Australia-Japan cable upgrade complete

Stuart Corner
Monday, 14 April 2008 09:08

Business IT - Networking

Australia-Japan Cable has completed its capacity upgrade announced in May 2007, taking total capacity on its system to 240Gbps.

˘s∞The system was built with an initial capacity of 80Gbps but is upgradeable to 1Tbps. When AJC announced plans for the upgrade it said at the time that the upgrade would cost between $US20m and $US30m. An initial 80Gbps of the additional capacity became available in December.

The AJC network extends from Sydney to Japan via Guam and connects with more than a dozen other international networks in Guam and Japan. CEO, Robin Russell, said the upgrade had included "installation of 10Gbps wavelength equipment plus the latest generation SDH transmission equipment at each of the AJC cable stations as well as improved network management capabilities." He added that the upgrade had not required any change to submarine elements such as the cable or repeaters."

The latest announcement of the upgrade follows Southern Cross announcing earlier this month plans to add 130Gbps on each of its two routes to the USA. Plans for the upgrade were announced in August 2007 . According to director of sales and marketing Ross Pfeffer, "when completed later this year the current upgrade will take our total installed capacity to 860Gbps."