International network service provider (NSP) Crosslake Fibre, creator of submarine and terrestrial fiber networks, has announced that its CrossChannel undersea cable is officially ready for service now. It’s the first subsea cable system to be installed between the United Kingdom and France in over 20 years.
CrossChannel is a “next-generation, high-capacity,” 96-fiber-pair system with a capacity of over 2,400Tbps. The 550KM fiber system, which includes a 149KM submerged stretch, is intended to be physically distinct from current fiber infrastructure. CrossChannel connects Equinix LD4 in Slough to Interxion PAR3 and Equinix PA7 in Paris, with extensions to a variety of points of presence in both cities.
Crosslake Fibre claims that its CrossChannel undersea cable is currently the lowest latency fiber communication between these two critical financial and data center centers, with a round trip delay of less than 5.5 milliseconds (RTD). Because there are fewer amplification sites, the system’s shorter length would reduce the chance of disruptions while offering clients with cheaper operational expenses.
Cloud, Video, IoT
Crosslake Fibre is providing a dark fiber service as well as deploying Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme to support ever increasing traffic growth driven by the cloud, video, and Internet of Things (IoT). It’s intended to provide a differentiated client experience with more bandwidth and resiliency. Furthermore, Crosslake is combining Ciena’s Manage, Control, and Plan (MCP) software with Liquid Spectrum’s Channel Margin Gauge app to allocate and scale capacity in real time, from 600Gbps to 800Gbps, in order to quickly adapt to changing customer requirements and maximize the value of the deployed system.
“The CrossChannel system will provide critical Internet backbone infrastructure across the English Channel for decades to come,” said Mike Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Crosslake Fibre. “We are excited to launch the CrossChannel system, which is the culmination of years of development and incredible effort by the Crosslake Fibre team and its many suppliers.”
Crosslake Fibre is an International Network Service Provider (NSP) and developer of fibre-optic projects throughout North America and Europe. The CrossChannel system is Crosslake Fibre’s second undersea cable system. Crosslake’s Lake Ontario system went live in late 2019 to connect Toronto and New York using the same low latency, physically varied design concepts.
