Surges in 5G and video streaming services drive the need for network scalability, programmability and intelligence between Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe

Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) recently completed a significant upgrade to the SEA-ME-WE 5 (South East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 5) submarine cable system to support enterprise data exchange, internet TV, and online gaming. The upgrade – which was completed ahead of schedule – resulted in an 100% active capacity increase of the cable, enabling faster broadband access to users along the multi-regional data superhighway.

Key Facts:

  • The SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system is 20,000 km and spans across 17 countries. The cables’ advanced 100Gbps technology is expected to meet multiplying bandwidth demand between Europe and Asia, providing the lowest latency and further enhancing network diversity and resilience in the high-traffic area.
  • SEA-ME-WE 5 is able to increase the value of the cable system and accelerate growth by leveraging Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme, which features the 6500 Packet-Optical platform, to meet unpredictable traffic demands and provide new levels of capacity and flexibility for service providers. Additionally, Ciena’s WaveLogic Ai platform will help lower the cost per 100Gbps significantly by increasing the capacity per wave up to 300Gbps.
  • Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme submarine network solution which supports an open architecture, will enable SEA-ME-WE 5’s customers to rapidly scale capacity, protect traffic from faults, and lower total cost of network ownership.
  • In addition, SEA-ME-WE 5 will also leverage Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller software to get real-time visibility into the performance of the network.

Executive Comments:

  • “Ciena is helping us take on future network challenges and maximize the SEA-ME-WE 5 cable with state-of-the-art technology. With Ciena, we are able to deliver the benefits of greater capacity and flexibility to our customers sooner than expected as this latest cable upgrade was completed ahead of schedule.”
    -     Luigi Sangiorgio and Mukthar Bin Embong, PG Co-Chairs, SEA-ME-WE 5
  • “SEA-ME-WE 5’s latest upgrade is a great reflection of the dynamic digital transformation that’s taking place along the Europe to Asia route, which is experiencing an overwhelming demand for capacity. Ciena’s strength in developing subsea innovations affords us a keen understanding of the right mix of technologies needed to transition to adaptive networks that leverage intelligence, scalability and programmability.”
    -     Ian Clarke, Vice President of Global Submarine Sales, Ciena

About SEA-ME-WE 5The 20,000-km SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system, spanning over 17 countries from Southeast Asia to Western Europe, is a technological breakthrough which marks a global communications milestone. It was originally designed with a capacity of 24 Terabits per second. The system is currently under upgrade to over 36 Terabit per second on 3-fibre pairs, fully capable of accommodating the future demand of data from other bandwidth-intensive applications such as enterprise data exchange, internet TV and online gaming.

The SEA-ME-WE 5 cables’ advanced 100Gbps technology is expected to meet the quadrupling of bandwidth demand between Europe and Asia, providing the lowest latency and further enhancing the network diversity and resilience to the heavily loaded Asia to Europe route. In contrast with other submarine cable systems, the SEA-ME-WE 5’s main endpoints are carrier-neutral/open Points-of-Presence (PoPs) and not just Cable Landing Stations (CLS).

For more information please visit: www.seamewe5.com

About CienaCiena (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking systems, services and software company. We provide solutions that help our clients create the Adaptive NetworkTM in response to the constantly changing demands of their users. By delivering best-in-class networking technology through high-touch consultative relationships, we build the world’s most agile networks with automation, openness and scale. For updates on Ciena, follow us on Twitter @Ciena, LinkedIn, the Ciena Insights blog, or visit www.ciena.com.

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