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Southern Cross brings another price reduction to market leveraging 40G & 100G upgrade programme.

Southern Cross prices have again fallen and the company continues to expand its international capacity as it continues to upgrade the network.

“We have reduced our capacity prices by another 20%”, said Sales and Marketing Director Ross Pfeffer. “This will be our 10th major price reduction since 2000 and over the period our price decline has averaged more than 22% per year.

“It’s been pleasing to see big increases in data caps and declines in retail data cost for internet users in both Australia and New Zealand over the last year. Our continued initiatives to increase supply and reduce price are designed to encourage this process and to support the needs of Australia's NBN and New Zealand's UFB”, Pfeffer noted.

The Southern Cross Network provides uninterrupted hi-speed connectivity to US based internet content. Constructed as a protected twin cable network of 28,500 kilometres of undersea cable the Southern Cross cable network has become a major regional asset for reliable high-speed broadband.

The latest price decline marks the second stage of the eighth major capacity expansion programme since 2001 and it is due for completion in February. This Stage is based on Ciena’s 40Gbps transmission equipment and takes total lit capacity on the Southern Cross Network to 2 Tbps.

The third stage of the current expansion programme is being implemented concurrently and is based on Ciena's 100 Gbps transmission equipment. 100G technology is already installed on some network segments and will take lit capacity to 2.6 Tbps by June 2013.

Ciena Corp.

SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator in Korea, has started to introduce 100G (gigabits per second) technology into its existing 40G network, to significantly increase its transmission capacity. To do this, the operator has selected Nokia Siemens Networks' DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing)* 100G technology and related services. The capacity expansion enables SK Telecom to simultaneously transmit up to 80 wavelengths of light, each carrying data at 100G on a single optical fiber, giving a total capacity of up to 8 Tbps (terabits per second) per fiber.

"With increasing smartphone adoption in Korea, there is a surging demand for higher capacity networks. Operators such as SK Telecom need to expand their network capacity multifold, and they need to do so cost efficiently by optimizing the use of existing fiber," said Tapani Sairanen, head of Asia and Middle East cluster, customer sales support, Optical Networks, Nokia Siemens Networks. "Our scalable and flexible optical products help SK Telecom transition to a 100G network cost efficiently, as our technology eliminates the need for costly installation of more fiber. This ultra-fast data transmission allows SK Telecom to continue to ensure a superior mobile broadband customer experience."

Global analyst firm Ovum says in a new report that demand for PON systems to enable smart grids in China could be worth $1.5 billion to $2 billion to FTTx PON optical component and equipment vendors. That’s because the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) could decide to provide communications services with the same infrastructure, according to The Merger of China’s Smart Grid and PON – A Potential Perfect Storm.

The SGCC has yet to formally announce such plans. Nevertheless, technology vendors should pay close attention, Ovum asserts. “We believe that the ultimate goal of a fiber-based smart grid is to support advanced communications services,” explains Julie Kunstler, principal analyst of components at Ovum. “Building a fiber-based smart grid communications network creates a very large market opportunity for PON vendors.

“This potential market is important, as Ovum forecasts declining PON OLT port shipments beginning in 2013, following major FTTx network buildouts in China,” she adds.

Ovum notes that several PON communications equipment vendors already have developed products that meet smart grid requirements as well as support triple-play communications services provision. The deployment in China of a PON-based smart grid would benefit such OLT equipment vendors as Huawei, ZTE, Alcatel-Lucent, and FiberHome. Vendors of ONTs and such components as fiber splitters, optical transceivers, BOSAs, PON MAC chips, and optical interface chips also would benefit. “A PON-based smart grid deployment would also benefit the fiber cabling manufacturers, such as Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable (YOFC), Corning, and Prysmian,” Kunstler adds.

Kunstler cautions that even if SGCC moves as expected, winning business will not be child’s play. Price pressures will likely be “brutal,” as an Ovum press release put it, and therefore vendors will have to squeeze every penny out of their bills material. Meanwhile, good relationships with in-country smart meter companies, PON equipment vendors, and the relevant governmental agencies, also will be important in winning business.

Finland’s state-owned CSC — IT Center for Science Ltd. says it has successfully tested 100-Gbps line speeds on the country’s Finnish University and Research Network (Funet). The trial ran between Espoo and Oulu, a distance of approximately 1000 km, and was conducted in November 2012.

Nokia Siemens Networks and Ekinops provided the 100-Gbps optical transport technology used in the trial, which also included routers from Juniper Networks. The optical transmission connections used Nokia Siemens Networks’ 1+1 backup via two light paths.

“With the new channel capacity, the Funet Network can transmit data at a speed of 4 Tbps per one link connection. Funet member organizations can use the 100-Gbps services by means of a light path. CSC is also preparing to gradually update the Funet IP Network for the speed of 100 gigabits. The service will probably be first used in the data infrastructures of international research projects,” explains Juha Oinonen, development manager at CSC.

“K&K Active Oy and Ekinops are proud to be able to take part in the tests and assist CSC in its work to update its network for future needs. K&K has supplied Ekinops DWDM systems for data center and transport network environments for many years. However, this is the first time when we are able to test our 100-Gbps product in a real production environment in Finland. Our belief is that 100-Gbps connections will already be in use in Finland in 2013,’ says Harri Räty, product area manager at K&K Active Oy.