Aqua Comms Upgrades AEC-1 Subsea Network
By Georgia Sweeting, Total Telecom
September 24, 2024
Subsea connectivity company Aqua Comms has expanded its network capacity by lighting a new fibre pair on the AEC-1 submarine cable system. The cable, which is Ireland’s first dedicated subsea cable, connects New York, Dublin, and London.
The move is designed to meet the increasing demand for fast and reliable data transmission between the three nations. Aqua Comms says the move has also presented an opportunity to reassess the system’s energy consumption, with newly lit fibre pair allowing for greater energy efficiency per Tb.
“From a sustainability perspective, this new fibre pair has given us an opportunity to really analyse the entire system and supplier network to make significant energy savings,” said Chief Commercial Officer Nick Barton in a press release.
“Through use of new technology, we will be able to generate more capacity per fibre pair, leading to better performance on power draw per Tb, and therefore a significantly more sustainable system. The system will also reduce regen requirements at our different cable landing stations and simplify backhauls to create a greener path,” he continued.
Alongside lighting the new fibre pair, Aqua Comms revealed it also has plans to upgrade the system to the latest tech from Ciena in the coming months. AEC-1 currently uses Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme optics, with Aqua Comms planning to upgrade to the next generation, WaveLogic 6 Extreme solution.
This upgrade is expected to cut energy use per bit by more than 50%, and will allow for a wavelength capacity of 1.6Tbps.
