Japan's NTT Com has upgraded its PC-1 Japan-US subsea cable system with 100Gbps technology, and has revealed plans to conduct a similar upgrade on the ASE in 2014.
The upgrade has more than doubled the total capacity of the PC-1 transpacific link to 8.4 Tbps.
Delivering stable 100Gbps communication over trans-Pacific distances required NTT Com to optimize the cable's network architecture, including deploying optical repeaters and improving the fiber layout, the company said.
NTT Com had in late 2011 committed to upgrading the cable with 100G technology. At the time, the company was aiming for a total design capacity of 10Tbps.
The PC-1 cable spans around 21,000km and uses a ring-topology configuration. It has landing stations near Tokyo and Osaka in Japan and in Washington and California in the US.
NTT Com yesterday announced that the company also plans to upgrade the Asia Submarine Express (ASE) cable with 100G by the end of 2014.
The ASE cable was jointly commissioned by NTT Com, PLDT, Telekom Malaysia and StarHub. It spans Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.
The ASE launched in August 2012, and was extended to Hong Kong in February.