Months before Ciena's WaveLogic 5 800G coherent optical tech hits the market, the company announced its first public customer. Internet2 – a nonprofit technology community that connects several hundred universities, colleges, and government agencies across the U.S. – plans to use Ciena's latest generation of optical to modernize its network.

Ciena says its 800G-capable optics will increase Internet2's capacity and reduce operational costs in support of advanced research efforts like those taking place at the IceCube Laboratory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, which was established to study neutrino physics and multi-messenger astronomy.

"Together with superior coherent modems and a proven support system, the openness, flexibility and greener profile of this network will play a key role in our ability to accelerate discoveries in the research and education community," said Howard Pfeffer, president and CEO, Internet2, in a statement.

Internet2's network upgrades, which are already underway, will leverage Ciena's Waveserver and WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics, says Chris Wilkinson, director of network engineering and planning at Internet2, in an email to SDxCentral.

"Our upgrade plan includes work on the open line system during the remainder of 2019 and most of 2020," Wilkinson wrote. "As WaveLogic 5 Extreme becomes available, targeted for the end of this calendar year, we expect to migrate to that technology on the upgraded [optical line segments] segments in late spring 2020."

According to Ciena, WaveLogic 5 will allow Internet2 to deploy 800G wavelengths in metro locations and support 400G Ethernet interconnects over native 400G wavelengths between Internet2 points of presence (POPs). However, while capable of 800G, Internet2's upgraded network will be built on a 400G backbone, Wilkinson explained.

He expects that while much of upgrades to be completed in 2020 some, the packet network deployment and activation of the final 400G backbone could take longer.

According to a Ciena spokesperson, Internet2 is the company's first official customer of its 800G Wavelogic 5 based coherent optics, which are expected to begin shipping this year. However, it may not end up being the first deployment of the technology.

This isn't the first time Internet2 has worked with Ciena to build out its network, according to Rod Wilson, chief technologist for research networks at Ciena. "Ciena worked with Internet2 to establish America’s first nationwide 100G R&E network and this latest initiative will significantly enhance Internet2’s services,” he said.