By Godson Umejiego, Senior Correspondent, USA

Infinera has  announced that the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1) Consortium, owner of one of the largest consortium cable systems in the world, selected Infinera’s ICE6 coherent 800G solution to increase its submarine network capacity and provide diverse, resilient connectivity across European, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern markets. AAE-1’s submarine upgrade will more than double the current capacity, providing in excess of 100 Tb/s, resulting in the largest-scale submarine upgrade in history.

AAE-1’s cable system spans 25,000 kilometers of submarine and terrestrial networks, connecting 19 countries led by a consortium of 19 leading operators. Unlike any other cable system in the world, AAE-1 terminates at two points of presence in Singapore for enhanced route diversity and is the only next-generation cable that extends farther into Asia via diverse terrestrial routes across Thailand to provide connectivity to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. This unique routing enables AAE-1 to deliver one of the lowest-latency routes between Hong Kong, India, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

By upgrading with Infinera’s fifth-generation ICE6 technology on the GX Series Compact Modular Platform, AAE-1 is able to leverage the industry-leading submarine optical network solution that features the highest level of spectral efficiency, long-codeword probabilistic constellation shaping (LC-PCS), Nyquist subcarriers, and the ability to seamlessly upgrade its line system to enable L-band transponders on some of its terrestrial network segments.

“AAE1 is a significant cable system. As international connections become increasingly important and capacity demand continues to rise, it is vital that we upgrade our system with the industry’s most innovative, advanced optical transmission technology,” said Chairman of AAE-1 Management Committee, Giuseppe Sini,. “The deployment of Infinera’s ICE6 solution will mark a historic milestone as the largest submarine upgrade in history.”

“AAE-1’s deployment of Infinera’s ICE6 solution across its 25,000-km network is a huge undertaking and accomplishment not many technology companies could achieve,” said Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Infinera, Nick Walden. “Infinera is proud to deliver innovative solutions that offer seamless integration, scalable capacity, and value to network operators like AAE-1, and to help our customers deliver vital services to their customers with scale and efficiency.”