As part of the Facebook-initiated Telecom Infra Project (TIP), Telia Carrier trialed Facebook’s new Voyager white box transponder on one of its network routes in Europe.

Voyager is based on an open source system that combines packet technology for switching and routing, along with optical transponder technology. Facebook is making the Voyager converged transponder and IP/MPLS white box solution available to those involved with TIP.

Telia Carrier owns and operates a global fiber-optic network infrastructure, servicing customers in 80 different countries. Facebook completed a successful trial of 100G and 200G using Voyager gear on Telia Carrier’s 677-mile Stockholm to Hamburg route.

The test, carried out in early March, used networking software developed by Coriant.

Ultimately, one of TIP’s goals is to disaggregate the hardware and software components of the network stack. And boxes like Voyager move it toward that aim.

At a meeting with journalists at Mobile World Congress last month, Jay Parikh, vice president of engineering and infrastructure for Facebook, said, “The Voyager box has a lot of interest. Major telcos are doing trials and planning deployments in production infrastructure. It is a much more flexible design. An operator can customize the box and use it in different ways with their infrastructure.”

TIP, which has only been around for a little over a year, already counts about 450 members including operators such as Telefonica, Telia, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Bell, SK Telecom, Vodafone, Orange, Dish, Etisalat, British Telecom, and Reliance Jio.

Telia Carrier is a long-time partner of Facebook, having built and managed the multi-terabit optical network connecting their data center in Sweden to multiple exchange points throughout Europe.