Fat pipe straddles pond

Capable of a minimum of 3.2Tbps

By Lucy Sherriff • Get more from this author

Posted in Data Networking, 12th January 2001 15:47 GMT

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Cable & Wireless and Alcatel are joining forces to build a transatlantic IP cable, nicknamed Apollo, to meet the rising demand for bandwidth.

The cable will stretch 13,000km under the big pond. It will run in two paths, according to C&W. Each leg will contain four fibre pairs capable of a minimum of 3.2Tbps.

On this side the cable will terminate in Cornwall and Brittany, stretching to Long Island and New Jersey in the US. It is expected to be in service by the summer, 2002.

A quarter of the capacity has already been booked: C&W says it has already received a letter of intent from an unnamed US company.

Cable & Wireless is putting up £300 million worth of financing, with the rest coming from Alcatel.

The companies said that analysts predict demand for bandwidth will grow at around 100 per cent a year as the online world continues to grow. ®

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