Ixia says it has shipped its 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) test offering to what it described as “a major, worldwide carrier.” The test and measurement systems company declined to further identify the customer, which Ixia said would use the offering to ensure the readiness of its network to accommodate growing traffic demands.

Ixia expects a significant increase in demand for 400GbE network capabilities, particularly as operators upgrade their switches and routers to address the growing bandwidth requirements of hyperscale data centers. The interest in 400GbE will lead carriers and service providers to invest in the test instruments necessary to assess 400GbE interoperability and performance for network equipment, optical transceivers, and copper cable media and that means more demand for Ixia’s 400GbE test equipment.

The company partnered with Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ: VIAV) at this year’s ECOC event in Dusseldorf to demonstrate the interoperability of their respective 400GbE test gear via CFP8 optical transceivers from Finisar. The demonstration was among the first working examples of a 400GbE link shown to the public.