ASE, Ciena pump up capacity of submarine cable

Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE), a consortium of Asian telecommunications carriers, is working with Ciena to improve the design capacity and sustainability of its cable system.

Running a total of 8,148 kilometers, the ASE high-capacity cable system connects Japan to Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. 

Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme, leveraging Waveserver 5 powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme and an optical bypass, will deliver more capacity through ASE’s existing cable, enabling improvement in its design capacity of 193%. 

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Optimised for 100GbE and 400GbE applications with scaling capabilities, Waveserver 5 also minimises ASE’s rack space and reduces power consumption by 60% for a greener solution. 

ASE MC chairman Yoshio Sato said that with Asia a key hub for international business, intra-Asia cable routes are becoming increasingly congested. 

“In this crowded playing field, we’ve teamed up with Ciena on upgrades designed to enhance the delivery capacity of our current cables,” said Sato. “

The ASE cable also use Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platforms in a Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE) configuration and Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller. 

Ciena Services is providing consulting, systems integration, maintenance and network transformation services to the cable, a collaboration between the region’s telecommunications carriers — NTT in Japan, PLDT in the Philippines, StarHub in Singapore and Telekom Malaysia.

Jamie Jefferies, VP and GM of Ciena’s international operations, said they have been working extensively with ASE to maximise its network assets across the last few upgrades. 

“With WaveLogic 5 Extreme enabling 400GbE single-wave transport across any distance, ASE can scale its cable with less power and cost,” said Jefferies.