Using Alcatel-Lucent's advanced technology, this test was conducted on Apollo's Northern cable system, which connects the United States and the United Kingdom over a distance of 6,221 km, and nearly quadruples the system's initial design capacity (72 error-free 40 Gbps channels). This test has demonstrated, for the first time in a real-world traffic system, a capacity increase that is double the maximum capacity achievable based on 10 Gbps channels.

“Increasing the capacity of submarine networks using existing fiber is critical for operators, as current networks are nearing their capacity limits and terrestrial networks are beginning to support speeds of 40 Gbps. These two factors have made it necessary to increase the capacity of submarine networks so they can handle large volumes of traffic and maintain the highest levels of end-to-end efficiency,” commented Richard Elliott, CEO of Apollo.

“The demonstration of 40 Gbit/s technology on the Apollo system is great news for our customers. We have shown that Apollo can support the types of interfaces and all the volume and capacity that our users may need in the foreseeable future,” Elliott continued.

“Alcatel-Lucent has been deploying 40 Gbit/s-ready submarine networks in recent years, anticipating a market trend that is now consolidating as operators explore the use of the most advanced technologies to migrate their networks and optimize service delivery. With this test, we have taken another step forward in making 40 Gbit/s technology a reality,” explained Philippe Dumont, head of submarine network activities at Alcatel-Lucent. “By supporting both 10 Gbit/s and 40 Gbit/s signals, our solution enables cost-effective network migration without the need for redesigned engineering, while maximizing the utilization of existing assets.”

For this test, the Alcatel-Lucent 1620 Light Manager submarine line terminal was used with a modulation format based on Phase Shift Keying (PSK) and a next-generation coherent detection system, in a fully loaded system with 72 operational channels at 40 Gbit/s. The signal processing associated with the coherent technology will allow operators to manage transmission signal degradation in a cost-effective and automated way, as well as perform network tuning throughout the system's lifecycle. This flexibility to implement different modulation formats allows Alcatel-Lucent to offer operators the best technological option for new deployments and for existing networks that need to migrate to a higher-capacity system without affecting existing network operations and traffic.