While most of the attention for Nortel this week was focused on the INNUA Global Connect event for enterprise customers, Nortel's MEN business announced another significant step in the race towards 100G optical.

Earlier this week, Nortel issued this press release highlighting the successful completion of a 100G trial with SURFnet, which runs an advanced Research and Education (R&E) network in the Netherlands. Their network, by the way, already supports 10G and 40G connections using Nortel's OME 6500.

The live network trial successfully tested two 40G and one 100G optical wavelengths over SURFnet's DWDM network connecting Amsterdam and Hamburg. The connection covered a distance of 1244km of fiber without using electrical regeneration equipment. In conversations my AR teammate had with analysts about the news, at least one suggested that this might be the longest 100G connection ever without regeneration equipment.

The other interesting part of the trial is that it showed the capability of the Nortel solution to support 10G, 40G and 100G wavelengths all from a single platform (the OME 6500). This is a key point for service providers that need to be able to have a gradual migration to 40G and 100G services.

Below are some pics from the actual SURFnet trial, which was conducted by Nortel partner Telindus from May 20-27. Click on the thumbnails below to see larger pics.