Windstream Wholesale successfully completes 1000 km 400G ZR+ field trials

Field trials demonstrate the unprecedented performance of the II-VI 400G ZR+ pluggable modules with 0dBm transmit power

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Windstream Wholesale, a leading provider of advanced optical solutions, announced today that it has successfully completed 1000 km 400G field trials leveraging pluggable modules from II-VI Incorporated (Nasdaq: IIVI) with QSFP-DD-DCO optics that achieve a high transmit power of 0dBm. The trials demonstrated unprecedented performance with strong working margins over a production network route and traversing up to 24 ROADMs in a lab environment.

“II-VI’s high transmit power 0dBm 400G QSFP-DD DCO transceivers enable Windstream to deploy greatly simplified network architectures, by optically connecting routers directly to access, metro, and regional transport networks without additional intermediary interfaces, eliminating an entire layer of optical equipment,” said Buddy Bayer, chief network officer at Windstream. “This revolution in IP-over-DWDM network architecture achieves significant savings in upfront costs and ongoing expenses, affording Windstream a highly competitive operational model.”

Windstream Wholesale announced in October that it had partnered with II-VI to co-develop next-generation transceivers that will streamline deployment of 400 gigabit services while significantly reducing costs, power consumption and network complexity. II‐VI shipped its 400G ZR+ QSFP-DD-DCO transceivers, the world’s first with 0dBm output power, to Windstream Wholesale for field qualification in February.

During the field trial, Windstream Wholesale closed established a 400G link on a 1,000+ kilometer link between Phoenix and Los Angeles using the 0dBm ZR+ qualification units from II-VI with a strong residual margin k, validating suitability for production use. Notably, this performance was achieved with less than 20 watts of power consumption for each module.

“Our partnership with Windstream on the joint development of the 0dBm 400G ZR+ QSFP-DD-DCO transceivers has allowed II-VI to accelerate the technology development, as proven by the recent success in the field trials,” said Matthias Berger, vice president, coherent technology, II-VI Incorporated. “Demonstrating inter-operability, low power dissipation and native 0dBm output is a ‘triple-play’ of features that will enable IP-over-DWDM for ROADM based networks.”

Windstream’s Intelligent Converged Optical Network provides open and disaggregated networking infrastructure, enabling wholesale and enterprise technology customers to select unique custom routes, maintain operational insights with Windstream’s Network Intelligence functions, and place their networks closer to the edge to better serve end-users.

About Windstream

Windstream Holdings is a privately held Fortune® 1000 communications and software company. Windstream Wholesale is an innovative optical technology leader that creates deep partnerships with carriers, content and media providers, and federal government agencies to deliver fast and flexible, customized wave and transport solutions. Additional information is available at windstream.com or windstreamwholesale.com. Follow us on Twitter at @Windstream.

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