NEC Corporation announced today the successful completion of a multi-million-dollar contract with a purchasing consortium of 14 major telecom operators in the Asia Pacific region for the world’s first 40Gb/s dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) capacity upgrade to an existing large scale submarine cable network.

The existing APCN2 (Asia Pacific Cable Network 2), with over 19,000 km of cable that connects 10 landing stations in the Asia Pacific region, was originally supplied by NEC in 2001 with a 10Gb/s DWDM system design. In response to the rising transmission demands in the region, NEC proposed its state-of-the-art 40Gb/s DWDM technology as a dramatic enhancement and expansion to the capacity of the existing 10Gb/s submarine cable network. NEC estimates that by adding 40Gb/s wavelengths the cable’s capacity can be expanded by as much as 4 times its original ultimate design capacity of 2.56Tb/s.

“We have passed yet another significant milestone by becoming the first supplier to install a 40Gb/s DWDM system on a major large scale Submarine Cable Network that was initially designed for 10Gb/s DWDMs. We are honored that the APCN2 purchasing consortium has again selected NEC as their capacity upgrade supplier,” said Yasuhiro Aoki, General Manager, Submarine Network Division.

Product Features

NEC NS Series T640SW Line Terminal Equipment

- A combination of 10Gb/s and 40Gb/s wavelengths are available

- Size and power consumption reduced by 50% as compared to previous models

- State-of-the-art technology, such as Tunable wavelength light sources (Tunable LD) and Tunable Dispersion Compensation per wavelength (TDCM), allow the highest system flexibility and availability

Benefits to the Customer

- Improve the value of existing assets by increasing ultimate design capacity by 4 times through state-of-the-art 40Gb/s DWDM technology

- Save on CAPEX and OPEX

Source: NEC, September 30, 2011