Deutsche Telekom tapped networking vendors Cisco and Ciena this week to expand network capacity, improve security, and deliver higher-speed connectivity to the European market.

The updates come as workers demand higher performance and more reliable networks. In Europe, 78% of the workforce reported fast, secure, and reliable broadband connections are now a necessity, according to the latest Cisco Broadband Index report.

To deliver faster internet speeds and reduce power consumption, the telecom replaced its Cisco’s CRS-X multi-chassis system with Cisco's 8000-series routers. The routers are based on Cisco's Silicon One chip family, optimized for 400 Gb/s use cases, and can scale from 10.8 Tb/s to 260 Tb/s of aggregate routing performance.

Cisco also claims its 8000-series routing platform provides the required speed and agility to help Deutsche Telekom adopt 400 Gb/s interfaces now and upgrade to 800 Gb/s in the future.

According to Deutsche Telekom, the upgrade will cut power consumption by up to 92% per 100 Gb/s and reduce space requirements from eight racks to one rack per system.

“Working together with leading service providers like Deutsche Telekom, we are showcasing how the latest in networking, routing, and silicon technology can deliver the internet experience we need to stay connected – and bring more people online,” Jonathan Davidson, SVP and GM of Cisco’s mass-scale infrastructure business, said in a statement. 

Deutsche Telekom also announced the launch of 400 Gb/s services this week through its Lambda Connect offering. The service is powered by Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 optical platform and will see Deutsche Telekom's peak lines rates jump from 100 Gb/s to 400Gb/s.

Lambda Connect is a high-bandwidth optical service based on dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) technology and provides connectivity for the European, North American, and Asian Pacific markets.

Ciena claims the new service offers a fourfold increase in transfer speed, while also requiring fewer circuits compared to 100Gb/s Lambda offerings.

“Higher cost efficiency and mutual sustainability goals are also achievable with this new service enabled by reductions in not only equipment, power, and space, but also 75% reductions in cross-connect fees when necessary,” Rolf Nafziger, SVP of Deutsche Telekom global business and global carrier, said in a statement.