Ciena debuts WaveRouter, industry’s first purpose-built router for the converged metro

HANOVER, Md., U.S.A — 

Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) introduced WaveRouter, an industry-first platform architecture optimally designed for the converged metro network. As part of Ciena’s Coherent Routing strategy, WaveRouter supports the exponential growth of metro traffic driven by bandwidth-hungry services such as 5G, high-speed broadband, enterprise business services, and the cloud. Seamlessly unifying IP, optical, and compute functionality in a single platform, WaveRouter’s future-proof scalability from 6Tb/s to 192Tb/s addresses the needs of service providers who are dealing with unprecedented traffic demand.

Giving rise to a new, flexible hybrid architecture that unites traditional chassis and leaf-spine design, WaveRouter utilizes Ciena’s industry-leading WaveLogic coherent optics and intelligent multi-layer control and automation for a high-performance, easy-to-operate, and greener coherent routing solution. It meets the vigorous demands of metro networks by bringing together the best of platform architecture, transport technologies, and software to eliminate trade-offs in space, power, cooling, and scalability.

Said Sterling Perrin, Senior Principal Analyst at Heavy Reading: “Metro networks are ripe for modernization, driven by requirements for sustainability, scale, reliability, cloud adaptability, and lower costs. Heavy Reading survey data indicates many operators are seeking change in how they architect their metros. Ciena’s WaveRouter, a coherent metro router, combines IP and optical coordination, open API-based automation, and a hardware building-block architecture that offers redundant power and cooling, along with the ability to independently scale up compute and scale out switching fabric. This is the type of innovative metro architecture that network operators are looking for.”

“Service providers are looking to simplify their networks through convergence to gain a competitive edge in a cloud-driven, always-connected world. Until now, they’ve had to compromise when it came to capacity, operational ease, and sustainability. WaveRouter takes an innovative approach, combining the best in IP, coherent optics, and flexible photonics driven by multi-layer operations for real performance and energy advantages,” said Scott McFeely, Senior Vice President, Global Products and Services, Ciena.

WaveRouter will be generally available in the third quarter of 2023.