GlobeNet, an international wholesale provider of submarine capacity, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oi, and TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology, announced they have commenced construction for the replacement of Segment 5 of GlobeNet’s high performance subsea cable system.
This new subsea cable will provide more than 30 times the current capacity between Bermuda and the United States and is planned for completion in the first quarter of 2013.
The new segment will be approximately 1,350 km in length and is designed to support 150 wavelengths per fiber-pair at 100 Gbps per wavelength, giving the 2-fiber-pair system a total design capacity of 30 Terabits per second. It has the largest cross-sectional capacity per fiber pair of any system built or contracted to date.
Originally installed by TE SubCom in 1997, GlobeNet’s Segment 5 lands in St. David’s, Bermuda and Tuckerton, New Jersey. The replacement project includes the supply of new TE SubCom Submarine Line Terminating Equipment (SLTE), which allows transmission of multiple high-quality, high-bandwidth optical signals over ultra-long distances. To prepare for the upgrade, a marine route survey was completed in November 2011.
“The demand for Internet and video services is growing at an exponential rate, especially in emerging markets such as South America,” stated Erick W. Contag, Chief Operating Officer of GlobeNet. “To ensure the highest level of network performance for our carrier customers, GlobeNet continuously invests in network upgrades, such as this Segment 5 replacement. GlobeNet’s lowest latency, reliable, and highly secure network is designed to support bandwidth-intensive services including streaming media, high definition (HD) video, online gaming and social media applications. Each segment of the system is critical and we look forward to working with TE SubCom to ensure Segment 5 is fully optimized for our customers’ growing needs.”
GlobeNet’s submarine cable network spans 22,000 km and connects Bermuda, Brazil, the United States and Venezuela, with further extensions to Colombia.
“This is another win for TE SubCom’s latest ultra-high capacity designs, using our industry-leading 40G and 100G technologies,” said David Robles, Sales Director, Americas Region, TE SubCom . “Upon successful completion, the Segment 5 Replacement will serve as a needed enhancement for the entire GlobeNet system and will support growing capacity demands between North and South America well into the future.”
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff , January 17, 2012; Image: SubCom