400G routed optical, with coherent optics in the router port

IP Infusion delivers the complete routed-optical router: OcNOS-SP preloaded on qualified routers that carry 100G and 400G coherent optics in the faceplate. The router lights its own DWDM wavelength, removing the need for a transponder shelf, while one CLI runs the routing and the optics under one support contract. Open hardware keeps the platform and the optics your choice.

Book an architecture review Get the IPoDWDM solution brief
100G / 400Gcoherent optics in the router
14platforms with coherent optics support
600+operators run OcNOS

What routed optical removes

In a classic DWDM build the router hands a grey client signal to a transponder shelf, and the transponder lights the wavelength. In routed optical, a coherent 100G or 400G optic sits in the router port and lights the wavelength itself. The transponder shelf comes out; the ROADM and EDFA line system stays as it is.

The same DWDM link, two ways to light it

A DWDM link with transponders, and the same link as routed opticalWith transponders, each router hands a grey client signal to a transponder shelf that lights the DWDM wavelength. With routed optical, a coherent optic in the router port lights the wavelength and the transponder shelves are removed. The ROADM and EDFA line system stays the same.Site ASite BDWDM line systemEDFAgrey opticgrey opticRouterOcNOS-SPRouterOcNOS-SP400G OpenZR+ in the port400G OpenZR+ in the portTranspondershelfTranspondershelfRemovedRemovedROADMROADM

4 boxes on the link

Each site runs a router and a transponder shelf, connected by a grey client optic.

Illustrative.

Operators running open 400G routed optical.

Regional and Tier-1 operators moved metro and backbone transport to open 400G IPoDWDM, collapsing the IP and optical layers onto the router. OcNOS-SP runs in production across more than 600 operator networks in 60+ countries, on a routing stack in development since 1999.

eww ITandTEL Austria · 100G MPLS to open 400G IPoDWDM backbone Read the story → Adams Cable US East · OcNOS plus 400G ZR+ optics upgrade Read the story → Tier-1 backbone Global · 18 by 400G OpenZR+ on a 14.4 Tbps IPoDWDM backbone Read the story → EXATEL Poland · software-defined optical, 100G and 400G links Read the story →

“The shift to an open, OcNOS-driven 400G IPoDWDM backbone gives us the control, visibility, and operational efficiency we need to keep our services consistently stable and ahead of demand.” Christoph Ehmayer, Team Lead Network/System Engineer, eww ITandTEL

From 100G ZR to 400G OpenZR+: choosing the coherent pluggable.

Pick the 100G QSFP28 ZR optic for a single-wavelength 100G span in the smaller form factor. Pick OIF 400ZR when the span is a short amplified point-to-point link and you want the simplest fixed 400G optic. Pick OpenZR+ when the wavelength has to cross a ROADM as an alien wavelength or reach further, or when you want one multirate optic that carries 100G through 400G. To the router all three are pluggables managed from the same CLI.

100G QSFP28 ZR, OIF 400ZR, and OpenZR+ coherent pluggables on OcNOS-SP. Last verified: Jul 2026.
Attribute 100G QSFP28 ZR OIF 400ZR OpenZR+
Data rate 100G 400G 100 / 200 / 300 / 400G
Form factor QSFP28 QSFP-DD QSFP-DD
Modulation Coherent DP-QPSK DP-16QAM (fixed) Selectable 16QAM / 8QAM / QPSK
FEC Coherent FEC cFEC oFEC
Client signals 100GbE, OTU4 400GbE, 100GbE 100 / 200 / 400GbE, OTU4, OTUCn / FlexO
Reach class Amplified single-span Short-reach amplified Long amplified
Line-system model Point-to-point, fixed grid Point-to-point ROADM / alien wavelength
OcNOS-SP management Same routing CLI Same routing CLI Same routing CLI

OpenZR+ and 400ZR are MSA and OIF specifications. Reach is stated as a qualitative class.

Coherent transceivers with proven interoperability from multiple vendors.

OcNOS-SP has proven interoperability with 100G QSFP28 ZR and 400G OpenZR+ / OIF 400ZR coherent optics from more than one vendor, so the pluggable stays a competitive purchase rather than a single-source part.

Furukawa Electric Ciena Smartoptics Hisense Coherent NEC

The routed-optical router, sized to the ring

Qualified routers with coherent optics in the faceplate, OcNOS-SP preloaded, under one support contract.

UfiSpace S9510-28DC routed-optical router

Aggregation edge

UfiSpace S9510-28DC

Qumran 2A · 800 Gbps

Up to 2 coherent 400G optics in the faceplate

Edgecore AS7535-28XB (CSR440) routed-optical router

Aggregation edge

Edgecore AS7535-28XB (CSR440)

Qumran 2A · 800 Gbps

Up to 2 coherent 400G optics in the faceplate

Edgecore AS7946-30XB (AGR400) routed-optical router

Metro and core

Edgecore AS7946-30XB (AGR400)

Qumran 2C · 2.4 Tbps

Up to 4 coherent 400G optics in the faceplate

UfiSpace S9600-28DX routed-optical router

Metro and core

UfiSpace S9600-28DX

Qumran 2C · 2.4 Tbps

Up to 4 coherent 400G optics in the faceplate

UfiSpace S9600-56DX routed-optical router

Metro edge

UfiSpace S9600-56DX

Qumran 2C · 4.8 Tbps

Up to 8 coherent 400G optics in the faceplate

UfiSpace S9610-46DX routed-optical router

Core

UfiSpace S9610-46DX

Qumran 2C+ · 7.2 Tbps

Up to 6 coherent 400G optics in the faceplate

Edgecore AGR560 (AS9947-36XKB) routed-optical router

Core

Edgecore AGR560 (AS9947-36XKB)

Jericho2C+ · 7.2 Tbps

Up to 12 coherent 400G optics in the faceplate

UfiSpace S9610-36D routed-optical router

Core backbone

UfiSpace S9610-36D

Jericho2C+ · 14.4 Tbps

Up to 18 coherent 400G optics in the faceplate

Data center interconnect on OcNOS-DC. 400G ZR and OpenZR+ run on the Edgecore AS9716-32D, AS9736-64D and AS9726-32DB and the UfiSpace S9300-32D, and 800G ZR runs on Tomahawk 5 with the Edgecore AIS800-64D and UfiSpace S9321-64E. See the data center fabric →

Coherent optics support per platform in the OcNOS Feature Matrix; 100G QSFP28 ZR ports vary by model. See every validated platform in the hardware compatibility list.

Moving a wavelength from a transponder to the router.

The routed-optical router interoperates with the installed multi-vendor optical line system, so you add a coherent wavelength, cut a circuit over on your timeline, and retire the transponder shelf segment by segment.

Run alongside the installed transport

The routed-optical router interoperates with the existing multi-vendor optical line system, and the coherent wavelength is added as an alien wavelength. eww ITandTEL ran 400G ZR+ circuits across a multi-vendor environment this way.

Move a circuit to a 400G wavelength

Move a 100G or legacy circuit to a 400G OpenZR+ wavelength on the router, on your own timeline. eww moved a 100G MPLS backbone to 400G IPoDWDM, and Adams Cable upgraded to a 400G network.

Retire the transponder shelf

Once circuits ride the router’s coherent optics, the standalone shelf is removed from that segment. Cisco IOS-XR to OcNOS CLI translation assistance is available to speed configuration conversion.

Datasheet, solution brief, and the webinar.

The IPoDWDM 400G OpenZR+ solution brief and the OcNOS-SP datasheet to share with your team, plus the on-demand webinar. The PDFs download after a quick form.

Solution Brief

IPoDWDM with 400G OpenZR+

The routed-optical design on open hardware: coherent pluggables, alien wavelengths, and the metro build, in one PDF.

Get the brief
Datasheet

OcNOS-SP Datasheet

The full OcNOS-SP overview: roles, protocols, coherent optics, and the validated hardware, in one PDF.

Get the datasheet
On-Demand Webinar

AI-Era Traffic: Fabrics and IP over DWDM

IP Infusion, RocNet Supply, and Smartoptics on Tier-1 style architecture for regional operators. Hosted by the Fiber Broadband Association.

Watch the webinar

Questions an optical architect asks.

For an SP metro build it removes a chassis, its power, and its rack space: the aggregation or edge router lights its own DWDM wavelength instead of feeding a separate transponder shelf, and OcNOS-SP runs the wavelength from the same CLI as the routing. The optical layer stays open because the wavelength rides your existing ROADM as an alien wavelength.
OcNOS-SP drives three coherent pluggable classes from the same routing CLI. A 100G QSFP28 coherent optic (coherent DP-QPSK, tunable) lights a single 100G wavelength for lighter metro and access spans. A 400G QSFP-DD OIF 400ZR optic is the fixed 400G point-to-point optic. A 400G QSFP-DD OpenZR+ optic is multirate, carrying 100G, 200G, 300G, or 400G with 100/200/400GbE, OTU4, and OTUCn/FlexO clients, and runs over a ROADM as an alien wavelength.
OIF 400ZR is a fixed 400G optic using DP-16QAM modulation and cFEC, built for short-reach amplified links, typically point to point. OpenZR+ is a superset: it selects among 16QAM, 8QAM, and QPSK, runs open FEC (oFEC) for longer amplified reach, carries 100G through 400G, and operates over a ROADM as an alien wavelength. Below both, a 100G QSFP28 ZR optic covers single-wavelength 100G spans. OcNOS-SP manages all of them from the same routing CLI.
IP Infusion delivers the routed-optical router complete on validated open hardware with a coherent faceplate that seats 100G QSFP28 and 400G QSFP-DD ZR optics. Eight platforms carry the coherent optic today, from the 800 Gbps aggregation edge on the UfiSpace S9510-28DC and Edgecore AS7535-28XB, through 2.4 to 7.2 Tbps metro and core boxes such as the S9600-56DX, S9610-46DX, and Edgecore AGR560, up to the S9610-36D, a 36 by 400G, 14.4 Tbps backbone router that hosts coherent ZR/ZR+ optics on 18 of its 400G ports. See the platforms on the hardware compatibility list.
Yes. OpenZR+ is an open coherent standard, so the router's wavelength runs as an alien wavelength across an existing third-party ROADM and EDFA line system. OcNOS-SP manages the pluggable and its tuning locally and reads the EDFA over digital diagnostic monitoring, so the optical layer stays open and vendor-neutral.
OcNOS-SP reads Pre-FEC and Post-FEC monitoring and transmit and receive optical power from the coherent optic, along with the transceiver's digital diagnostic monitoring. The parameters are streamed as OpenConfig telemetry via gNMI, so an optical architect watches link health from the same telemetry pipeline as the rest of the router. Available parameters depend on the coherent optic.
OcNOS-SP has proven interoperability with 100G QSFP28 ZR and 400G OpenZR+ / OIF 400ZR coherent optics from multiple vendors, including Furukawa, Ciena, SmartOptics, Hisense, Coherent, and NEC. Sourcing the optic from more than one vendor keeps the coherent pluggable a competitive purchase rather than a single-source part.
Service provider metro routed optical runs at 400G on OcNOS-SP. For 800G coherent data center interconnect, OcNOS-DC drives the higher-rate optics on data center hardware. See the data center interconnect solution for the 800G design.
A proprietary DWDM system ties the transponders, the line system, and often the management to a single vendor. Open IP over DWDM keeps each layer a separate choice. The coherent optic follows OpenZR+ or OIF 400ZR, so it interoperates across optics vendors and runs over a third-party ROADM as an alien wavelength. The router runs OcNOS-SP and manages the wavelength from the routing CLI, so one team and one telemetry pipeline cover both the packet and the optical layer. The result is a competitive, multi-vendor purchase at every layer instead of a single-source stack.

Size routed optical for your metro.

See how IP Infusion delivers the routed-optical router complete, or contact us to map your metro ring to the right validated platforms, coherent optics, and licensing.

See the complete router Book an architecture review Hardware compatibility list