NO-UK Records 800Gb/s Line Rate with Ciena

NO-UK, the state-of-the-art submarine cable system between Norway and the United Kingdom (UK), has achieved a record-breaking 800Gb/s line rate using Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme, powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optical technology. This will allow NO-UK to deliver its customers greater capacity, faster speeds and a greener offering through lower energy consumption.

NO-UK’s open submarine cable system, featuring eight fiber pairs, runs for 700km between Stavanger (Norway) and Newcastle (UK) and is the shortest low-latency direct submarine route between the two nations. The system was developed by Altibox Carrier, which owns and operates fiber-optic cables, and supplied by Xtera, a turnkey provider of subsea systems. The project is managed by specialist consultants SubSea Networks Ltd.

Altibox selected Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme, leveraging Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme technology and 6500 Packet-Optical Platforms, supporting up to 35Tb/s per fiber pair—the highest capacity achieved to date across a repeatered submarine network. The design and cable validation exercise was conducted according to the new International Telecoms Union (ITU) submarine cable standard for open cables, known as ITU-T G.977.1.

Svein Arild Ims, Director at Altibox Carrier, said: “NO-UK has been developed to support the evolving requirements of businesses in Norway. We wanted it to deliver the highest bandwidth and capacity available across a submarine network in a sustainable way, and Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme, combined with Xtera’s unique wide-bandwidth and low-noise repeater design, has achieved exactly that. The network has exceeded our expectations in every way and sets the standard for future connectivity between Norway and the UK.”

Ian Clarke, Vice President of Global Submarine Solutions at Ciena, added: “Ciena continues to push the limits of submarine cable networks, achieving 800Gb/s line rate—another industry first. With more capacity and lower cost-per-bit, lower power consumption and lower ongoing operational costs, the solution provides a modern and environmentally friendly network for Altibox’s NO-UK customers.”

NO-UK Com is the consortium building the fibre cable between Norway - UK connection and comprises Altibox Carrier as the operator, Lyse, Haugaland Kraft, Eviny, Ryfylke IKS, Green Mountain, Polysys and Hatteland Group. The NO-UK cable is an open cable system providing a total of eight dark fibre pairs from Stavanger to Newcastle. Through Altibox Carrier the consortium can offer dark fibre or capacity backhaul routes to any major PoP in the Nordics or UK.

Altibox Carrier owns, operates and builds fibre optic cables connecting end-users to content and enterprises to the digital cloud. Altibox Carrier offers dark fibre or capacity backhaul routes to any major PoP in the Nordics, UK and Europe.