Bell Canada rolls out commercial 400G wavelength on fibre optic backbone

Offering faster connectivity, increased capacity, low latency and higher energy efficiency for major cloud operators, content providers and carriers moving massive amounts of data

MONTRÉAL, April 22, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell Canada today announced commercial 400G wavelength service that employs Ciena's (NYSE: CIEN) WaveLogic 5 Extreme technology to deliver the significantly increased connectivity speeds and capacity required by the largest cloud and data centre providers while optimizing network performance and energy efficiency.

"Bell 400G wavelength service efficiently delivers the speed and capacity necessary to meet the fast-growing demand of bandwidth-intensive operators moving massive amounts of data and content to the cloud," said Ivan Mihaljevic, Senior Vice President, Wholesale at Bell Canada. "Bell's unparalleled network infrastructure and customer support, coupled with Ciena's market-leading optical wavelength technology, offers major operators here in Canada and internationally the opportunity to scale up easily, efficiently and sustainably with our highly energy efficient 400G capabilities."

Now deployed across major spans of Bell's 17,000 km fibre infrastructure, 400G service will continue to grow nationally in the coming months. 400G technology increases fibre capacity using less network hardware and more automation to deliver 4x the data speed and 50% more capacity per wavelength. Ciena's innovative WaveLogic 5 Extreme technology reduces energy usage, equipment footprint and overall system complexity, allowing service providers to create more sustainable, greener networks.

"The global shift to 400G is happening and Bell Canada is leading the way by evolving its network to support the insatiable and often unpredictable network demand driven by the cloud, streaming video and more," said Bruce Hembree, Vice President and General Manager for the Americas at Ciena. "With WaveLogic 5 Extreme, Bell can offer new, high bandwidth 400G services to carrier and content provider customers between key points of presence across Canada and into the US."

Bell's wavelength service provides a reliable, secure fibre optic network for the transport of voice, data and video. By moving to 400G wavelength service, Bell is supporting the accelerated adoption of bandwidth-hungry services and applications that require fast, high capacity, low-latency connections.

For more information about Bell's wavelength solutions and service, please visit Bell.ca. For more about WaveLogic 5 Extreme, please visit Ciena.com.

About Bell

The Bell team builds world-leading broadband wireless and fibre networks, provides innovative mobile, TV, Internet and business communications services and delivers the most compelling content with premier television, radio, out of home and digital media brands. With a goal to advance how Canadians connect with each other and the world, Bell serves more than 22 million consumer and business customer connections across every province and territory.

Founded in Montréal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE). To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.

Bell supports the social and economic prosperity of our communities with a commitment to the highest environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. We measure our progress in increasing environmental sustainability, achieving a diverse and inclusive workplace, leading data governance and protection, and building stronger and healthier communities. This includes confronting the challenge of mental illness with the Bell Let's Talk initiative, which drives mental health awareness and action with programs like the annual Bell Let's Talk Day and Bell funding for community care, research and workplace programs nationwide all year round.

Media inquiries:
Nathan Gibson
905-614-9596
nathan.gibson@bell.ca  
@Bell_News

Jamie Moody
214-995-8035
jmoody@ciena.com

SOURCE Bell Canada