Alcatel-Lucent announced on Wednesday that they are going to launch 100 gigabits per second optical networking technology. 100 Gbps wavelength means  that the technology can transfer more than 100,000 MP3 files in 60 seconds or more than 15,000 HDTV channels streamed live. The company said they are using its  nokia 1280 Next-Generation Coherent technology. The optical gear is designed to handle the bandwidth that is required for Web video, file sharing and movie downloads and the company already sold 100 gbps equipment to a customer.

The Next generation Coherent technology has gone through trials with more than 20 service providers. Alcatel-Lucent is trying to compete with Cisco to get first-mover advantage. On the other hand, Cisco last month bought CoreOptics, who develops 100 Gbps transmission technology. Cisco said that the new technology from CoreOptics will allow the service providers to offer with 100 Gbps gear. The 100 gbps optical gear is the brainchild of Lucent's high end network architecture. Alcatel-Lucent also claims that the new technology is compatible also with slower carrier equipment operating at 10 and 40 Gbps.