Google’s Dunant submarine cable system, which will link the U.S. and France, will be the first subsea cable to leverage space-division multiplexing (SDM), enabling 250 terabits per second capacity.
In a blog posting, Vijay Vusirikala, Director of Network Architecture and Optical Engineering at Google, says SDM will increase cable capacity in a cost-effective manner.
Dunant’s design uses twelve fiber pairs and power-optimized repeaters. Whereas traditional subsea cables are powered from the shore end and rely on a dedicated set of pump lasers to amplify the optical signal for each fiber pair, SDM allows pump lasers and associated optical components to be shared among multiple fiber pairs.
Orange joins Google’s Dunant transatlantic cable project
Orange is joining Google’s Dunant transatlantic project, which is a 6,600km submarine cable connecting the United States to the French Atlantic coast. The system is expected to be ready for services late 2020.
As the French landing partner, Orange will build and operate the landing station on the French Atlantic coast and provide the backhaul service to Paris. In parallel, Orange will benefit from fiber-pairs with a capacity of more than 30 Tbps per pair.
Google to build private “Dunant” cable from Virginia to France
Google is planning a new transatlantic subsea cable system linking the east coast of the United States to Europe to bolster its global network.
Dunant, which is named in honor of Swiss businessman and humanitarian Henri Dunant, will be a four-fiber pair cable system spanning over 6,400km from Virginia Beach to the French Atlantic coast.
Google has selected TE SubCom to build the Dunant submarine cable system. Activation is expected in late 2020.
Henri Dunant was the founder of the Red Cross and recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize.
