The network, called CrossChannel Fibre, is touted as the first fibre cable project of its kind to be built across the English Channel since 2001 and will serve the underserved data hubs of Slough, UK, and Paris, France.
Once live, CrossChannel will deliver much-needed capacity and low latency to support the fast-growing bandwidth needs of telecoms carriers, internet content providers, financial institutions, as well as media and gaming companies.
“There hasn’t been a new fibre network across the Channel in two decades,” said Mike Cunningham (pictured), CEO of Crosslake Fibre.
“We saw the need for a modern network infrastructure—one that can handle the rigorous demands of today’s digital world, but also serve generations well into the future. And that’s the vision behind CrossChannel.”
To support the exponential traffic growth driven by the cloud, video, and Internet of Things (IoT), Crosslake will deploy Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme, to create improved customer experience with more bandwidth and resiliency.
In addition, Crosslake will use Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan with Liquid Spectrum's Channel Margin Gauge app to allocate and scale capacity in real time, from 600Gbps to 800Gbps, to quickly adapt to changing customer requirements. Crosslake is part of the Ciena Partner Network.
“A lot of online activities, but especially gaming and streaming, call for blazing performance and minimal delays or lag,” said Ian Clarke, vice president of global submarine solutions of Ciena.
“Crosslake’s submarine cable network, with its high reliability and speedy connectivity, plays a pivotal role in elevating experiences like eSports and videoconferencing.”
In related news, July saw Crosslake choose Interxion to deliver direct interconnection from Interxion's Paris Campus to the CrossChannel Fibre System.
