Cisco Delivers 800Gbps on Amitié Transatlantic Cable in Collaboration with Microsoft to Support Exponential Growth of Cloud and AI Services

This step to 800G is just one of many due to growth in the subsea market over the next two years.

SAN JOSE, CA - February 12, 2024 - Cisco announced today that they have successfully transmitted 800Gbps on the Amitié transatlantic communications cable, which runs 6,234 kilometers from Boston, Massachusetts to Bordeaux, France.  

The continued growth of cloud and explosion of AI services is driving the need for greater subsea network capacity, which requires advanced coherent transmission systems that support higher performance. This trial was conducted to target improvements in subsea transmission to provide increased performance and capacity. 

Amitié submarine cable features Space Division Multiplexing (SDM) technology with 16 fiber pairs, more than traditional subsea cables, with repeater power shared across the fiber pairs to deliver the highest cable capacity.  

This real-time field trial exceeded any industry trial performance to date with Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) 800G in a 150GHz channel spacing, equivalent to a spectrum efficiency of 5.33bit/s/Hz and a maximum spectral efficiency of 5.6bit/s/Hz. In addition, 600G was transmitted over 12,469 kilometers for a trans-Atlantic loopback configuration. This is the first time a 140Gbaud single carrier signal was demonstrated live, and is the longest distance ever reported at single carrier 600G DWDM transmission on an SDM cable. 

The Amitié cable, a transatlantic submarine cable connecting the US, UK, and France, is now part of Microsoft’s global network supporting all Microsoft services.  

“In the era of AI, reliable and fast network connections are more important than ever,” said Bill Gartner, SVP Optical Systems and Optics, Cisco. “Working with Microsoft on the Amitié cable to demonstrate the potential for improved overall network capacity with 800G at these distances is a significant milestone for an SDM cable, and we’re proud to drive the innovations that pave the way for ever increasing network capacity needs.”   

“The transmission of 800G over 6,234 kilometers is a milestone that demonstrates SDM cables can deliver increased capacity over traditional subsea cables,” said Jamie Gaudette, GM of Cloud Network Engineering, Microsoft. “This field trial demonstrates what is now a commercial technology for subsea routes, and we can improve the network capacity to help drive digital transformation for people, organizations, and industries around the world.” 

The trial was performed with the Cisco NCS 1014 platform enabled by Acacia’s Coherent Interconnect Module 8 (CIM 8), which is powered by its Jannu digital signal processor and advanced silicon photonics.  Both products are available today and actively deployed in multiple networks. 

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