FNAL Achieves First 40G Long Haul Submarine Network

September 6, 2011 - Ciena announced that Reliance Globalcom has completed an upgrade of its FNAL submarine network with Ciena's coherent 40G optical networking solution, toasting the first coherent 40G submarine network in Asia, and the first submarine deployment with reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADM).

With this 40G solution, Reliance Globalcom's enhanced network brings capacity increases to two key routes that each span approximately 5,000 kilometers to connect Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Powered by Ciena's WaveLogic coherent optical processors, the upgraded submarine cable network will add a total of four terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity and lay the foundation for a path to 100G in the near future.

This upgrade is also believed to be the first submarine deployment with reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADM), which provide flexibility to add or drop select wavelengths at intermediate sites. In addition to reducing latency on the route, this gives Reliance Globalcom the ability to quickly react to changing traffic demands and increase network availability.

Ciena provided Reliance Globalcom its 6500 Packet-Optical Platform with 40G ultra long haul interfaces, which are designed to significantly increase submarine network capacity without disrupting existing customer traffic or adding cost and complexity to the network.

Ciena provided deployment services and quickly turned up the system with in-service traffic migration from existing 10G to coherent 40G. To ensure optimal network performance, Reliance Globalcomm is also utilizing Ciena's network management software solutions.

Upon completion of this upgrade, the FNAL cable system can now support new features like 40G, OTN and 10G LAN PHY. The 10G LAN PHY interfaces can be directly plugged into the customer Ethernet router port, thereby offering a significantly lower cost alternative to the customer than using traditional 10G / STM-64 interfaces. Since the 10G LAN PHY service operates at a line rate of 10.31 Gbps against 9.95 Gbps on a standard 10G, it can also offer a higher user data speed.