Apollo and Alcatel-Lucent set new capacity record for upgrade over more than 6,500km on a transatlantic system

Apollo and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) have successfully completed a field trial on the existing Apollo South system, which connects France to the United States, achieving the transmission of 7.2 terabits-per-second (Tbit/s) of data per fiber pair, based on 100 gigabit-per-second (Gbit/s) technology.

Made possible by Alcatel-Lucent's advanced optical coherent technology, the field trial demonstrated a ninefold increase in the system's original design capability, setting a new capacity record for an upgrade project. The trial follows the recent announcement of the upgrade completion on both Apollo North, which connects the UK to the US, and Apollo South, with both systems now carrying multiple 100Gbit/s of in-service traffic.

For the demonstration, the Alcatel-Lucent 1620 Light Manager submarine line terminal made use of innovative detection techniques and advanced error correcting coding in combination with proprietary modulation and pulse shaping schemes to counteract the signal distortions and noise that impact high speed, long-distance transmission performance.

The system was tested fully loaded with 80 wavelengths modulated at 100Gbit/s across the fully spectrum, utilizing a flexible modulation scheme to match transmission format to line performance for vital additional capacity, error-free across the bandwidth.

Richard Elliot, Managing Director of Apollo said: "Fully loading all bands on Apollo South was a substantial undertaking which Alcatel-Lucent completed with a minimum of fuss and no customer disruption.  Proving the current maximum capacity of 7.2Tbit/s per fibre pair has clarified what we expected to be the case, that Apollo could carry around four times the current entire Atlantic traffic in use today on all cables.  This cable system which has proved to be the most reliable Atlantic system ever, by a long way, has massive expansion capability leaving it well placed for the foreseeable future."

Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks said:

"This field trial showcased the adaptability of Alcatel-Lucent's technology to offer carriers a smart evolution path for tuning capacity and performance throughout the life of a system. In combination with high resiliency to potential degradation at higher speeds, our technology offers a cost-effective and flexible networking model to cope with end-users' service demands."

This demonstration further confirms Alcatel-Lucent's innovation capabilities which build on several transmission records, including a recent lab experiment where researchers from Bell Labs successfully achieved 31Tbit/s tranmission over 7200km – a capacity exceeding that of today's most advanced commercial undersea cables today by a factor of three.

ABOUT APOLLO

The Apollo submarine cable system consists of the two most advanced transatlantic fiber optic cables. Apollo North connects the United Kingdom and the USA and Apollo South directly connects France and the USA.

Apollo has the highest capacity of any Atlantic system and an unparalleled track record of reliability.

Apollo's customers include the world's leading telecommunications and internet companies and the range of bandwidth intensive companies taking advantage of Apollo's first class network architecture is always growing.

ABOUT ALCATEL-LUCENT (EURONEXT PARIS AND NYSE: ALU)

We are at the forefront of global communications, providing products and innovations in IP and cloud networking, as well as ultra-broadband fixed and wireless access to service providers and their customers, and to enterprises and institutions throughout the world.

Underpinning us in driving the industrial transformation from voice telephony to high-speed digital delivery of data, video and information is Bell Labs, an integral part of the Group and one of the world's foremost technology research institutes, responsible for countless breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and communications industry. Our innovations have resulted in our Group being recognized by Thomson Reuters as a Top 100 Global Innovator, as well as being named by MIT Technology Review as amongst 2012's Top 50 "World's Most Innovative Companies". We have also been recognized for innovation in sustainability, being named Industry Group Leader in the Technology Hardware & Equipment sector in the 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices review, for making global communications more sustainable, affordable and accessible, all in pursuit of the Group's mission to realize the potential of a connected world.

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