"Beyond these drivers, we see other applications coming, such as increased-pixel TV and three-dimensional video, that will continue to push the bandwidth curve, not only in the U.S., but around the world," said Mark Wegleitner, Senior Vice President of Technology at Verizon.

Consumers have readily adopted fiber optic delivery systems for television and internet access. Most of the internet around the world runs on multiple 10Gbps backbones of fiber optic cables. While many carriers would like to increase their capacity, laying more cables is a costly proposition. The Metro Ethernet Networks group of Nortel Networks has been working on the problem, and has developed new equipment that enables 100Gbps speeds with current fiber.

Verizon became the first telecommunications carrier to successfully deploy a commercial ultra-long-haul optical system for live traffic earlier this week. This system was deployed on the company's 893 Km (555 mile) European optical core network between Paris and Frankfurt. This marks the first ever deployment of ultra-long-haul 100Gbps using a single channel on a
production network.

"Nortel is proud to have partnered with Verizon on this industry-first achievement," said Philippe Morin, President of Metro Ethernet Networks, Nortel. "The progression to 100G optical speeds is a critical next step for forward-looking service providers like Verizon. Nortel's unique 100G technology makes this evolution one that is painless to deploy while lowering total network costs.

"This latest 100G-first gives Verizon the edge in meeting the growing bandwidth demands of our customers," said Wegleitner. "By consolidating traffic onto one large pipe rather than several smaller ones, customers will benefit from increased network capacity, improved transmission quality and greater network efficiencies."