Europe India Gateway submarine network reports 100G deployment progress

The 16-member consortium behind the Europe India Gateway (EIG) submarine cable systems reports the completion of the first phase of its 100-Gbps technology deployment. The second phase is now underway. Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is supplying the optical transport equipment based on its GeoMesh undersea cable portfolio, as well as project management, integration, and test and turn-up assistance.

The EIG runs from the United Kingdom to India, spanning approximately 15,000 km to connect 12 countries across three continents. The first phase of the 100G roll out saw installation of the Ciena 6500 packet-optical transport system on the link between the United Kingdom and Djibouti. The second phase will complete the 100G connectivity through to India.

The submarine network upgrade is based on Optical Transport Network (OTN) and mesh architecture principles to ensure service reliability and scalability. In addition to the 100G coherent transmission systems, Ciena also will supply its OneControl Unified Management System for visibility across both the terrestrial and undersea portions of the network. The system house’s OneConnect Intelligent Control Plane with mesh restoration support automates provisioning across EIG’s entire terrestrial and subsea network as well.

Countries the EIG touches include the United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and India. The consortium behind the project comprises AT&T, Bharti Airtel, BT, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Vodafone, Djibouti Telecom, du, Gibtelecom, Libyan Information and Technology Company, MTN Group, Omantel, PT Comunicacoes, Saudi Telecom Company, Telecom Egypt, Telkom SA SOC Ltd., and Verizon.

Alcatel-Lucent and TE Subcom formed the team that installed the system (see "Alcatel-Lucent to build Atlantic-Mediterranean segment of EIG subsea network").

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