Southern Cross Completes 100G Upgrade with Ciena's Solution

Southern Cross Cable Network announced Tuesday the successful implementation of Ciena’s 100G solution across the entire Southern Cross Cable network, upgrading its total lit capacity to 2.6Tbps and potential system capacity to 12Tbps, between Australia/New Zealand and the USA.

The 30,500 km Southern Cross Cable Network offers protected dual routes between Australia/New Zealand and the USA, with 3 fiber pairs between Sydney and Hawaii and 4 fiber pairs between Hawaii and the US West Coast in both cables and the latency is less than 160ms from Sydney to San Jose.

With Australia’s NBN (National Broadband Network) and New Zealand’s UFB (Ultra-fast Broadband) initiatives, the demand for international capacity in both Australia and New Zealand grows at around 35 to 40 per cent annually. The 100G expansion will ensure that Southern Cross remains in a position to cost-effectively support demand growth for many years.

Southern Cross first introduced the Ciena 6500 Packet-Optical Platform in 2011, to future proof the network, support expanding demand and enable product enhancement. That decision has already paid dividends, enabling the transition of the network from 10G optics, to 40G in 2012, and now to 100G, while allowing the network capacity to be augmented without adding significant complexity.

The Ciena platforms used by Southern Cross provide enhanced switching capability in support of mesh-enabled submarine network architecture. This reduces the risk of natural and man-made network disruptions, even under multi-failure conditions, and provides the platform on which the new generation of Southern Cross products is being developed, such as the recent introduction of 40Gbps OTN services, and the current development of 40GbE and 100GbE services.

Ciena’s 100G-based GeoMesh solutions enable leading service providers to address global bandwidth needs, ensure network availability and quickly respond to changing traffic and service demands. Ciena's WaveLogic Coherent Optical Processors are well suited to the demanding distances required for Trans-Pacific links and help to minimise the need to deploy expensive new submarine cables. 

Ciena has just helped NTT/PCL successfully upgrade the PC-1 network with 100G solution. The 100G upgrade of Southern Cross Cable Network further demonstrates Ciena's leading position in offering 100G solutions for ultra-long distance submarine cable systems. So far, the 100G solution seems fine for a span distance of more than 10,000 km.