Ciena Networks

 

The underwater world becomes increasingly important

The news from Southern Cross/Ciena is important in several ways. First, it shows the growing demand for subsea infrastructure. This is very important because 99% of the world's internet traffic goes through submarine cables, and Ciena expects this market to grow at around 40% per year in the near future.

Submarine cables are certainly an area that is increasingly being driven by hyperscalers. Google, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), and Facebook/Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) are among the largest sponsors of submarine cable projects around the world. The

Ciena project also demonstrates a growing list of requirements for advanced optical switching. Intelligence, mesh networks, and advanced coherent optics are prerequisites for the high-speed networks that will carry Internet traffic in the future. The collaboration between

Ciena and Southern Cross NEXT is a step toward owning a piece of that future. This marks a victory for the company over rivals such as Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK), but interestingly, Sienna defeated Nokia's Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) in the NEXT competition. It seems so. In 2019, ASN was selected to begin building the cable system, which will apparently be replaced or expanded with Ciena networks. As of this writing, ASN has not yet responded to inquiries.

Submarine cables are an essential element of digital transformation. And as capacity requirements increase, so does the need for new projects. The Southern Cross NEXT network and his Ciena contribution to it are part of a noteworthy trend.