Verizon, a dealer in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services, announced that the SEA-ME-WE4 submarine cable that connects Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe is now being upgraded to 40 Gbps capacity. This will enable Verizon (News - Alert) customers of those regions to enjoy more capacity and take advantage of enhanced performance and better scalability.

The 20,000-km SEA-ME-WE4 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe) undersea cable system is claimed to be the longest submarine cable system to deploy 40 Gbps technology, the highest wavelength capacity currently available on undersea cable systems. The increased capacity will help meet the growing demand for additional bandwidth in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and European regions as well as locations in between.

The cable system was launched in 2005 and makes use of DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) to carry voice, data, Internet and various broadband applications. Verizon Business (News - Alert) is the only U.S.-based company that is a member of the SEA-ME-WE-4 cable consortium. The company is also a landing/terminal party for the submarine cable system in Marseilles, France.

Officials with Verizon commented that the SEA-ME-WE4 is a major link connecting Southeast Asia to Europe through the Middle East – critical regions to Verizon’s multinational customers. With the phenomenal growth seen in this area, the SEA-ME-WE4 will provide the much needed capacity without the time and cost of laying new cable.

Verizon claimed that along with the SEA-ME-WE4, it has invested in more than 80 submarine cables. Its other existing submarine network cable systems include the Trans-Pacific Express and the Europe-India Gateway (News - Alert). The Trans-Pacific line connects U.S. and mainland China and the Europe-India gateway is a next-generation undersea optical cable system connecting Europe, the Middle East and India.

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