Case Study: SURF achieves 800Gb/s transmission over existing fiber with Nokia

Nokia and SURF reach 800Gb/s transmission on existing fiber to prepare for massive upgrade to CERN's Large Hadron Collide

SURF, the collaborative IT organization for Dutch education and research, faced the challenge of preparing its network infrastructure for a massive upgrade to CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The upcoming High-Luminosity LHC, set to become operational in 2029, would grow data sets by a factor of five, requiring a significant increase in network capacity to handle these enormous data streams over its existing fiber links.

Nokia implemented a solution using its photonic service engine technology. The vendor successfully achieved a single carrier 800Gb/s optical transmission over a 1648 km existing fiber link between Amsterdam and Geneva. This result proves that SURF's legacy infrastructure has the potential to meet future capacity demands, providing a clear path to support the massive data exchange required for groundbreaking physics research beyond 2029.

SURF

Ron Augustus

Chief Innovation Officer, Member of the Board