The upgrade marks Xtera’s first commercial deployment of its next-generation repeater, which is designed to extend the lifetime and capacity of the cable route.
“This revamping of an unrepeatered cable system into a repeatered one is a perfect illustration of Xtera’s innovative, flexible solutions for building new subsea infrastructure or upgrading existing cable assets under water,” said Stuart Barnes, SVP and general manager at Xtera Submarine Business.
“Due to its spectrum flexibility, Raman amplification allows us to fine-tune the repeater performance with respect to the optical characteristics of the line fibre, which was optimised for 20-year-old transmission technologies, thus maximising the system capacity.”
The HUGO cable had initially been an unrepeatered system, but the addition of Xtera repeaters is expected to remove any limitations and create the highest possible capacity system with minimal disruption to service.
