandemic. Network demand has shifted significantly, with a profound increase in data usage levels. Many service providers have experienced an exhaustion of their wavelength inventories on spans where demand is highest, highlighting the importance of being able to react to changing network traffic patterns.

Service providers seek solutions that enable them to add capacity on selected routes quickly, at the lowest possible cost. When selecting the right solution, they should ask themselves the following questions:

• How do I extend the life of my existing transport infrastructure?
• How much capacity do I need to add and where do I need to add it?
• How can I get this capacity operational as quickly and easily as possible?
• Is there a way to minimize my CAPEX?
• Can my incumbent transport vendor deliver the solution I need, in the required timeframe?
• Can my current vendor meet the increasingly strict security requirements being imposed in some countries?

Managing demand

Alien wavelengths are a solution for service providers to alleviate network pressures by providing instant capacity where they need it, over any line system, at the lowest possible cost, without impacting operations.

With alien wavelengths, companies can optimize current infrastructure without the need for costly upgrades, as optical signals can be transmitted across existing fiber infrastructure belonging to other operators. This introduces healthy bandwidth growth and can extend the life of congested networks, speed time to market, and reduce CAPEX.

Alien wavelengths allow service providers to seamlessly introduce a second vendor into their network without disrupting existing services or network operations. Service providers can also benefit from alien wavelengths’ dynamic resource allocation capability, which responds in real-time to traffic surges. This scalability enables service providers to boost current infrastructure while also planning for future demand.

The right partner

While service providers may understand the advantages of alien wavelengths, ensuring no network or service impact during deployment is not so easy. Service providers can benefit from partnering with a vendor with an extensive track record, who knows how to navigate the different line systems in today’s networks and can help manage the integration.

The Ekinops360 optical transport platform enables service providers to deploy alien wavelengths over their existing line system, cost-effectively achieving the capacity needed to solve their service issues. Ekinops can help extend the life of existing infrastructure by replacing multiple 10G circuits with a single high-speed connection and line rates of 100G to 800G, freeing filters’ ports and enabling the redeployment of 10G hardware to other areas of the network.

Beyond installation, managing alien wavelengths implementation is also made easier through the Ekinops Celestis NMS network management system, which enables service providers to provision, monitor and troubleshoot their alien wavelengths end-to-end from their own network operations center.

Interested in learning more about how alien wavelengths can deliver instant capacity to your network, or looking for help with implementation? Contact the Ekinops team