Seacom, the privately-owned cable company connecting South and Eastern Africa to Europe and Southern Asia, has started upgrading capacity on parts of its undersea network across Africa's eastern and southern coastlines.
The company announced yesterday that it had selected US-based Ciena's unified management system technology for the upgrade, which is being done in a bid to drive the development of the African Internet.
Seacom will use Ciena's 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and OneControl unified management system to increase capacity and meet the continent's growing broadband needs.
The upgrade includes key countries in Seacom's 17 000km undersea network, including India, Egypt, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and SA.
Ciena's solution will enable Seacom to deliver capacity in short timeframes and provide for future demands. The deployment will initially use Ciena's 40G coherent transport technology, with ultra-long-distance 100G wavelengths planned for future upgrades.
Increased need
Seacom CTO Claes Segelberg says connectivity services in Africa are "booming" due to the growing needs of business IT users, the rise of cloud-based services, and growing requirements for the processing and storing of personal data.
The new technology Seacom has signed up, he says, will enable the cable company to scale capacity throughout the continent. "The company's future-proof network design has mitigated the risks associated with the upgrade project, ensuring a seamless transition for Seacom's carrier customers and end-users."
Ed McCormack, VP and GM of submarine systems at Ciena, says bandwidth penetration in many African countries has increased tenfold in the last two years. He says the joint effort to increase capacity on one of the continent's primary connectivity channels will lay the foundations for a unified terrestrial and submarine network.
Share