According to Ciena, the EASSy submarine cable network has been upgraded to a system capacity of 36Tbps, leveraging Ciena's GeoMesh Extreme, powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optical technology. This upgrade will help EASSy satisfy surging digital demands regionally, as well as cost-effectively improve connectivity to Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

With the deployment of Ciena's GeoMesh Extreme solutions, the EASSy cable system is doubling network capacity from 18Tbps to 36Tbps across the system to maintain pace with voracious and ongoing bandwidth growth, and adding intelligence and efficiency to its cable system, maximizing fiber capacity and substantially reducing the transported cost per bit. 

Meanwhile, the EASSy submarine cable network is managed by Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller. By adopting a software-driven, automated approach, EASSy gains maximum operational proficiency and service agility while reducing OPEX. EASSy is also utilizing Ciena Services to implement the hardware upgrade, including migration of legacy traffic, as well as to manage and support its network operations center (NOC) in South Africa.

The EASSy cable system was ready for service in July 2010, designed with two fiber pairs, spanning 10,000km along the east coast of Africa, with 9 landing stations in Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa

The EASSy Consortium consists of 18 members, including Bharti Airtel, Botswana Fibre Networks, BT, Comores Telecom, Djibouti Telecom, Etisalat, Mauritius Telecom, MTN Group, Neotel, Orange, Saudi Telecom, Sudan Telecom Company, Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (ZANTEL), Telkom Kenya, Telkom South Africa, Telma (Telecom Malagasy), Vodacom DRC, WIOCC, Zambia Telecom. WIOCC is the largest shareholder in the EASSy Consortium and owns 29% of the EASSy cable system. And the whole system is 92% owned by African operators.

 

EASSy Cable Route