Field transmission of 8/spl times/170 Gbit/s over high loss SSMF link using third order distributed Raman amplification

We report transmission of 1/spl times/170 Gbit/s over 61 dB and 8/spl times/170 Gbit/s over 44 dB attenuating links in the network of a major European network operator. Third order distributed Raman amplification established long span configurations bridging, respectively, 210 km and 165 km repeaterless span.