Reliance Globalcom selects Ciena for 40G ultra long haul submarine network

LINTHICUM: Ciena Corp., the network specialist, has announced that Reliance Globalcom, a leading global provider of managed network services for multinational enterprises, carriers and services providers, is deploying its market-leading coherent 40G optical networking solution on a cable route that connects the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Egypt.

Spanning more than 6,400 kilometers, the upgraded cable route will add 2.4 Terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity on a crucial submarine route from Europe to the Middle East that helps transport traffic between the Atlantic crossing and Asia portions of Reliance Globalcom’s global submarine network.

Reliance Globalcom owns the world’s largest private undersea cable system that spans a total of 65,000 kilometers. When combined with the 190,000 kilometers of domestic fiber of its parent company, Reliance Communications, the global network connects 40 key business markets in India, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the United States.

This upgrade to 40G technology using Ciena’s ActivFlex 6500 Packet-Optical Platform with 40G ultra long haul interfaces is a part of a strategy to significantly increase the submarine network capacity without disrupting existing customer traffic or adding cost and complexity to the network.

“Even in uncertain economic times, delivering services to a global customer base of hundreds of service providers, thousands of enterprises and millions of consumers requires an agile, high-capacity network,” said Rory Cole, president and COO, Carrier & ISP, of Reliance Globalcom. “By adding Ciena’s 40G technology at our terminal stations, we increase our capacity by a factor of four with a clear, in-service path to 100G without disrupting existing customers, re-engineering our network or sending ships out to lay more fiber. With this one simple step, we bolster the value and extend the lifespan of our submarine network.”

Ciena's 40/100G technology – which includes coherent optics, electronic dispersion compensation, and directionless and colorless ROADM functionality – enables operators to maximize the reach, capacity and flexibility of submarine networks with a focus on ease-of-deployment, cost efficiency and network investment protection.

Ciena has further enhanced its industry-leading 40G/100G technology to enable upgrades of ultra-long haul submarine networks. Using innovative coherent receiver and dual polarization phase shift key (DP PSK) modulation technology, submarine networks can be seamlessly upgraded to 40G/100G with only the addition of new terminal equipment, significantly extending the life of existing cable plants.

“As the volume of global voice, video and data traffic increases between consumers, enterprises and service providers, submarine networks can be a potential bottleneck due to the time, expense and environmental challenges associated with upgrading them,” said Mike Aquino, senior vice president, global field operations at Ciena. “This competitive win with one of the largest submarine network operators in the world underscores the upgrade simplicity, in-service scalability and time-to-market benefits of our market-leading 40G/100G coherent technology.”

With more than 70 customer deployments to date, Ciena is leading the industry with 40G/100G coherent solutions, which provide significant CAPEX and OPEX benefits for both terrestrial and submarine applications.