Tata Communications adds 100G to TGN-Atlantic submarine cable system

Mumbai-based Tata Communications (NYSE: TCL) says it will soon support 100-Gbps services on its TGN-Atlantic submarine fiber-optic cable system from New York to London. Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) supplied the coherent transmission technology via its 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and its GeoMesh submarine network portfolio.

The TGN-Atlantic upgrade is the first of several planned deployments of 100-Gbps optical transport technology on Tata Communications Global Network (TGN). The fiber-optic network consists of 210,000 km of terrestrial and undersea fiber and links countries representing 99.7% of the world’s GDP, Tata says.

“The move to 100G coherent technology on our TGN-Atlantic cable system demonstrates our leadership in global network infrastructure,” says Genius Wong, senior vice president of global network services at Tata Communications. “Based on Ciena’s GeoMesh, this major deployment will bring maximum bandwidth, lower latencies, higher uptimes, and seamless scalability for carriers and enterprises, today and in the future.”

Ciena says it has shipped 20,000 coherent 40G/100G line interfaces to more than 100 customers, with more than 20 million coherent kilometers deployed. Meanwhile, Tata Communications is the second GeoMesh customer Ciena has announced this month (see “Iceland’s Farice upgrades submarine and terrestrial networks via Ciena”). “Our GeoMesh solution is designed to help operators like Tata Communications simplify their global networks by removing traditional network seams that inefficiently linked submarine networks to terrestrial networks,” says Ed McCormack, vice president and general manager, submarine systems at Ciena. “GeoMesh makes networks more cost-effective, reliable, and lower in latency.”

The 100-Gbps capabilities on the New York-London route are expected to be in full service during the first half of 2013.

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