Reliance's Global Cloud Xchange plans terabit subsea system

Global Cloud Xchange (GCX), which is a subsidiary of Reliance Communications (RCOM), is launching a “Cloud and Fiber Initiative” featuring a new submarine cable system connecting the most populated areas in the world.

The new "EAGLE express" cable system will avoid the outage-prone Malacca Strait, instead choosing another route that will be the fastest on the market, according to the company. EAGLE will go east from Mumbai via Thailand to Hong Kong, running approximately 7,750 km with landing points in Singapore and other branching units delivering high-speed capacity to and from its India hub.  EAGLE going west will route from Mumbai via the Middle East to Italy with almost 8,900 km of diverse routing and landing points within the Mediterranean and low latency subsea routing from Europe to India and beyond.

The new cable network will be four/six fiber pair systems with an initial design capacity of 12-24Tbps per fiber pair, using next-generation Coherent Submarine Fiber. It will also feature flexible landing station technology and will allow companies to rent and own subsea capacity from speeds of 10 Gbps to several 100s of Gbps between India and key technology centers across Asia, Middle East, and Europe. The anticipated ready-for-service date is late 2020.

Key partnerships are being finalized and vendor selection discussions are underway.