Aug, 2001 : Nortel to Build U.S. Optical Network for Southern Cross

📅 August 7, 2001 - Southern Cross Cables Limited (southerncrosscables.com), has selected Nortel Networks (nortelnetworks.com) to supply ultra long haul dense wave division multiplex optical transmission equipment for the terrestrial portion of a 30,500-kilometer submarine cable network linking the U.S. mainland to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji beginning in the third quarter of this year.

Southern Cross will deploy Nortel Networks OPTera Long Haul 4000 OpticalLine System to provide high-speed, high-capacity data connectivity betweencable landing sites on the U.S. mainland. Nortel says the OPTera Long Haul4000 is the industry's first open 10 Gbps optical backbone to break the4,000-kilometer distance barrier without opto-electronic regeneration.
"Southern Cross is committed to making the high-bandwidth broadbandexperience a reality for Australasian Internet users and their InternetService Providers," said Fiona Beck, CEO, Southern Cross. "Nortel Networkssuccess in building high-performance, all-optical networks assures us thatwe will be able to extend our market leadership by providing bottleneck-freeconnections via the U.S. to the global Internet, and by offering new,value-added services faster than ever before."
Nortel Networks OPTera Long Haul 4000 Optical Line System is designed tohelp carriers be more responsive to the increasing appetite for bandwidth inglobal markets. With its rapid wavelength provisioning, OPTera Long Haul4000 provides carriers with the ability to deploy new services quickly.
"Nortel Networks cost-effective, flexible, and easily deployable solutionwill allow Southern Cross to offer next generation customer services withoutbandwidth limitations or time-to-market constraints," said Greg Mumford, wholeads the optical Internet business for Nortel Networks. "At the same time,this increased all-optical reach technology is a fundamental enabler for thepurely photonic networks of the future."
The OPTera Long Haul 4000 optical gateway provides an open interface to theInternet, connecting directly to data traffic via 2.5 or 10 Gbps interfaces.DWDM transmitters and broadband receivers feature built-in error ratemonitoring as well as optical restoration. In addition, OPTera Long Haul4000 provides 100 percent add/drop capability and wavelength management.
Nortel Networks has also won several high profile optical networkingcontracts for customers in Asia, including Telstra and Cable & WirelessOptus in Australia, and some 29 contracts in China for 10G and DWDM opticalsolutions spanning more than 40,000 kilometers.
Southern Cross Cables is an independent company based in Bermuda, withoffices in New Zealand and Australia, that provides optical networksconnecting Australasia to parts of the United States.