Ciena’s coherent optical platform has been selected for the deployment, which is designed to satisfy customer demand for high bandwidth services and growing internet traffic.
The Antilles Crossing network is a 1,100km section of GCF’s 3,000km subsea cable system, which provides 1.2Tbps of capacity across 14 Eastern Caribbean countries.
The upgrade is expected to be operational in May 2013, increasing GCF’s submarine bandwidth by up to four times and allowing the company to launch 10Gbps Ethernet services for wholesale customers, ISPs and mobile operators.
“As a leading provider of telecommunications infrastructure for the Eastern Caribbean, it is imperative that our customers have access to a scalable, reliable network with low latency that can compete anywhere in the world. Ciena’s coherent optical technology is just what we needed to ensure end-to-end network performance across the islands of St Croix, St Lucia and Barbados. By leveraging Ciena’s GeoMesh coherent transport and agile optical bypass technology, we can ensure our customers have the bandwidth needed to innovate and succeed in their respective markets,” said Valéry Bijou, COO at Global Caribbean Fiber.
GCF will utilise Ciena’s GeoMesh solution for the deployment, which is claimed to allow the provider to drop select wavelengths anywhere on the route and reduce latency.
