Ciena Comments on Kenya Cable Mess

LONDON -- “Today’s news that a ship’s anchor has severely disrupted internet connections for countries in East Africa, once again highlights just how precarious global connectivity can be. In addition to the inconvenience such disruptions cause private citizens, slower internet connections can also mean a loss of productivity for businesses, greatly impacting on their bottom lines in the midst of a tough economic climate.

“To ensure that sub-sea cables can deliver the benefits of high-speed broadband, but without the risks associated with their vulnerable position on the sea bed, the existing network infrastructure needs to evolve. Specifically, the industry must move toward high-capacity global mesh networks that offer improved survivability through increased automation, with the added benefit of lower costs.

“Traditional ring protection schemes normally deployed with submarine networks are susceptible to multiple failures resulting from natural disasters, human error and man-made accidents. Network elements in mesh architectures, conversely, are equipped with distributed intelligence, allowing the network to re-route traffic around multiple failures – whatever the cause. This capability significantly improves resiliency and reliability of a network, ensuring that downtime can be either eliminated altogether, or brought down to the absolute minimum.”

Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN)