Iceland-based submarine cable network operator Farice has brought online its third submarine cable system. The IRIS submarine network, which connects Iceland to Galway, Ireland, with onward connectivity to the UK, Denmark, and the Nordics, became operational March 1.
The 1,700-km submarine cable complements Farice’s FARICE-1 and DANICE submarine networks while offering redundancy and diversity to these two systems. IRIS is a six-fiber-pair system that supports 22 Tbps per fiber pair, for a total capacity of 132 Tbps, at 500-Gbps line rates. Farice selected Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) to supply elements of the technology supplier’s GeoMesh Extreme undersea system portfolio to deliver such capacity. IRIS is leveraging Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform with WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics as well as Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller. Ciena Services also provided consulting, systems integration, training, and optimization. The service group will perform maintenance services as needed as well.
In addition, Farice partnered with Ciena to transform terrestrial routes in Iceland for IRIS and DANICE to a protected ring system using a ROADM-based GeoMesh Extreme architecture. DANICE was updated with WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics too.
“Our new IRIS submarine cable system provides a critical ‘digital bridge’ between Iceland and Ireland, the heart of transatlantic connectivity and an important data center hub,” commented Örn Orrason, vice president of sales and business development at Farice. “Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme submarine network solution allows us to support the continued growth of Iceland’s international business presence with resilient, high-speed, low cost-per-bit connectivity to mainland Europe.”
Farice, fully owned by the Icelandic government, provides international wholesale connectivity services to telecom operators in Iceland, Faroe Islands, and Greenland, and data center customers in Iceland.
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