In its mission to deliver high-capacity, low-latency connectivity across Europe, Sipartech, a prominent European infrastructure operator, has implemented Ciena Services’ GeoMesh Extreme submarine network service. This service enables wholesale 400GbE offerings over an impressive 800Gbps wavelength, addressing the increasing needs of cloud providers, hyperscalers, data centers, and enterprises.
This significant expansion of Sipartech’s submarine network is designed to enhance the resilience and quality of its pan-European infrastructure. The deployment encompasses both terrestrial and submarine routes, notably featuring Medloop France’s submarine cable system, which connects Barcelona to Marseille and Genoa.
Barcelona serves as a vital interconnection point in the Mediterranean, linking major data centers and corporate centers. The Medloop cable offers a diverse alternative to the conventional outbound route from Spain to the rest of Europe, supporting the region’s digital growth and ensuring robust network service resiliency against potential disruptions from weather-related events, mooring incidents, construction mishaps, and even sabotage.
Equipped with Ciena’s Navigator Network Control Suite, Sipartech has integrated Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and WaveLogic 5 Extreme technology to enhance bandwidth efficiency and flexibility. Ciena describes the 6500’s framework as “colourless, directionless, and contentionless photonic,” stating that Sipartech can now expand its capacity and adjust the network based on customer requirements, as well as swiftly restore connectivity in case of disruptions.
Moreover, Ciena Services facilitated network design validation, installation, and testing, along with comprehensive project management to ensure the project was executed successfully.
Julien Santina, founder and CEO of Sipartech, remarked, “We selected Ciena’s premier GeoMesh Extreme service for its capacity and reliability, essential for keeping up with the relentless growth in bandwidth and preventing outages. Our partnership with Ciena enables us to offer exceptional network quality and reliability … Their ‘overland and undersea’ technology and dedicated collaboration were crucial in facilitating the launch of this new route.”
Virginie Hollebecque, Ciena’s vice-president and EMEA leader, noted, “With the Medloop cable, Sipartech is challenging the conventional infrastructure landscape in Europe. Data center operators and telecom companies face complex connectivity demands, and Sipartech’s network, empowered by GeoMesh Extreme, meets the challenges of delivering dark fiber and other B2B lit services, essential for regional digital activities.”
In addition to this, Ciena has announced a new 1.6 Tbps coherent pluggable offering to meet the anticipated capacity demands from hyperscale cloud providers driven by growth in cloud, machine learning, and AI-related traffic. The WaveLogic 6 Nano (WL6n) will be available for data center fabric and campus applications as both 1.6 Tbps and 800G coherent pluggable services. This new coherent ASIC, built on a 3nm process, supports dual 800G data paths in a single DSP chip.
Vlad Kozlov, chief analyst at LightCounting, explained, “The swift adoption of AI and machine learning will lead to a significant increase in global bandwidth demand. Cloud and data center providers are adapting by establishing high-capacity connections within and around data centers. Ciena’s 1.6 Tbps coherent pluggable offering, driven by advanced 3nm CMOS technology, enhances scalability and flexibility in data center construction.”
Dino DiPerna, senior vice-president of global research and development at Ciena, added, “As capacity increases to higher levels, traditional data center technologies will encounter physical limitations, positioning coherent technology as an essential component within and surrounding data centers, similar to what we observed in wide area networks.”