NEC wins 100G upgrade contract on APCN2 submarine system

NEC Corp. (NEC; TSE: 6701) has signed a contract with a purchasing consortium consisting of 13 major telecom operators in the Asia Pacific region to enable the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2) to support DWDM data rates of 100G for the first time.

The APCN2 system, which has over 19,000 km of fiber-optic cable connecting 10 landing stations in the Asia Pacific region, was originally supplied by NEC in 2001 with a 10-Gbps DWDM system design. The system was later upgraded with NEC's 40-Gbps DWDM transmission equipment in 2011.

For this latest enhancement, NEC will implement its digital coherent transmission technology to support 100-Gbps wavelengths. NEC estimates that by adding the 100-Gbps capabilities, the cable's capacity can be enlarged by as much as 10X its original design capacity of 2.56 Tbps.

"We are honored that the APCN2 purchasing consortium has again selected us as their capacity upgrade supplier. This upgrade is indeed a significant step for NEC as well as for the industry, as we demonstrate our ability to provide high-quality and state-of-the-art 100-Gbps DWDM products and services on a system designed for 10-Gbps DWDM," said Dr. Yasuhiro Aoki, general manager of NEC's submarine networks business.

The upgrade is scheduled to be completed by 1Q of 2014.

The upgrade features include: NEC NS Series T740SW line terminal equipment; the digital coherent technology enabling 100-Gbps wavelengths; and a small foot print of 1.5 Tbps per rack, providing more than twice the capacity density compared to previous 40-Gbps wavelengths.

The 13 APCN2 purchasing consortium members are AT&T Corp., China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, Vodafone, KT, NTT Communications, MCII, PLDT, Reach, SingTel, Softbank Telecom, and StarHub.

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