GEN120+ Coherent Trials and Deployments

Last Updated December 17, 2024

This report is updated regularly as Gen120P+ (1.2/1.6Tbs) and Gen120C (800ZR) coherent trials and commercial wins are announced publicly.

Methodology

This report tracks publicly announced terrestrial trials and network wins by vendors of Gen120+ coherent optics.

Gen120 is defined as any coherent technology with a top baud rate of at least 120GBaud. This includes both Performance (P) and Compact (C) optics, both of which will be tracked here.
At this time, any maximum baud rate above 120GBaud is included in this tracker. This includes the 200GBaud (Gen200) solution announced by Ciena.
Only publicly announced trials and customer wins are tracked. Each point on the graphs below can be traced to a press release or other public announcement, listed at the bottom of this report for reference.
Some trials are designed to demonstrate the maximum performance of the optics, while others are performed on real-world networks with sub-optimal characteristics (e.g. multiple ROADMs, older fiber, etc.). This tracker merely reports the data released, not the relative merits of each announcement.
Submarine builds are atypical, and are indicated with an * to differentiate them from terrestrial networks.

Solutions

Acacia/Cisco: Acacia’s CIM-8 Gen120P optical module based on the Jannu DSP has a top baud rate of 140GBaud. Hardware was demonstrated at OFC23 and initial field trials were reported in March 2023. Cisco’s first Gen120C trials – both at 800G and 400G – were reported in December 2024.
Adtran: Adtran is using the Acacia CIM-8 optical module in its optical platforms and announced an initial field trial in March 2023.
Ciena: Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (P) and Nano (C) announced commercial wins starting in January 2024 and commercial deployments in October 2024. The top baud rate for the WaveLogic 6 extreme will be 200GBaud (Gen200), which puts this solution a generation above Gen120. In the graphs below, Gen200 is designated by a different color and bullet type.
Fujitsu: Fujitsu’s T900 is based on the NEL ExaSPEED GAIA DSP with a top baud rate of 135GBaud. Hardware was demonstrated at OFC23.
Huawei: Huawei published a trial of its Gen120 solution at 400Gbps (QPSK) with China Mobile in June, 2023. The company deployed several thousand units with China Mobile starting at the end of 2023 (400G QPSK).
Infinera: Infinera’s ICE7 solution is based on the Acacia DSP but with a top baud rate of 148GBaud, and Infinera’s optical front-end. Infinera announced its first commercial win in October 2024. Infinera has also announced an ICE-X 800G Gen120C product, but no release date has been provided.
Nokia: Nokia demonstrated an early board-level version of the PSE-6 in February 2023 and announced its first commercial win in October 2023. PSE-6 has a top baud rate of 140GBaud.
Ribbon: Ribbon showed a mechanical demonstration of its Apollo optical platform with an Acacia CIM-8 module at OFC23 and announced its first commercial win in July 2024.
ZTE: ZTE published a field trial with China Mobile for 400Gbps QPSK operation in March 2023. ZTE is using the Acacia DSP.

Results

The first graph below shows Gen120+ performance by different vendors, with the speed and distance for each announcement plotted on a log scale. Gen120P = yellow circles, Gen200P = orange stars, Gen120C = Green Ys.

GEN120+ optics are capable of operating at many different speeds, typically ranging from 400Gbps to 1.6Tbps. Slower speeds can operate over longer distances while higher speeds are intended for shorter-distance operations. Scroll over each point for more details. Points with an asterisk (*) are subsea trials, where special conditions allow for extended reaches. References for each trial are listed at the end of this report.

Gen60C (green squares), Gen60P (red diamonds) and Gen90P (blue crosses) performance is provided for comparison. Those points are from Cignal AI’s Gen90P Tracker, last updated in November 2021.

The second graph shows trials (red) and commercial deployments (green) as vendors work with their customers to deploy Gen120P+ optics. The first Gen120P+ announcements were in February 2023.

Progress

March 2023: Initial post with trials from Acacia, Nokia, and Adtran.
September/October 2023: Added Nokia trials
November 2023: Added Cisco/Verizon and Fujitsu/NTT trials
December 2023: Added Huawei's trials, Huawei/ZTE/Fiberhome commercial announcement with China Mobile, and Nokia subsea and terrestrial trials.
January 2024: Added Cisco's trials with Windstream Wholesale, Nokia's trials with Zayo, and Ciena's wins at Vocus and Southern Cross
February 2024: Added Cisco's subsea trial with Amitie and ZTE's pluggable trial with Turkcell
March 2024: Added Cisco's subsea trial with AARNet and Huawei's du trial.
April 2024: Added Nokia's SURF trial.
June 2024: Added Ciena's JUNO win and updated missing Huawei trials.
July 2024: Added multiple Nokia trials from April to June.
August 2024: Added Ribbon's commercial win and trials. Added Ciena's 1.6T trial.
September 2024: Added Nokia's trials with OTE Group and Ciena's trial with Telstra.
October 2024: Added Ciena's second trial with Telstra and wins with Aqua Comms and Boldyn, Infinera's win with Converge, and Nokia's subsea trial with COLT and Windstream and win with Viettel.
November 2024: Added Ciena's and Nokia's latest wins and trials.
December 2024: Added the first Gen120C trials (from Cisco) and updated Huawei Gen120P trials.

References

Gen120P+

Gen120C

Gen90P

Gen60P

Gen60C