Brian Lavallée
Senior Director, Solutions Marketing
Brian Lavallée is the Senior Director of Solutions Marketing with global responsibility for Ciena’s 5G, Routing & Switching, and Submarine networking solutions. Brian has over 20 years of telecommunications experience with past roles in Product Line Management, Systems Engineering, Research & Development, and Manufacturing. During his career, he has worked in various areas of optical networking including access, metro, regional, long-haul, and submarine networks. He holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Concordia University and an MBA in Marketing from McGill University, both located in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Insights from Brian Lavallée
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Farice: Connecting the land of ice and fire to the world
Ciena’s Brian Lavallée sits down with Farice’s Örn Orrason, VP of Business Development, to learn more about their mission to connect Iceland to the world via their network of submarine cables.
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Evolution of the submarine cable network
How has innovation helped submarine networks evolve to address capacity demands in a sustainable and cost-effective manner? Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains.
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Don’t let your terrestrial backhaul be the weakest link
Submarine cable operators consider many factors when they choose their terrestrial backhaul operators, like the high availability of their network. Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains what factors you need to look at to protect your terrestrial
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The Transatlantic Route – Reigning King of the Seas
For historical, economic, political, and other reasons, the transatlantic submarine cable route has reigned as the king of bandwidth for over 150 years. Ciena’s Brian Lavallée, Senior Director of Solutions Marketing, discusses this critically
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Importance of submarine cable channel planning
As submarine cables evolve to take advantage of new innovations, complexities in the channel planning process are introduced. Ciena’s Submarine Expert Brian Lavallée explains how we got here and options for simplifying this critical process.
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Altibox Carrier’s NO-UK Submarine Cable: Open. Green. Scalable.
A few weeks ago, Altibox Carrier announced that the NO-UK submarine cable system achieved record-breaking 800Gb/s line rate with Ciena—an industry first over repeatered submarine cables. Ciena’s Brian Lavallée discusses this important industry
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Altibox Carrier’s NO-UK Submarine Cable: Open. Green. Scalable.
A few weeks ago, Altibox Carrier announced that the NO-UK submarine cable system achieved record-breaking 800Gb/s line rate with Ciena—an industry first over repeatered submarine cables. Ciena’s Brian Lavallée discusses this important industry
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Detecting undersea earthquakes with cross-industry collaboration
Is it possible to detect undersea earthquakes and tsunamis without sensors attached to wet plants, old and new? Yes, by detecting State of Polarization (SOP) changes using coherent optical modems. This novel detection is exactly what Ciena is
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Own 5G. Own the Edge.
5G has quickly gone from hype to reality with live commercial deployments taking place worldwide. How can network operators best compete in this hyper-competitive market to help them own the edge? By taking an adaptive approach to designing
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Ciena + Samsung: Collaboration paves the road to best-of-breed, end-to-end 5G networks
Ciena’s 5G expert, Brian Lavallée, provides additional details on the company’s joint efforts with Samsung announced last October to deliver best-in-breed, end-to-end 5G network solutions.
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Looking back at the 2021 network seascape
What happened in the submarine networking industry in 2021 and what does this mean for 2022? Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains.
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Connecting to space, the final frontier
What are Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks and how will they help to provide connectivity to new areas? Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains and takes a look at how satellite network operator Telesat is doing just that.
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Connecting to the African continent – faster
Africa has surpassed other continents in international bandwidth growth for the past four years fostering new submarine cable builds. Although increasing international capacity is critical to Africa, it’s also important to move data to and from
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Enabling Africa’s digital economy
Africa leads the globe in international bandwidth growth. With the fastest growth rate over the last four years and eight new cables in the works over the next few years, this is an emerging market with key network infrastructure projects to watch.
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Ciena’s Submarine Networking Handbook Bundle is Here!
Ciena’s submarine network experts have created four free handbooks to help you understand and benefit from Open Submarine Cables—all available in one easy download! Get your bundle today and take a deep dive into Open Submarine Cables.
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Simplifying Open Submarine Cable Link Engineering
How can a new and better way to perform submarine cable link budgeting address challenges associated with the open submarine cable model? Brian Lavallée explains why the submarine network industry is moving towards these new metrics and how you can
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Open Submarine Cable management and what you need to know
The adoption of the Open Submarine Cable business model is well underway. What does that mean for how to manage them and what a submarine cable operator needs to know? Ciena’s Brian Lavallee explains.
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The 2021 network seascape
What’s on the submarine network technology horizon in 2021? Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains.
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New tide of technologies tested on Facebook’s MAREA Cable
Brian Lavallée, Senior Director of Submarine Network Solutions Marketing at Ciena, sat down with Facebook's Steve Grubb, a key member of the Global Optical Architecture team, to discuss recent activities that took place on its transatlantic MAREA
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Current state of the global submarine network
What are the current challenges and opportunities for today's submarine networks? What's next? Find out what in our webinar with TeleGeography
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North to the future, via improved connectivity
Learn about how GCI, to better address the latest bandwidth rush from Alaskan wholesalers, the federal government, and content providers, will be upgrading their Alaska United East and Alaska United West cables with Ciena's GeoMesh Extreme submarine
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Standardizing Open Submarine Cables
Ciena’s Brian Lavallée sits down with our resident submarine networking expert, Priyanth Mehta, to get his view on the soon to be published International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standard G.977.1 and what it will mean for the submarine
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Unique insights into your submarine network
What if cable operators could leverage software-based advancements to improve the operation and maintenance of their submarine networks? Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains how Ciena Insights Service, which leverages the latest optical hardware and
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Blog Series | Spotlight on xHaul networks
Not sure what xHaul is or why it's critical to the success of 5G? xHaul refers to fronthaul, midhaul, and backhaul transport networks that interconnect cell sites to each other, to the core network, and ultimately to data centers, where accessed
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Exploring the cloud, overland and undersea
Ciena’s submarine networking expert Brian Lavallée discusses how the move towards Edge Cloud will affect submarine networks and how traffic patterns will change as end-users, humans and machines, increasingly require storage and compute closer to
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Spotlight on 4G/5G backhaul networks
In this third and final blog in the series, we’ll look at 4G/5G backhaul networks. Whether you’re talking 4G or 5G, Centralized/Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) or Distributed RAN (D-RAN), backhaul transport networks are required to connect
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With great fiber count comes great responsibility
Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) cables are a key focus area for submarine network innovation in 2020. Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains how SDM cables offer massive increases in submarine cable carrying capacity and the challenges associated
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Hawaiki: from canoes to connected broadband in the Pacific
Ciena's Brian Lavallée sat down recently with Hawaiki Chief Executive Officer, Rémi Galasso to discuss the firm’s mission to transform the Pacific with its world-class subsea cable system.
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Spotlight on 5G midhaul networks
In the second part of Brian Lavallée’s series on xHaul networks, he takes a look at midhaul networks, what they are, and how they’ll evolve to support 5G networks.
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Driving towards an open and smarter RAN
What are the benefits of opening the Radio Access Network (RAN) and what is the industry doing to drive this change? Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains.
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Unleash a full spectrum of submarine network services
Our latest eBook helps you to better understand Spectrum Sharing so you can make more informed business and technology decisions.
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Spotlight on 4G/5G fronthaul networks
Not sure what xHaul is or why it's critical to the success of 5G? How should operators, MNOs and wholesalers alike, converge 4G and 5G fronthaul traffic onto a common transport network? Brian Lavallée explains in part 1 of a 3-part series on xHaul
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Cross-pollination of land, sea, and cloud-based technologies
Ciena’s Submarine Networking expert Brian Lavallée takes a look at how the ongoing cross-pollination of terrestrial and data center technologies is benefiting next-generation submarine networks, as the share of transoceanic traffic is
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The submarine network seascape in 2020
Ciena’s submarine networking expert, Brian Lavallée, highlights key areas for focused innovation throughout 2020.
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To repeat, or not repeat, that is the question
Are you familiar with unrepeatered submarine cables? As Ciena’s Brian Lavallée often gets asked about this lesser-known technology, he took some time to explain what they are, when to use them, and why they’re important.
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Dive into the Ciena Open Submarine Cables Handbook
What are open submarine cables? Brian Lavallée introduces our Submarine Cables Handbook that explains all of this, and much more.
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Ciena’s vision of submarine networking at SNW 2019
Will you be at Submarine Network World 2019 in Singapore next week? Find out what topics have us excited – and how you can learn about the state of the submarine industry.
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Dissecting a submarine network trial announcement
With network infrastructure as critical as submarine cables, we’re constantly seeing new cables being announced and new technological milestones being achieved – but what’s real? Learn the difference between a hero trial, real-world trial, and
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The future of submarine networks. What’s NEXT?
How are key trends like machine learning, artificial intelligence, 5G, security, and the growth of data centers impacting submarine networks? Find out what experts from Southern Cross and Ciena think is next for this critical infrastructure.
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Packet Networking Summer Webinar Series
It’s that time of year again, our popular Packet Networking Summer Webinar Series has returned! Find out what topics we will cover and get your chance to register for these can’t miss sessions.
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Green submarine cables – get SMART!
What are SMART cables and how are scientists looking to use them to understand more about our oceans? Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains the potential benefits and challenges ahead.
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The ICPC and San Diego have something in common - Semper Vigilans
The International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) is meeting this week in San Diego for their annual plenary session. Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains why the mission of this committee, to promote the protection of submarine cable networks, is
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500G transpacific. Yep, we did that!
The news from SubOptic? Let’s start with our successful single-wavelength 500G field trial over a 9,000km transpacific cable. Ciena’s Brian Lavallee explains more about this milestone as well as other highlights from this important technical
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SubOptic 2019: Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler!
As the proud host of the triennial SubOptic 2019 submarine network industry event, Ciena welcomes you to New Orleans, Louisiana! Find out about what we have going on at the show.
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5G on stage in Barcelona
The dynamic mobile networking industry will converge in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress (MWC) from February 25-28 to showcase the latest in technologies aimed at improving our preferred Internet access vehicle of choice – our increasingly
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London calling… submarine network operators
Ciena’s Submarine Network Expert, Brian Lavallée, just got back from PTC19, where 5G, Shannon’s Limit, and Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) were all hot topics.
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Intercontinental submarine network services
Intercontinental network connections do not stop at the beach. Learn how companies like NJFX, Zayo, and Ciena work together to get your data from the beach to you.
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The Cable Landing Station Is Critical Infrastructure
We sit down with Amy Marks, CEO of XSite Modular, a leading cable landing station builder, to get her valuable insights on the submarine network industry and understand what is driving the latest innovations for landing stations.
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On the Submarine Network Horizon in 2019
Submarine networking operators continue to need new innovations in order to meet the evolving needs of this critical infrastructure. Ciena’s submarine networking expert Brian Lavallée highlights the seven areas that will be the submarine
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Listen to Your Submarine Network!
You want to know if your submarine network is operating correctly right? Well, why not ask the network itself? Ciena’s submarine expert Brian Lavallée explains how network operators can use predictive analytics to take real actions to optimize
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Rise of the machines, and the options for connecting them
The Internet of Things is coming, and there is a litany of ways they can be connected to the network. Ciena's Brian Lavallée details the options, and where 5G fits among the choices for IoT connectivity.
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To fiber or not to fiber, that is the question
Fiber is the workhorse of today's global network infrastructure. But what do you do when fiber is just not an option? Ciena's Brian Lavallée details the real-world situations that often dictate the choice between fiber and wireless links for uses
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All dressed up, and nowhere to go
With the world's data centers increasingly connected across continents, there's now a critical symbiotic relationship between submarine and terrestrial network operators. Ciena's Brian Lavallée details how Colt and Tata Communications are working
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5 key wireline network improvements needed for 5G
Contrary to popular belief, 5G isn’t just about the Radio Access Network (RAN) and fancy new smartphones. The next generation of mobile networks will need a lot of help from wireline technologies to deliver on its noteworthy promises.
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Telecommunications in the Harshest Environment on Earth
Ciena’s submarine expert Brian Lavallée explains how submarine cables, so critical to our everyday communications, are protected and how the ICPC helps.
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From Land to Sea to Cloud
It’s projected that Internet Content Providers will soon account for the majority of submarine traffic in all regions of the world. Ciena’s Brian Lavallée explains how this growth is driving the need more network capacity to interconnect
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Debunking 5 common myths about 5G
Ciena’s Brian Lavallée looks at five of the more popular myths, debunks them, and talks about what we’re likely to see in the marketplace.
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Very Hot! Muito Quente! Muy Caliente!
With tens of thousands of new kilometers and over a billion dollars of capital investment planned in new submarine cables – the LATAM market sure is hot. As we get ready for the Capacity LATAM event in Rio de Janeiro, Ciena’s Brian Lavallée
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ENCQOR! ENCQOR!
An exciting initiative was launched today that will lay the groundwork for the first 5G next generation network collaboration platform in Canada that will advance 5G networks around the world, and we’re a part of it.
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5G. More than just a wireless upgrade.
5G is the hottest topic in the wireless industry these days, but as Ciena’s Brian Lavallee explains, it means a massive upgrade to wireline network infrastructure as well. That’s why today Ciena has unveiled new capabilities to help network
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Virtualize Your Submarine Cable
Ongoing growth in subsea bandwidth demand has the industry looking for new technologies that can further expand submarine cable capacity. Ciena's Brian Lavallee details how L-band spectrum and spectrum sharing could provide an answer.
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Welcome to Ciena 5G Boot Camp
The path to 5G can be a long, costly, and complex journey fraught with risk, challenges, and of course, significant opportunities and benefits. Enter Ciena 5G Boot Camp.
Blue Planet Blog
Q&A with EXFO: Understanding Submarine OSNR
In advance of PTC’18, Ciena’s Brian Lavallée sat down with Jean-Sébastien Tassé of EXFO to discuss the importance and intricacies of properly measuring OSNR across submarine cable networks.
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Retail Digitization… Friend or Foe?
The online world is acting as a disruptor to the retail industry. But the same tools that allow consumers to become increasingly informed -- networks and data analytics -- can also be leveraged by retailers to gain competitive advantage.
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Back to the Future(com)
The tech and telecom industry descends on São Paulo, Brazil, this week for Futurecom 2017. Ciena's Brian Lavallée details the latest in the Latin American market and the submarine cable networks that increasingly connect the region.
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Shannon’s Limit, or Opportunity?
There’s a looming limit to how many bits can be crammed into an optical fiber, known as the Shannon Limit. Ciena's Brian Lavallée details what it means and how the industry is finding creating solutions.
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Autonomous Networks… Are You Ready?
Ciena's Brian Lavallée explains where we are (and where we're going) on the road to autonomous networks.
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Important Questions About the Future of 5G
Ciena's Brian Lavallée answers some of the key questions about the future of 5G in a Q&A session.
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GeoMesh Extreme:
Ciena’s Brian Lavallée delves into the depths of submarine networks and their importance to global communications, and how Ciena’s new GeoMesh Extreme allows submarine cable operators to integrate several technology advancements to enable an
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Northern Europe Goes Dark, and It’s a Good Thing
Eastern Light is a Swedish-based company that aims to change how bandwidth is carried around Northern Europe, a hotbed of data center activity, by offering long-haul international dark fiber networks.
Blue Planet Blog
Q&A with Sven Freudenfeld of Lanner: Ciena’s newest Blue Orbit Ecosystem Partner
Ciena’s Brian Lavallée talks with Sven Freudenfeld of Lanner, Ciena’s newest Blue Orbit partner, about the company and the evolution of the NFV market space.
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Celebrating 60 Years of Protecting Submarine Cables
The International Cable Protection Committee plays a critical role in protecting the world's subsea cable networks, and it's about to celebrate 60 years, says Ciena's Brian Lavallée
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Packet Cable Landing Stations… Why Not?
As submarine traffic is increasingly dominated by packets going forward, native packet switches will eventually relegate SIE to the boneyard of obsolete technologies.
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8 Incredible Facts You Didn’t Know About Submarine Networking
Ciena's subsea expert Brian Lavallée tests your knowledge of the world of submarine cable networks with this list of facts and figures.
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Submarine Cable Networks, Open for Business
Open Cables, APIs, and big data analytics have and will continue to change everything going forward, says Ciena's Brian Lavallee, including with submarine networks.
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What is Distributed NFV and why do you need it?
Ciena's Brian Lavallée introduces the concept of Distributed NFV, or D-NFV, and why service providers are increasingly looking at it as they begin to roll out virtualized network functions to their customers.
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North Sea Pathways: Digital Oilfields to Ultra-Secure Data Centers
Tampnet, a Norwegian based global operator, uses Ciena gear to support the operation of the largest offshore multi-terabit, low latency optical network in the North Sea
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Why “network slicing” is the key to 5G network adoption
The 5G bandwidth promise is a whopping 10Gbps to each end user. But what would someone actually do with this amount of bandwidth?
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Protecting $10 Trillion Worth of Transactions, Every Day
Back in 2010, under the auspices of the IEEE, the Reliability of Global Undersea Cable Communications Infrastructure (ROGUCCI) report was issued.
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The Story Behind the First Reliable Trans-Atlantic Submarine Cable Laid 150 Years Ago
Learn the history of the first reliable subsea cable across the Atlantic in 1866 and how fast transmission speed has improved over the last century and a half.
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Multi-Terabit Submarine Cables… Too Big to Fail?
Report in 2010 found that nearly 100 percent of the world’s intercontinental electronic communications traffic is carried by the undersea cable infrastructure
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A (Miserable) Day in the Life of a Submarine Field Technician
Meet Erik. Erik is a submarine network field technician. Erik has a tough job. Let's look at all the challenges he faces in trying to get the job done.
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Papers from SubOptic 2016 - Emerging Subsea Networks
At SubOptic 2016, which was held in beautiful Dubai a few weeks ago, hundreds of enthusiastic attendees discussed (and debated) the future of submarine networks..
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Connecting Data Centers Under the Sea
New submarine cables, especially those owned and operated by ICPs, should land in non-traditional locations that are closer to the actual data centers being served. Ciena's Brian Lavallée digs into the details.
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The Advent of Open Submarine Networks
Even as many of today's networks are moving to open architectures, submarine cable networks have remained closed and proprietary. But that is finally changing, says Ciena's submarine networks expert Brian Lavallée. As he explains in this blog
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Why 5G Will Change Everything About The Network
Ciena’s Brian Lavallée takes a deep dive into the coming world of 5G and shows why the exact details of what a 5G network will look like is still up for debate.
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5 factors data centers must contend with in the IoT era
Five key factors data center providers must consider for the IoT era
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MEF CE2.0 Certified 100G Ethernet Services Hit Mainstream
Ciena's 8700 Packetwave Platform now has a new Carrier Ethernet 2.0 certification for 100GbE services, which was presented by the MEF at this week's GEN15 event in Dallas, TX
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What is Gridless Networking?
What is gridless networking? Brian Lavallée, who heads up submarine networks industry marketing for Ciena, provides some insight.
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Primer: What is mobile fronthaul?
Our expert Brian Lavallée explains both mobile backhaul and fronthaul and how they address the growing challenge of helping transport today’s massive mobile traffic loads.
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5G wireless needs fiber, and lots of it
Ciena's Brian Lavallée explains that 5G mobile networks will significantly affect both the wireless side (obviously!) and the wireline side of the global network infrastructure.
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The 5G Smart City: Cities are Lining up for a Slice
Smart Cities are coming, and 5G network slicing technology will enable them, with its ability to enable the critical services that smart cities will deploy.