PARIS -- French telecoms supplier Alcatel has signed a turnkey contract with Global Crossing, which owns and operates an integrated global IP-based network, to upgrade its Mid Atlantic Crossing (MAC) submarine cable network linking North America, Latin America, Europe and the Pacific. The project will deliver Global Crossing extra capacity to support the pace of growth in bandwidth-intensive data services and applications such as IP VPN, VoIP and IPTV.

The MAC submarine cable system runs between Brookhaven, New York; Hollywood, Florida; and St. Croix in Virgin Islands. It connects to Global Crossing's Atlantic Crossing systems (AC 1 and AC 2) in Brookhaven and Hollywood and to its South American Crossing (SAC) and Pacific Crossing (PAC) systems in St Croix. The overall core infrastructure delivers uninterrupted, high-bandwidth connectivity to these regions.

Alcatel will supply a turnkey, end-to-end solution based on advanced submarine optical networking equipment, including its DWDM submarine line terminal, the Alcatel 1620 Light Manager. The Alcatel 1350 management suite will manage the equipment. Alcatel will also be in charge of installation, testing and commissioning.

Alcatel (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP:PA)