The telecommunications industry is again breaking barriers with a remarkable achievement by Telxius and Ciena. These two industry leaders recently completed the first-ever live transmission of 1.3 terabits per second across the Atlantic. This milestone was achieved using Telxius’ Marea submarine cable, which spans 6,600 kilometers between Virginia Beach, USA, and Bilbao, Spain.
The technological backbone of this achievement is Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e). This cutting-edge technology allowed them to reach the highest spectral-efficiency transmission recorded over the Atlantic, achieving a remarkable 7.0 bits per second per Hertz. Carlos Dasi, CTIO at Telxius, emphasized the importance of continually upgrading networks to meet customer demands. As he noted, “With advancements like Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme, deploying more capacity in the most efficient way possible is now a reality.”
The benefits of this technological advancement are multifold. For Telxius, leveraging WL6e offers significant improvements in bandwidth and efficiency. This means that capacity is not only increased but is done so efficiently across vast oceanic distances. This is crucial in our increasingly digital age, where demand for applications involving AI, video, and cloud services is growing rapidly.
Furthermore, Ciena’s WL6e technology is pioneering in its use of 3-nanometer silicon, marking another industry first. This innovation brings substantial economic advantages, reducing space and power usage by 50% per bit. The efficiency offers a more sustainable approach to increasing network capacity without proportional resource consumption.
On the other hand, deploying new technology on such a vast scale comes with challenges. Adaptation costs and the need for continuous technological updates pose hurdles. Yet, Telxius plans to introduce WL6e across its extensive network. This rollout signifies a commitment to delivering diverse and low-latency routes necessary for modern digital applications.
Thomas Soerensen, Vice President of Ciena’s Global Submarine Solutions, remarked on this achievement’s importance. He stated, “WL6e will help Telxius provide high-capacity, diverse, and low-latency routes across the Atlantic.” This positions Telxius and Ciena as front-runners in addressing the dynamic needs of their clientele.
