PCCW Global has inked a deal with Aqua Comms to deliver transatlantic capacity on Aqua Comms’ America Europe Connect (AEConnect) subsea fiber optic cable system.
The move will enable PCCW Global to obtain additional route diversity.
With more than 52 Tbps of available capacity, the AEConnect system utilizes new optical technologies, including the latest technology of 130 x 100 Gbps per fiber pair.
“Aqua Comms is pleased that PCCW Global has selected AEConnect, our next-generation fiber optic cable system, to provide low latency and high-capacity connectivity for its transatlantic backbone network between its New York and London points of presence,” said Greg Varisco, chief operations officer at Aqua Comms. “Offering diversity between two of its major international hubs, this highly secure and technologically advanced transatlantic system is also future-proofed against increased capacity requirements, a demand that only AEConnect and not legacy systems, could satisfy.”
Jordick Wong, senior vice president of product and vendor management, PCCW Global, added, “Aqua Comms’ AEConnect provides additional capacity, reliability, and security which PCCW Global integrates into its global network thereby delivering new low latency connectivity between New York and London. We are confident that the AEConnect cable system provides the upward scalability and performance necessary to satisfy our business objectives.”
AEConnect, one of the first subsea cables constructed between New York City and London in nearly 15 years, was specifically designed to meet the exponential surge in bandwidth demand from carriers, global data centers, cloud-based networks, financial services companies and content providers. Spanning more than 5,536 km across the Atlantic, with stubbed branching units for future landings, it provides the most secure transatlantic cable system in existence. The cable transverses the minimum length of shallow water along the continental shelf on both sides of the Atlantic and avoids major fishing grounds and shipping anchorage areas that are known to expose subsea cables to damage. Additional armoring and deeper burial were also obtained to further mitigate potential vulnerability.
In addition to its highly secure routing, AEConnect delivers one of the lowest latency crossings of the Atlantic, projected at a speed of 53.9 milliseconds.
TeleGeography forecasts growth in data traffic across the Atlantic between now and 2021 will be 41 percent CAGR.
