They also achieved a world-first 800Gbps transmission across the Atlantic and back (c11,000km) without signal regeneration
Aqua Comms, a subsea infrastructure provider, and networking specialist Ciena announced the first-1.3Tbps wavelength transmission across the Atlantic, a distance of 5,500km. It was achieved using Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e), which the vendor describes as “the industry’s first fully programmable coherent technology capable of wavelength speeds up to 1.6Tbps”.
The companies achieved another world-first – a 800Gbps wavelength transmission from the US to Ireland and back – more than 11,000km – without regenerating the signal. WL6e was tuned from 200GBaud to 150GBaud during the trial, showing how the technology can enable Aqua Comms to optimise capacity and make more efficient use of spectrum resources across its network.
These two ground-breaking achievements took place on Aqua Comm’s AEC-1 cable route which has been in operation since 2016. By maximising subsea transmission rates, Aqua Comms can improve spectral efficiency by roughly 15% and reduce power consumption by more than 50% relative to the previous generation of Ciena transponders.
New benchmark
“Aqua Comms’ multiple trans-Atlantic cables, powered by Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme, will keep ahead of ever-increasing bandwidth demands whilst contributing towards Aqua Comms’ goal of hitting 100% renewable energy by 2030,” said Thomas Grant, CNO at Aqua Comms. “These reductions align with industry goals to minimize the environmental footprint of subsea networks – a critical priority as we continue to connect the world more efficiently.”