Southern Cross offers ISPs free backup on international links

Stuart Corner
Monday, 03 November 2008 08:49

Business IT - Networking

Pfeffer added: "ISPs can easily extend their existing capacity retrofit until 2020 for no charge when they make their normal new capacity purchases." He told iTWire that ISPs were typically increasing capacity by 40 percent a year and would qualify for the free upgrade so long as they continued to purchase capacity at a "reasonable percentage" of this figure."

Southern Cross has recently upgraded its cable network  to a total protected (ie duplicated on different routes) capacity of 430Gbps and Pfeffer said he expected this new offer to soak up this additional capacity fairly quickly. "We have already invited suppliers to tender for the next upgrade which will be installed within one to two years."

In a separate project, Southern Cross recenty upgraded the capacity of its US terrestrial network using new optical technology that is able to transmit 40Gpbs on a single wavelength of light instead of the usual 10Gbps.

Pfeffer said this technology was an option for the upgrade of its submarine links, but no decision had yet been made. He added: "Ongoing technology improvements are making large low cost upgrades increasingly attractive. The recently available 40Gbps channel speed technology takes the potential size of Southern Cross from 1.2 to 4.8Tbps of fully protected capacity."

The Southern Cross cable network was completed in January 2001 at a cost of $US1.3 billion with total installed capacity of 80Gbp. In January 2003 total protected network was expanded to 240Gbps and by end-2008 total installed protected capacity will be 430Gbps.

The network is owned by Optus, Telecom New Zealand and Verizon Business. Critics claim its near monopoly of trans Pacific capacity makes prices overly high and this has been cited as the main reason for Pipe Networks to build its PPC-1 cable to Guam and for Telstra's recently completed cable to Hawaii   which has now been named Endeavour in memory of the vessel in which James Cook first sailed to Australia.