BCIX path to 400G networking with Smartoptics

The solution also provides a cost-efficient and future-proof upgrade path to 400G.

Berlin Commercial Internet Exchange (BCIX) is a neutral, not-for-profit internet exchange providing peering and interconnection services in Berlin. The Internet exchange actively engages with a community of people interested in technology to address future connectivity challenges together. Two of these challenges were to increase 100G connections and create a flexible future upgrade path to 400G for the DWDM links interconnecting BCIX’s data centres.

The Smartoptics DCP-404 muxponder was selected along with 400G-ready muxes and transceivers to enable more 100G links without having to make a major investment in new active DWDM equipment. The solution will give BCIX a low-cost way of increasing capacity today. It also makes it possible to upgrade to 400G later by upgrading the switches and re-using the same optics.

“We pride ourselves on taking a long-term perspective in our optical networking investments, and the DCP-404 proved to be an excellent investment. The reason is that it enables a smooth future transition to 400G at a very competitive price," says André Grüneberg, Managing Director, BCIX.

With remote breakout functionality, open standards and support for embedding, the solution’s flexibility will enable BCIX to use multiple 100G ports with different switches and devices. 

"We loved the creativity Smartoptics exhibited in supporting us, together with partner MG Future, to find the best solution for our unique needs,” says André.

The specifics of the use case made it rare and required a creative solution. The Smartoptics network elements worked as expected because of their flexible design and ease of configuration.

“We had a high level of confidence that our technology would deliver and meet BCIX’s needs in this unique use case. This was also made possible by our close collaboration with our long-standing value add partner MG Future and with BCIX, where our experts were in close dialogue, brainstorming and getting feedback. This deployment is a testament to the flexibility of our products, showing that they can be used in all kinds of creative scenarios to meet a wide variety of needs in a cost-efficient manner,” says Björn Rougén, VP Sales Europe at Smartoptics.