GBI will upgrade its Nokia 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) optical transport platforms with new network interface cards equipped with Photonic Service Engine V (PSE-V) digital signal processors. This will enable the upgrade of 50 Gbps wavelength connections to 200 Gbps over GBI's existing end-to-end terrestrial and submarine cable links, spanning thousands of kilometers, and will allow for the introduction of 400 Gbps services in the future.

The solution maximizes the capacity of two existing submarine cable links by significantly improving optical spectrum efficiency through advanced techniques such as continuous transmission rate adjustment. It also eliminates optical signal regeneration across two long-distance terrestrial links. Removing the need to convert between optical and electrical signals to boost the optical signal at intermediate regeneration points increases network efficiency and reduces latency and cost.

Gavin Rea, GBI's Technical Director, said: "We chose Nokia because its proven PSE technology will allow us to efficiently and cost-effectively increase the capacity of our submarine cables and terrestrial networks. We will be able to meet the growing demand from our customers for best-in-class connectivity services between the Middle East and Europe, while ensuring that we can increase speed and capacity in the future. These routes are critical to our carrier-grade smart fiber optic network that connects service provider, cloud provider, and enterprise customers to major financial and communications hubs in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia."

Manuel Ortiz Fernández, Senior Vice President of EMEA Webscale Business, said: "There is a growing need for wholesale services that provide reliable, faster connectivity between cloud data centers, colocation facilities, and interconnection hubs in the Middle East and Europe. We are delighted that GBI has selected Nokia to upgrade key routes in its intelligent network. GBI customers will benefit from the scale, reliability, and efficiency of our optical solution, while GBI will be able to increase network capacity and reduce network operating costs."