Global Caribbean Fiber (GCF), the main provider of network services across the Eastern Caribbean, is upgrading its Antilles Crossing submarine network with Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform equipped with WaveLogic coherent optical processors and Submarine Line Terminating Equipment (SLTE).
The upgrade, which is slated to be complete in May 2013, uses 40G coherent technology. The upgrade will also use Ciena’s agile GeoMesh optical bypass, which will provide GCF with flexibility to add or drop select wavelengths at intermediate sites.
The 1,100 km Antilles Crossing submarine network connects the Eastern Caribbean islands of St. Croix, St. Lucia, and Barbados.
GCF was created in 2007, jointly owned by Group Loret (60 percent) and Leucadia (40 percent). GCF is also the parent company of the Global Caribbean Network (GCN), Middle Caribbean Network (MCN), Southern Caribbean Fiber (SCF), and Antilles Crossing projects. All of the aforementioned GCF systems are grouped under the GCF network.
