Alcatel-Lucent and the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) consortium have successfully completed a field trial on the existing ACE system, which connects France to the west coast of Africa, based on 300 gigabit-per-second (Gbit/s) and 400 Gbit/s technology.
They achieved a breakthrough transmission of 12.6 terabits-per-second (Tbit/s) of data per fiber pair.
Based on the Alcatel-Lucent 1620 Light Manager submarine line terminal using optical coherent technology, the field trial demonstrated more than a fivefold increase in the system’s initial design capability, setting a new record for capacity upgrades. Ultimate capacity upgrade is optimized through different wavelength bit rate for regional (400G) and transoceanic (300G) distances.
Yves Ruggeri , Chairman of the ACE Management Committee, said: “This field trial demonstrates the ability to support higher speeds and capacity in a seamless way, meeting the needs for optimizing the total cost of network ownership and without impacting the system performance. The scalability up to 400G offered by Alcatel-Lucent in a single board show the adaptability of the solution for addressing the need for expanding system capabilities on any distance.”
Philippe Dumont , President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, said: “Our mission is to offer customers efficient solutions which help meet the global explosion of traffic demand being placed on submarine networks. Our sustained investment in R&D enables us to introduce 300G/400G technology, providing innovations that will maximize systems capacity from regional to transoceanic distances.”