Facebook achieved two significant optical transmission records during recent testing of Infinera's ICE6 optical engine over the MAREA trans-Atlantic cable system:
MAREA hero results over 6,640 km
- 30 Tbps of total capacity on a single fiber pair
- 700 Gbps data rate per wavelength
MAREA deployable results over 6,640 km:- 28 Tbps of total capacity on a single fiber pair
- Up to 650 Gbps data rate per wavelength
The hero result is considered maximum performance because it offers no additional deployment margin.
The MAREA cable system, which spans 6,640 km from Bilbao to Virginia Beach, has been used by multiple vendors for testing state-of-the-art equipment and is considered the benchmark for testing because it was specifically optimized for maximum capacity per fiber pair. MAREA uses a low-loss optical fiber type based on a pure silica core. It also features short amplifier spacing of 56 km.
Infinera cited several factors for the record-breaking performance of its ICE6 engine in this trial, including the use of Nyquist subcarriers, the advantage of long code words for probablistic constellation shaping (PC), nonlinear algorithms and mitigation techniques (e.g., super-Gaussian distributions), as well as dynamic bandwidth allocation.
In a blog post, Steve Grubb, Global Network Optical Architect, states "the higher data rate per wave, the better the cost per bit – and that includes the fact that we need fewer transponders that consume less rack space and less electrical power. The 28 Tb/s option with ICE6 reduces the network element count by 60% vs. the boxes previously required for 24 Tb/s…that’s a huge improvement, especially in cable landing stations where real estate and power are often at a premium."
https://www.infinera.com/blog/ice6-trial-on-marea-trans-atlantic-cable-yields-two-record-results/tag/submarine/
Cisco's NCS 1004 platform was successfully tested over MAREA, the 6,600 km subsea cable system connecting the United States to southern Europe (Virginia Beach, Virginia to Bilbao, Spain). Several channel capacity combinations were tested to maximize the performance and spectral efficiency on the cable. For the Virginia to Bilbao trial, 400G error-free performance was demonstrated; channels with record spectral efficiency of 6.445 b/s/Hz were achieved,...
A team of researchers from Infinera has achieved new benchmarks for efficiency for transatlantic fiber optic cables. By employing 16QAM modulation on the MAREA transatlantic cable, the researchers generated signal speeds topping out at 26.2 terabits per second, a 20 percent increase over what the cable designers originally thought feasible. By comparison, the most common way signals are modulated for MAREA today only reaches 9.5 terabits per second....
Wednesday, January 23, 2019 AWS 
Amazon Web Services (AWS) signed an IRU agreement for the use of a fiber pair on MAREA, the transatlantic submarine cable partially owned by Telxius. MAREA is the highest capacity submarine cable in the world and provides the lowest latency route between the U.S. and Southern Europe. The route is further south than other transatlantic cables, with landing points in Virginia Beach and Sopelana, Spain. “We have developed a deep relationship with...
A field demonstration conducted by Acacia Communications, in collaboration with Microsoft and Facebook, achieved the first 400G single carrier DWDM transmission over the 6,600 km Marea submarine cable between Virginia Beach, Virginia and Bilbao, Spain. The transmission employed Acacia’s AC1200 coherent module, which is powered by its Pico digital signal processor. Utilizing Acacia’s patented Fractional QAM modulation, the field demonstration...
