Southern Cross NEXT ready for service, demonstrates 400GbE readiness
Southern Cross Cables Ltd. says its latest submarine cable system, Southern Cross NEXT, has been commissioned and is ready for service. The company says the 15,840-km submarine network between Australia and the U.S. demonstrated the ability to support 400GbE services during the commissioning process.
“The Southern Cross NEXT cable system is up and running, and the new technology and capability will support the rising demand for hyperscale bandwidth driven by cloud adoption and digitization along with changing needs of our customers and the industry,” said Laurie Miller, CEO of Southern Cross Cable Network. “As part of our future strategy, not only is NEXT the first of the replacement cables for our existing systems when they retire in 2030, it also completes a trifecta for us. Southern Cross is currently the provider of the lowest latency routes between Sydney and Auckland, along with Auckland to Los Angeles, and will now add the lowest latency route between Sydney and Los Angeles to our portfolio.”
Construction of Southern Cross NEXT began in 2019 (see "Construction of Southern Cross NEXT submarine cable set to begin"). The undersea system leverages Ciena’s (NYSE: CIEN) GeoMesh Extreme technology to provide approximately 100 Tbps of capacity and mesh the system into Southern Cross’s ecosystem network fabric. In addition to linking Australia and New Zealand to the U.S., the submarine cable also provides the first international fiber connections to Tokelau and Kiribati and additional connectivity to Fiji.
“Collaborating with Ciena, we are thrilled to continue to offer the latest in subsea technology that will provide enhanced reliability and network connectivity from Los Angeles to Sydney and Auckland, Fiji, Tokelau, and Kiribati,” Miller added. “Southern Cross and Ciena have a long heritage of working together to push the envelope for what is possible in subsea technology. We are already seeing incredible interest from the market in 400GbE services, and you can expect to see more announcements from us in the near future.”
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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