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The 2,000km West African Cable System (WACS) has been extended to the UK.
Alcatel-Lucent which operates the cable said it runs at 40 gigabit per second (40G), with the new section increasing capacity from 3.8 Terabit/s (Tbit/s) to 5.12 Tbit.
The firm describes the operation of the cable as Generalized MPLS (GMPLS).
One definition describes the 'G'in GMPLS as extending MPLS to provide the control plane (signalling and routing) for devices that switch in different domains, including wavelength, and fibre. This common control plane simplifies network operation and management by automating end-to-end provisioning of connections, managing network resources, and providing the level of QoS that is expected in new, sophisticated applications.
The WACS consortium consists of 12 companies: Angola Cables, Broadband Infraco, Cable &Wireless, Congo Telecom, MTN, Office Congolais des Postes et Télécommunications,Portugal Telecom / Cabo Verde Telecom, Tata Communications / Neotel, Telecom Namibia, Telkom SA, Togo Telecom and Vodacom.
Commercial service is expected to commence next year.
It will connect South Africa to the UK with landings in Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, and Portugal. And it will provide Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo and the Republic of Congo with the first direct access to the global submarine cable communication network.
"The African continent is definitely one of the continents still yearning for affordable connectivity. Meeting the needs for increased capacity along the cable route, this network will enable the landing countries to be served by a new system offering greater capacity and lowering the cost of broadband access in support of innovative applications such as e-education and e-health that can positively impact peoples’ lives. The Alcatel-Lucent solution optimally meets our key requirements for multi-vendor compatibility, network availability and traffic protection to deliver the highest service reliability" said Kobus Stoeder, Chairman of the WACS Management Committee. "."
"As traffic grows, service providers need to optimize their networks in support of end-users’ bandwidth demands for broadband services" said Philippe Dumont, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine network activity.
Alcatel-Lucent which operates the cable said it runs at 40 gigabit per second (40G), with the new section increasing capacity from 3.8 Terabit/s (Tbit/s) to 5.12 Tbit.
The firm describes the operation of the cable as Generalized MPLS (GMPLS).
One definition describes the 'G'in GMPLS as extending MPLS to provide the control plane (signalling and routing) for devices that switch in different domains, including wavelength, and fibre. This common control plane simplifies network operation and management by automating end-to-end provisioning of connections, managing network resources, and providing the level of QoS that is expected in new, sophisticated applications.
The WACS consortium consists of 12 companies: Angola Cables, Broadband Infraco, Cable &Wireless, Congo Telecom, MTN, Office Congolais des Postes et Télécommunications,Portugal Telecom / Cabo Verde Telecom, Tata Communications / Neotel, Telecom Namibia, Telkom SA, Togo Telecom and Vodacom.
Commercial service is expected to commence next year.
It will connect South Africa to the UK with landings in Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, and Portugal. And it will provide Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo and the Republic of Congo with the first direct access to the global submarine cable communication network.
"The African continent is definitely one of the continents still yearning for affordable connectivity. Meeting the needs for increased capacity along the cable route, this network will enable the landing countries to be served by a new system offering greater capacity and lowering the cost of broadband access in support of innovative applications such as e-education and e-health that can positively impact peoples’ lives. The Alcatel-Lucent solution optimally meets our key requirements for multi-vendor compatibility, network availability and traffic protection to deliver the highest service reliability" said Kobus Stoeder, Chairman of the WACS Management Committee. "."
"As traffic grows, service providers need to optimize their networks in support of end-users’ bandwidth demands for broadband services" said Philippe Dumont, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine network activity.