gigabit per second (Gbps) between New York and London.
This link enables a new level in high speed Internet services between North America and Europe. Global Crossing's transatlantic
system, Atlantic Crossing 1, is a high-capacity, fiber optic system linking the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany. Atlantic Crossing 1 uses advanced wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology to meet the extraordinary capacity demands that have developed in the high-volume North Atlantic
corridor.
The new transoceanic capability announced today is the result of Global Crossing's experience in streamlining and simplifying high-speed terrestrial Internet-protocol systems in North America. The OC-48c is a high-speed circuit that will allow North American and European systems to operate as a seamless network, equivalent in speed
and volume to current U.S. land-based networks. Global Crossing currently operates its US Internet backbone at OC-48c (2.5 Gbps) and
OC-192 (10 Gbps) speeds.
Global Crossing's transatlantic link uses Cisco Systems' industry-leading gigabit routing platform, the 12000 Series Gigabit Switch Router, which permits transoceanic customers for the first time to access IP transit services at a speed of 2.5 Gbps.
The Cisco 12000 Series Gigabit Series Router is a premier routing platform delivering scalable bandwidth and performance, and supporting
a breadth of network services through its robust Internet proven control plane and low latency architecture. The Cisco 12016 Series Router, as a component in the 12000 Series Terabit System, supports scalability from 320Gbps to 5 Terabits and provides a breadth of interfaces from DS3 to its high performance OC48/STM16. The 12000
Series' support of Multicast, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), and IP CoS, enables greater support of services ranging from VPNs,
real time services, to content services. In addition the 12000 Series' low latency switching architecture ensures SLA integrity.
"Our customers have a growing need for large scale IP connectivity between continents to seamlessly operate their applications, such as Web hosting, high-speed Internet access, content
distribution, and video on demand," said John Longo, vice president, product management of Global Crossing's Data Services. "Global
Crossing is aggressively rolling out advanced IP network services around the world on a scale customers haven't seen before. The
introduction of this 2.5 Gbps wavelength link across the Atlantic Ocean, along with our state-of-the-art network data center in London
means unmatched access speeds for customers across our global network."
"Global Crossing's deployment of this new generation of robust Cisco router technology enables it to ensure long-term network scalability, reliability and speed for its users," said Graeme Fraser, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Optical Internetworking
Business Unit. "Global Crossing has risen to the challenge of handling more and more converged traffic on the network, plus meeting user
demand for new applications and services. Cisco is pleased to help Global Crossing meet these challenges in a fast, quality-driven
environment. The worldwide Global Crossing Network is a wonderful communications advance, and we are pleased to see our established
relationship with Global Crossing expanding in this way."