Azea Networks announces capacity breakthrough for Cable & Wireless in Caribbean submarine network trial

March 29, 2004

2 Min Read

LONDON -- Azea Networks, the pioneer of next-generation upgrade solutions for submarine communications systems, today announced that it has successfully completed a trial for Cable & Wireless that has been proven to deliver a substantial capacity increase for the operator’s existing submarine systems in the Caribbean.

An initial trial of Azea’s Submarine Line Terminating Equipment (SLTE), using Azea’s characterisation, system design and modelling techniques, created a 16-fold increase in capacity on Cable & Wireless’ Cayman-Jamaica (CJFS) system. Azea also proved how bandwidth can be unlocked at will in line with actual customer demand.

“Despite the well-publicised over-investment in high capacity cables on major trunk routes, demand growth on regional feeder routes continues to outstrip supply,” said Scott White, Chief Executive Officer of Azea Networks. “The ability to generate dramatic capacity increases over existing infrastructure is enormously compelling for operators worldwide because of the order-of-magnitude saving compared to building new systems on these routes.”

The trial validated how existing ‘wet plant’ submarine infrastructure can be enhanced from 2.5 Gbps to 40 Gbps capacity, with substantially improved optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) margin. The breakthrough means that the economic life of the system can be prolonged by at least five years, rather than deploying new cable systems at extensive cost and risk.

“Cable & Wireless is facing vigorous competition in the Caribbean as a result of the deregulation of the communications markets in the region,” said Robin Webb, Principal Engineer at Cable & Wireless. “Azea Networks has successfully demonstrated that it can deliver a sizeable capacity boost to our existing infrastructure, significantly enhancing our ability to provision extra bandwidth without needing to build new systems. We can also add capacity incrementally to match our actual customer needs precisely, and in doing so maintain rigorous control of our operating costs.”

Azea uses advanced modulation techniques to improve OSNR performance and mitigate non-linear impairments, as well as improved FEC coding and end-to-end control loop optimisation. This makes its transponders agile through self-optimisation, delivering substantial capacity gains over the existing first-generation optical infrastructure.

“In working with Cable & Wireless, Azea Networks has demonstrated that its technology withstands the rigours of live operations in a demanding wet system environment to deliver a huge breakthrough in capacity provisioning,” said Stuart Barnes, Chief Technology Officer of Azea Networks. “Azea’s ability to model the complete system environment allowed us to characterise Cable & Wireless’ cables and so give complete confidence that this giant leap in capacity can be achieved today.”

Azea Networks Ltd.

Cable & Wireless plc

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