Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks and GoTo Networks have signed a turnkey contract agreement to build Australia West Express, the first submarine fiber optic cable system to connect Australia with Middle East and African countries. Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks (ASN) is a subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent and GoTo Networks is a developer and operator of submarine fiber optic cables systems. The total length estimated for the submarine link is 10,500 kilometers when it connects Perth in Australia to the Djibout in Africa. This new submarine route will handle data traffic between Australia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.
The system is planned to be ready for service by the end of 2016, and will have an ultimate design capacity of 20 Tbit/s. The Australia West Express (AWE) cable system will span the Indian Ocean, connecting Perth in Australia and Djibouti in north-east Africa, with onward connectivity to provide an entirely new lower latency route to Europe. This will enhance traffic protection and extend broadband connectivity to new areas.
AWE will support a wide variety of consumer and enterprise broadband services for Australasia economies and recognize Europe’s increasing importance as a destination for internet traffic. Leveraging ASN’s innovation and 200 Gbit/s transmission technology, further scalability to address future growth in ultra-broadband traffic and applications is possible. The creation of the Australia West Express comes at a period of increasing interest in new international routes to reliably carry increasing volumes of data traffic as global demand for ultra-broadband access rises.
The ASN solution will be based on the innovative 1620 SOFTNODE and R-OADM branching unit to maximize capacity and network flexibility over the latest generation of Coherent Submarine Fiber (CSF-2). ASN will be responsible for the project on a turnkey basis, from system design to installation and commissioning.
Headquartered in Whippany, New Jersey, GoTo Networks, Inc. is focused on the development of new submarine cable systems to greenfield or underserved markets. It has been formed by individuals with a long history of involvement in the development and implementation of submarine telecommunications cable systems. GoTo Networks employs experienced professionals form the field of submarine cable and telecommunications industry.
Consultancy to GoTo Networks for the AWE submarine fiber optic link is provided by David Ross Group. David Ross Group specializes in planning, engineering, managing construction, operating and commercializing undersea fiber optic telecommunication infrastructures worldwide. The DRG team has advised on projects totaling over 350,000 km of undersea cable and more than 50 landings on six continents.
Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks leads the industry in terms of capacity and installed based with more than 575,000 km of optical submarine cables/systems deployed worldwide. From traditional telecom to new Oil & Gas applications, ASN provides every part of a global undersea transmission network, all tailored to the customer’s needs. An extensive service portfolio completes its comprehensive offering for the submarine business, including project management, installation and commissioning and marine operations and maintenance performed by its fleet of seven cable ships.
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