Aqua Comms secures Trans-Atlantic subsea spectrum deal with ESnet

Aqua Comms announced a long-term lease agreement for Trans-Atlantic subsea spectrum with Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) for 25% of a fibre pair between New York, Dublin and London. This agreement marks the first Trans-Atlantic spectrum acquisition by ESnet, the high-performance network built to support scientific research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science and managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

ESnet serves as the DOE research community’s “data circulatory system,” providing services to tens of thousands of scientific researchers throughout the entire national laboratory system, its supercomputing facilities, and its major scientific instruments, as well as peering with more than 270 research and commercial networks worldwide. Secured for 15 years, this quarter-fibre-pair will provide a dedicated 5 Tbps data pipe that will be a foundational element of ESnet’s long-term trans-Atlantic strategy to accommodate rapid increases in data traffic from DOE science collaborations and facilities, including ramping up for the high luminosity upgrade of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

“Scientific research has entered the exascale era, and researchers need to be able to rapidly, seamlessly, and reliably move vast quantities of data from instruments to high-performance computing facilities to their human collaborators all over the world — and back again,” said ESnet Executive Director Inder Monga. “ESnet is committed to continuing to build a robust, redundant network ready to serve the Department of Energy’s research ecosystem now and for the long-term future.”

Jim Fagan, CEO at Aqua Comms, said, “Subsea Spectrum offers the scalability and control of dark fibre at a fraction of the cost allowing customers to plan for their long-term network needs. By working with Aqua Comms, ESNet can be confident in our expertise and leading global subsea engineering services as we continue to demonstrate that we are at the forefront of the technology supporting the needs of our customers with high-bandwidth, efficient network services.”

The Aqua Comms network is leveraging Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme submarine network solution, powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics and Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) advanced software capabilities, to support customers’ ever-growing connectivity and bandwidth needs. Additionally, Ciena Services is providing submarine-specific automation for installation, spectrum activation, and testing for time savings and improved optimization, as well as SLTE technical support to ensure optimal network reliability.

“When 400G wavelengths are not sufficient for growing demands, operators are turning to subsea spectrum to fulfill their scalable, continent-to-continent requirements,” commented Thomas Soerensen, Vice President, Global Submarine Solutions, Ciena.“With Ciena’s best-in-class GeoMesh Extreme solution, Aqua Comms’ network has the high bandwidth, intelligence, and cost efficiency to meet the unique connectivity needs of big science.”
BCS Bureau