The Southern Cross NEXT project has achieved CIF (Contract in Force) status and has entered the construction project phase.
The Southern Cross NEXT submarine cable is a state-of-the-art 4 fibre pair undersea route utilising an open cable design and enhancing the existing Southern Cross eco-system. The system will also provide full fibre connectivity to Auckland, New Zealand, and will incorporate Branching Units (BU) and OADM technology for connections to Fiji, Tokelau and Kiribati. Given its robust design and route including branches, the 16,148km cable system will provide the lowest latency path from Australia and New Zealand to the United States. Organisers said Southern Cross NEXT represents a network investment of around US$300 million. It is designed to carry 72 terabits per second of traffic. Completion is targetted for the end of 2021 or early 2022.
“The achievement of CIF is a testament to the hard work of the combined Southern Cross and Pioneer Consulting team over many months and is a validation of the technology and expertise behind the new cable,” said Southern Cross President and CEO, Laurie Miller. “The addition of the Southern Cross NEXT route to our platform will provide existing and future customers with further resiliency and connectivity options between Australia, New Zealand and the United States.”
“From our initial guidance on the network’s overall design and technical specifications, to providing commercial and procurement support, we are delighted to continue to work with Southern Cross on the next phase of this robust network through to system in service,” said Pioneer Consulting Managing Partner, Keith Schofield.
“We can now firmly focus on the implementation and deployment of the NEXT system which promises to bring greater resiliency, redundancy and capacity to our extensive network, along with the ongoing development of product enhancements to meet the evolving requirements of our customers,” said Southern Cross CTO, Dean Veverka.
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