Colt Achieves Terabit Transmission Across the Atlantic
By Sean Buckley, Lightwave
November 14, 2024
Colt Technology Services (Colt) completed a 1.2 Tbps wavelength transmission trial across the Atlantic.
This achievement, which was carried out across Colt’s Grace Hopper subsea cable, was conducted using Ciena’s advanced programmable 1.6 Tbps coherent technology, WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e). The aim was to push transatlantic network performance to new limits while improving energy efficiency.
According to the two companies, Colt doubled wavelength capacity and reduced power consumption by 50% compared to earlier generation coherent technology, reaching a capacity of 1.2 Tbps per wavelength. Colt also increased spectral efficiency – the amount of information passed across the network – and route capacity by around 15%.
Named after the pioneering US computer scientist and naval officer – the Grace Hopper subsea cable connects the UK to the US, via a cable landing station in Bude, Cornwall, and comes ashore in New York.
It is one of ten subsea systems and twelve landing stations that Colt acquired as assets from its November 2023 acquisition of Lumen’s EMEA assets.
The capacity per wavelength on the Colt Grace Hopper route allows customers to access bulk 400GbE services, and it is ready for 800GbE services with the potential for Optical On Demand in the future. The bandwidth and spectral efficiency enhancements throughout the network have also led to lower network costs, ultimately enhancing service affordability for customers.
Colt's terabit wavelength achievement across one of the world’s most popular subsea routes demonstrates WL6e’s market viability and emphasizes the route's bandwidth-carrying capabilities, bringing the best of Colt’s optical network capabilities to connect the European and North American markets.
Following the trial, Colt plans to deploy WL6e in its production network so customers can access multiple 400GbE and future 800GbE services to accelerate their business transformation plans.
