XKL Systems to Enhance London to Cape Town Subsea Network

The Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa (TENET) has purchased XKL DarkStar transponder and mux/demux systems from XKL LLC, providing a protected connection between two of their strategic data center locations in London. The interconnection is a critical component of a subsea cable network linking London to Cape Town.

The transponder systems grow to 36x10G in a 1RU package; establish the connection between multi-tenant data centers, which connect to subsea fiber managed by the West African Cable System (WACS). The inclusion of an amplified mux/demux with optical switch protection, was driven by TENET's desire to easily scale its transport capacity as demand increases as well as provide optical path protection between locations in the event of a fiber break.

TENET operates multiple peering and transit links across Europe and Africa, as well as UbuntuNet gateways under contract to the UbuntuNet Alliance. The provider also offers direct connections to GÉANT, the European research and education network. With several initiatives driving network utilization, the company intends on increasing its capacity over time and sought a network solution that intelligently accommodates growth. XKL's mux/demux offering allows TENET to simply add new optical transport systems as needed without service disruption. This pay-as-you-grow approach is facilitated through the unified design of XKL's suite of products. Network architects have gravitated toward that flexibility when planning their networks. For more information, click here.