Telcordia Develops Provable Security Technology for Emerging 100 Gb/s Fiber Optic Networks

Network and security administrators face the daunting challenge of staying ahead of cyber-criminals to protect critical data and customer or employee information. To help government agencies, enterprises and communications service providers (CSPs) build significantly heightened security into their fiber optic networks, Telcordia has developed an all optical code-division multiplexed (OCDM)-based photonic layer security (PLS) system. The system aims to provide secure communications for very high data rate systems, where electronic encryption becomes increasingly expensive and difficult. More advanced and less expensive than competing technologies, the OCDM-based PLS system is the latest example of Telcordia's ability to solve the industry's most complex problems and encourage progress in the telecom market. This breakthrough augments Telcordia's security consulting services by providing next generation security solutions for emerging 100 Gb/s fiber optics networks.

This encryption is accomplished by coding and scrambling the optical signal in such a way that the bits cannot be recovered nor be recorded for subsequent decryption. Telcordia has devised novel coding schemes and a compact, programmable coder, working with industry and university partners. Telcordia's approach makes use of sophisticated optical processing, in which optical frequency and phase are manipulated with high precision. In initial lab tests, OCDM-based PLS systems have demonstrated 40 Gb/s optical encryption over distances up to 400km; researchers expect to demonstrate longer distances and higher bit rates (100 Gb/s and beyond) in the near future. This protocol independent approach has also been shown to be compatible with conventional dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) and optical networking.

"The ability of fiber-optics to support extremely high data rates is a double-edged sword because as these rates increase, existing electronic encryption schemes struggle to keep up. Furthermore, as the cost to purchase, deploy and manage protocol-dependent electronic encryptors increases dramatically, the value of an all-optical protocol-agnostic solution becomes obvious," said Shahab Etemad, Chief Scientist Director, Advanced Technology Solutions, Telcordia. "OCDM-based PLS systems provide a graceful yet powerful solution for securing fiber optic networks, even those with the most demanding throughput and security requirements."

In 2003, Telcordia envisioned such an overlay security solution for transparent DWDM networks and is currently establishing relationships with partners to further develop and deploy its OCDM-based PLS technology for the government, CSP and enterprise markets. The underlying research for this breakthrough technology was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Microsystems Technology Office (MTO). A detailed article about OCDM-based PLS systems, authored by Dr. Etemad, is available in the August 2008 issue of IEEE Communications Magazine, available at www.comsoc.org/livepubs/ci1/index.html.

Research by Telcordia employees has produced more than 1,800 patents, as well as breakthrough technologies such as ADSL, ATM, Frame Relay, SONET, AIN, ISDN. For more information about Telcordia's research and industry leadership, visit www.telcordia.com/innovation/index.html. General information about Telcordia can be found at http://www.telcordia.com.

About Telcordia

Telcordia Technologies, Inc. is a leading global provider of telecommunications network software and services for IP, wireline, wireless, and cable. As the industry continuously evolves, Telcordia has the experience and reach to deliver the critical elements of success to help communication providers worldwide deploy innovative and profitable new services via any network or device while helping carriers aggressively reduce costs and grow revenues. Telcordia is headquartered in Piscataway, N.J., with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Central and Latin America. www.telcordia.com)">