Business globalization and the rapid adoption of new IP-based services continue to drive the growth and transformation of international optical networks. In addition to expanding network capacity to meet ever-growing bandwidth demands, leading global carriers are also looking to deliver advanced Ethernet services to large enterprise customers and to other carriers on a wholesale basis.

While upgrading metro area networks to support these requirements is challenging enough, the complexity increases significantly for networks that operate on an international scale. Because global carriers’ networks extend to POPs on multiple continents, they must inter-connect with several diverse types of local/terrestrial networks rangingfrom SONET, SDH and DWDM to Ethernet and IP/MPLS.

To optimize bandwidth utilization on undersea networks, global carriers must also find ways to efficiently aggregate, switch and transport both packet-based and TDM-based traffic. Fulfilling all of these needs typically involves deploying a multitude of network elements, including a DCS that supports SONET to SDH signal conversion, separate SONET and SDH MSPPs, as well as Ethernet switches - inflating both capital and operational costs.