- Lumen will use Ciena’s latest coherent optic technology to feed hyperscaler hunger for AI bandwidth
- Both companies are reaping the benefits of the AI boom
- The optical transport market is also on the upswing, with Ciena among the top 5 vendors
Lumen entered the AI market hot last year, raking in $8.5 billion in related revenue, with plenty more to come. Now, it needs to get its network up to speed to handle the incoming workload, which is where Ciena’s optical technology comes in.
Specifically, Lumen will employ Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 coherent optics solution, which can deliver 1.6 Tbps over a single wavelength across a 1,000-kilometer (~621 miles) distance. The vendor’s Navigator Control Suite (NCS) will help Lumen automate managing and controlling its fiber assets.
Choosing Ciena for the task was a no-brainer given the company has been a longtime Lumen partner, said Kye Prigg, Lumen’s EVP of Enterprise Operations. Ciena will allow Lumen to beef up its connectivity for cloud and data center operators, which includes high-profile customers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Meta.
“Not only are we essentially doubling the size of [our] fiber network, we are using the right technology – like Ciena’s optical tech – to meet massive connectivity demand now and well into the future,” Prigg said.
A lot of that fiber is coming from Corning, which will give Lumen access to 10% of the vendor’s global fiber capacity for the next two years. Fiber counts are rising, according to fellow long-haul players Windstream and Zayo, to support GPU capacity for data centers.
Ciena’s AI edge
How does Ciena fit into the puzzle? Helen Xenos, senior director of optical solutions marketing at Ciena, told Fierce WaveLogic6 not only provides low latency but also “double the capacity and 50% reduction in power/bit compared to previous technology.” Meaning Lumen can offer the high capacity hpyerscalers want “all while using less equipment and with less energy consumption.”
That’s a pretty big deal considering energy consumption will continue to rise faster than power generation in years ahead.
Like Lumen, Ciena has been reaping the benefits of the AI boom due to increased demand not only for WaveLogic but also its Reconfigurable Line Systems (RLS). The vendor now has over 30 customers using WaveLogic 6, Dell’Oro Group Analyst Jimmy Yu in a LinkedIn post. He speculated Lumen might include the technology in its Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) offering, which essentially gives hyperscalers full rein over speeds, routes and redundancy options across their network.
Lumen isn’t the only operator eyeing Ciena’s AI chops. Verizon in November trialed WaveLogic 6 to see how fast it could transmit data in a live fiber network. The carrier most recently stepped up its AI game with the launch of AI Connect, a suite of products that will provide data centers and enterprises access to Verizon’s 5G, fiber and land assets.
Outside the U.S., Telia Norway is also testing WaveLogic 6 to accommodate increased data center traffic in the Nordic region. “Norway has emerged as a highly desirable destination for constructing data centers due to its advantageous combination of affordable energy and favorable climate conditions,” a Ciena rep told us.
AI aside, the optical transport market is poised to bounce back this year once vendors put their inventory issues to rest (or so we keep hearing). Ciena was still among the top 5 optical vendors in Q4, Dell’Oro noted, alongside Huawei, ZTE, Nokia and Infinera – though the latter two won’t remain separate for long.
