The two are exploring a new clear-channel interface to scale up the capacity of Elisa’s network.
Nokia and Elisa Finland announced they have achieved “a major network capacity milestone” while upgrading the operator’s network.
In a live commercial trial, they are proving the world’s first 1Tb (terabit) clear-channel interface deployment to meet the exponential demand for connectivity and bandwidth capacity that is driven by cloud computing, video streaming, AI, IoT and 5G.
Changing patterns of internet traffic patterns from consumers, home workers and businesses are pushing the capacity limits of operators’ networks. As they look to combine gigabit capable fixed and wireless access technologies, the IP networks that carry this broadband traffic need to scale to keep up.
Most networks still operate many100Gigabit Ethernet (GE) ports, with 400GE on the horizon.
First silicon
To achieve ITb Elisa upgraded some of its Nokia 7950 Extensible Routing System (XRS) nodes with 1T interfaces powered by Nokia’s FP4 chipset, claimed to be the industry’s first terabit capable routing silicon.
The new FP4 terabit linecard supports two 1T ports and proved they are ready for commercial deployment, carrying live traffic on Elisa’s network.
Besides a 10x boost in capacity, terabit links simplify operational complexity and overheads because they don’t need to distribute terabit flows on high capacity routes over multiple lower rate interfaces in link aggregation groups.
Kalle Lehtinen, CTO, at Elisa, said, “Elisa continues its string of world firsts with this record-breaking IP routing capability achieved with Nokia, enabling us to leapfrog an 800G progression that other service providers are only strategising about.
This strengthens our position as a global 5G leader and gigabit broadband service provider, allowing us to stay ahead of the curve and maintain our commitment to our customers.”