NTT Com Readies 40G Asia Submarine-cable Express

NTT Communications is ready to start operation on the Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE), a 40 Gbps, ultra-low latency undersea cable connecting major cities in Asia. At launch, the cable has a carrying capacity of 15 Tbps 7,800 km and has landing points in Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia, and will add Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2013. It incorporates special designs to withstand earthquake and typhoon damage. The system is also upgradeable to 100G channels.
The cable follows the lowest latency route between Japan and Singapore. It will provide direct connections to the Serangoon Data Center in Singapore and later will also connect to the Hong Kong Financial Data Centre. The direct connection enables customers there to use NTT Com’s network, data centers and cloud services on an end-to-end, one-stop basis.

NTT Com is the major investor in the cable system, which has been constructed in cooperation with Malaysia-based Telekom Malaysia, Philippines-based PLDT and Singapore-based StarHub.

On August 20, 2012, NTT Com will begin offering an enhanced global leased line service, by incorporating ASE’s low-latency routes into its existing Arcstar Global Leased Line Service. The newly enhanced service leverages ASE’s Japan-Singapore connection with an industry-leading latency of less than 65 milliseconds latency, more than 3 milliseconds faster than routes via other subsea cables. Existing US-Japan routes also will be used, including the NTT Com’s own PC-1 cable which offers the lowest latency connection between Tokyo and Chicago, home of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Superior service between Asia and the U.S. is especially attractive for financial enterprises, such as high-frequency trading firms that issue huge numbers of buy/sell orders for financial products and must transmit such information instantaneously.

Also this month, NTT Com will incorporate ASE into the backbone of its Tier-1 global IP network, which directly connects the world’s major internet service providers (ISPs) and content providers, and, in the near future, will do the same for Arcstar Universal One, its scalable, cloud-based network service.  http://www.ntt.co.jp 09-Aug-12

In 2011, NEC and Fujitsu were selected as primary contractors for the Asia Submarine-cable Express system. The manufacture and installation of all submersible plants such as Repeaters, OADM Branching Units and Cables, the Power Feeding Equipment and submersible plant monitoring system was to be implemented by NEC. The manufacture and installation of Submarine Line Terminal Equipment and the Management Controller was designated to Fujitsu.