MARCH 10, 2008 -- Global Crossing (search for Global Crossing) today announced it has expanded capacity on its South American Crossing (SAC) undersea fiber-optic cable system to meet rapidly growing demand for Internet Protocol (IP) and Ethernet transport in Central and South America.
"Our carrier and service provider customers are requesting increased capacity to handle the huge demand for IP connectivity and broadband services, including emerging services such as IPTV and mobile broadband," reports John Legere, Global Crossing's CEO. "We continue to make strategic investments in network infrastructure in support of strong growth around the world, and this particular upgrade was necessitated both by increasing demand in general and by Global Crossing's acquisition of Impsat last year, which brought a significant number of new customers to the company," he says.
Latin America is among the fastest growing regions of the world for international Internet traffic. TeleGeography Research has estimated 87% growth in international Internet traffic in the region during 2007.
Global Crossing has added 100 Gbits/sec of transport capacity on the SAC submarine cable system with the addition of new terminal equipment. The SAC system is a four-fiber-pair repeatered system providingI10-Gbit/sec transport with a current design capacity of 1.2 Terabits. The new capacity will enable 10-Gbit/ec IP ports and also STM at rates up to 10 Gbits/sec (STM-64).
Global Crossing says the system includes approximately 12,000 route miles (20,000 km) of fiber-optic cable and landing stations in St. Croix, USVI; Fortaleza, Brazil; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santos, Brazil; Las Toninas, Argentina; Valparaiso, Chile; Lurin, Peru; Fort Amador, Panama; and Puerto Viejo, Venezuela. Fort Amador and Puerto Viejo are shared by Global Crossing'sIPan American Crossing (PAC)/Cook's Crossing undersea systems.
"Latin America's international Internet traffic growth remains among the strongest in the world, driven by increased broadband penetration and availability of high-bandwidth applications," notes TeleGeography senior analyst Eric Schoonover. "We anticipate the pace of growth in Latin America to remain strong in the coming years."
The 100 Gbits/sec of new capacity is available now.
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