The move will add 2.4Tbps of capacity to the system, which connects various Asian destinations to the UK, Spain and Italy via the Middle East.
The upgrade uses equipment vendor Ciena’s 40Gbps technology, which includes coherent optics, electronic dispersion compensation, and directionless and colourless ROADM functionality to boost the performance of ultra-long cables.
"This will increase the cable’s lifespan by a few years," says Tom Mock, senior VP of corporate marketing and communications at Ciena. "We’ve been upgrading to 40Gbps for over a year now around the world. The economics of upgrading like this make such a move really compelling. Cables are doing a lot more than they used to, necessitating better traffic management and better transmission technology."
The FEA cable adds more capacity on a route served by a number of other high capacity cables, including IMEWE, EIG and SEA-ME-WE-4.
In order to enhance its offering for multinational customers, Reliance has also become the latest big carrier to sign a deal with CENX.
"Our partnership with CENX will provide cost and time-saving benefits, while connecting us to more than 15 million Ethernet locations worldwide, and help us meet the rapidly growing need for flexible, high performing Ethernet solutions," said Ted Raffetto, president for the Americas at Reliance Globalcom.
