Southern Cross to add 1Tb/s of lit capacity by July 2014 in largest upgrade to date
Hard on the heels of the successful implementation of Ciena’s 100Gb/s solution across its 30,000km network in July 2013, Southern Cross Cable Network has stepped up again, to announce today that it will use the Ciena WaveLogic 3 platform to add an additional 500Gb/s to both cables by July 2014.
Southern Cross President and CEO Fiona Beck says “The continued expansion of our network using the best 100G technology available underpins our strategy to support the development of high-speed broadband in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Fiji.”
“ISPs and other customers continue to acquire greater amounts of capacity in larger units from Southern Cross. This latest expansion will be our largest to date, increasing our total lit capacity across the two Southern Cross cables from 2.6Tb/s to 3.6Tb/s.”
The 2014 network expansion will be underpinned by Ciena’s flexible grid and WaveLogic optical technologies, which will increase Southern Cross’ potential capacity capability to 12Tb/s.
“The introduction of the Ciena 6500 Packet-Optical Platform to our network in 2011, allowed us to move from 10G optics, to 40G, and then to 100G in July 2013. At the same time, the implementation of a mesh-enabled submarine network architecture (GeoMesh) increased the resilience of our services significantly, reducing the risk of natural and man-made network disruptions, even under multi-failure conditions,” said Ms Beck.
“The Ciena platform has allowed us to provide sector leading high capacity submarine capacity services such as 10G and 40G OTN along with the introduction of 40G Ethernet and 100G OTN interfacing. In 2014 we will introduce 100GbE services along with the seamless integration of our key internet data center access points such as Equinix in Sydney, CoreSite in San Jose and the Westin Building in Seattle.”
“These developments cement the Southern Cross position as the only single system provider of highly resilient international capacity solutions between key data locations in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.”
Ciena’s Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Anthony McLachlan, states: “Ciena’s GeoMesh and WaveLogic solutions enable Southern Cross to meet expanding customer demands and seize new business opportunities. High-bandwidth applications like video, cloud computing and machine-to-machine communications continue to put pressure on today’s networks, requiring carriers like Southern Cross to deploy technologies that not only increase capacity but also provide more intelligent, adaptable networks.”
Southern Cross and Ciena are both participating in the Pacific Telecommunications Council Conference (PTC14) event taking place January 19-22, 2014 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
About Southern Cross
Southern Cross Cable Network provides fast, direct, and secure international bandwidth from Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii to the heart of the Internet in the USA. The Southern Cross Cable Network comprises two submarine communications cables which were first commissioned in November 2000 and January 2001 at a cost of USD1.3 billion. They provide broadband users in Australia, New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands and Fiji with international connections to the US West coast where global Internet hubs are located.
The Southern Cross Network has been engineered until 2025. In 2001 total installed capacity was 80 Gb/s, and in January 2003 the total network was expanded to 480Gb/s. Upgrades in 2009 and 2010 increased capacity to 1.2Tb/s. The 40G Coherent technology upgrade in 2012 increased total lit capacity to 1.6Tb/s with the current 100G Coherent upgrade to increasing lit capacity to 2.6Tb/s in 2013. This latest upgrade will increase lit capacity to 3.6Tb/s by Q2 2014.
The Southern Cross Cable Network is owned by Telecom NZ (50%), SingTel-Optus (40%) and Verizon (10%). Southern Cross Cable Network has offices in Bermuda, Sydney, Auckland and Wellington. For more information visit Southern Cross at: http://www.southerncrosscables.com
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Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to Ciena as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-K, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 20, 2013. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
