UK-based Apollo and Alcatel-Lucent claimed successful demonstration of transmission of about 3 terabits per second (Tbit/s) of data on 40 Gbit/s channels per fiber pair in a submarine network.

The demonstration was performed over Apollo’s north cable system linking the US and the UK and having a distance of 6,221 km.

The alliance claims that the tests highlighted capacity increase of a factor of two compared to the maximum capacity achievable based on 10Gbit/s channels. 

“Capacity upgrades of submarine networks using existing fiber are critical for operators as existing networks near full capacity and as terrestrial networks start supporting 40Gbit/s. These two factors drive the need to increase the capacity of submarine networks, seamlessly handing-off traffic to keep the highest level of efficiency end-to-end,” said Richard Elliott, Managing Director of Apollo.”

“The demonstration of 40Gbit/s technology over the Apollo system is great news for our customers. We have shown that Apollo can support the interface types and sheer volume of capacity required by our users for the foreseeable future,” Elliott continued.

Alcatel-Lucent used its 1620 Light Manager for the tests with a phase shift keying (PSK)-based modulation format with next-generation coherent detection, over fully loaded with 72 working 40Gbit/s channels.