Southern Cross Cable Network, the operator of a cable system linking Australia and New Zealand with the west coast of the US, has completed a capacity upgrade adding 900Gbps to all segments of the network.
The upgrade brings the network's total lit capacity up to 5.8Tbps, the company announced.
Southern Cross has also upgraded its Ciena nodes to 15Tbps OTN switching capacity. CEO Anthony Briscoe commented that this is a first for the region and is believed to be a world's first for a subsea cable operator.
“Southern Cross’ key switching nodes are now capable of switching over 100 times Southern Cross’ original segment capacity,” he said. “Our latest expansion has also deployed Ciena’s 200Gbs per wavelength technology across our Hawaiian inter-Island network in another world first in technology activation.”
The cable system now has a transmission potential of 14Tbps, and the operating lifetime of the system was recently extended to 2030.
Briscoe said the upgrade is aimed at adapting to the changing needs of the company's customers.
“As part of this we are also turning our minds to the future and looking at the requirements that our customers and the general market will require from the next decade, 2020 and on,” he said.