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Multi-terabit boost to 9,600km trans-Pacific cable system to meet demand
for broadband services and data center applications
Paris, January 21, 2013 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris
and NYSE: ALU) is carrying out a major upgrade of a 9,600km trans-Pacific
digital submarine cable system using advanced coherent technology.
The cable, owned by 5 major carriers, provides direct
connectivity from the Japanese east coast to California. The upgrade will
deliver multi-terabit capability to cope with the explosion of data traffic
driven by ownership of smartphones and tablets, as well as the increase in
video applications and the shift of enterprise activities to the cloud. The
first phase of the upgrade will increase the system capacity by 1
Terabit/s.
Recent research by TeleGeography suggests that the amount of trans-Pacific
used capacity will increase at a compound annual rate of 36 percent between now
and 2018. With the system originally designed for an ultimate capacity of 960
Gigabits-per-second (Gbit/s) per fiber pair, the upgrade will quadruple its
original design capacity by use of Alcatel-Lucent’s advanced coherent
technology, delivering an ultimate capacity of up to 4 Terabits per second
(Tbit/s) per fiber pair which is equivalent to approximately 500,000 HDTV
channels simultaneously broadcasting a live major sporting event.
Regional and international operators are moving to the most advanced
ultra-long reach technology with the highest spectral efficiency ever offered
over a trans-Pacific distance. This upgrade, using state-of-the-art and field
proven submarine technology from Alcatel-Lucent, is a strategic move to expand
the overall capabilities of trans-Pacific communication infrastructures to
benefit from a time-to-market advantage, improved performance and better
scalability.
Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, said:
“Carriers, service providers, multi-media and content providers all are
expanding their networks to support Internet and data center applications,
while protecting their existing investments. Alcatel-Lucent’s unique submarine
solution delivers ease of upgrade and scalability to multi-terabit capacity,
offering a staged migration combining technological and economic benefits. This
upgrade will allow quicker service turn-upto meet customers’ expectations for
anywhere, anytime access to broadband applications, storage and
computing.”
About the Alcatel-Lucent solution
The Alcatel-Lucent solution is based on the 1620 Light Manager submarine
line terminal equipment using coherent technology at 40G, expandable to 100G,
to provide the most efficient use of the available optical spectrum. The
upgrade solution will be managed by the Alcatel-Lucent 1350 optical management
system. In a demonstration earlier this year on the submarine cable system
network, the solution was shown to deliver excellent performance and
scalability over the trans-Pacific link.
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