AARNet, Cisco Trial 400Gbps Over Indigo
AARNet, Cisco Trial 400Gbps Coherent Pluggable Optics Over 4,600km Cable
By Josh Martinez, iTWire
June 4, 2025
AARNet, jointly owned by Australian universities and science agency CSIRO, is the national research and education network provider, delivering telecommunications infrastructure, cyber security, and collaboration services.
Completed in late May 2025, the trial transmitted a 400Gbps wavelength using Cisco’s NCS 1014 3.2Tbps WDM line card and Acacia’s QSFP-DD ULH coherent pluggable optic modules.
AARNet and Cisco claim the trial has advanced what is possible in subsea communication, demonstrating the ability to transmit high-speed data over existing submarine cables and highlighting the technology’s capacity to enhance network efficiency.
“By optimising the use of available space and power at the endpoints of subsea links, the solution ensures that greater capacity can be achieved without compromising operational performance, reducing power consumption and increasing density to 6.4Tbps per rack unit,” AARNet states in its announcement.
“During the trial, the 400Gbps wavelength operated at 75GBaud, showcasing the ability to transmit extremely high-speed data efficiently over existing optical infrastructure.
“This approach enables better use of the available space and power at the end points of the subsea link without compromising overall capacity of the submarine cable.”
According to AARNet, the successful operation of the new wavelength in parallel with live traffic on the Indigo Central cable, confirmed the technology is ready for immediate live network deployment and can seamlessly integrate with existing services.
“This successful trial with Cisco is a fantastic achievement and underscores AARNet’s commitment to providing Australia’s research and education sector with leading-edge network capabilities,” said Chris Hancock AM, CEO at AARNet.
“We are proud to partner with Cisco in pushing the boundaries of optical networking, and the results of this trial give us a lot of confidence in the future deployment of this technology across the AARNet network.”
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