Cisco bolsters optical network software

In an NCS 1010 network built using multiple disaggregated NCS 1010 devices, the Site Manger offers a single communication point for controllers such as Cisco Optical Network Controller. It lets users perform management and assurance tasks related to the site nodes, such as viewing alarms, performance statistics, and more, Cisco stated.

The portfolio also supports a number of new devices including QDD-based Pluggable Optical Line System routers and support for 100G-ZR and 400G-ZR coherent transceivers.

“Cisco Routed Optical Networking has been deployed by more than 200 customers in 400G metro and data center interconnect (DCI) applications,” Bill Gartner, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s optical systems and optics group, wrote in a blog about the enhancements to Routed Optical Networking. “These customers have benefited from increased capacity, reduced energy consumption and lowered network costs, complexity, and footprint.”

As large, networked businesses process increasingly greater AI workloads and distributed cloud applications that require high-bandwidth performance, the demand for optical connectivity technologies is expected to grow.

Cisco’s optical components can be mixed and matched with other non-Cisco gear – a feature that will be important as customers link multiple data sources to build out AI and other distributed applications, according to Gartner.

Cisco offers a variety of optical gear, including its Nexus 9000 and other components based on its $4.5 billion acquisition of optical maker Acacia Communications.