Apr 18 2016
Xtera Communications, Inc., a leading provider of high-capacity, cost-effective optical transport solutions, today announced the release of its subsea Branching Unit (BU) that builds on the technology successfully deployed in its repeater. Branching units are used in submarine cable systems to provide traffic and power routing between the trunk and branch cables, enabling complex and reconfigurable network architecture for more flexible capacity configurations (as requested in networks where IP packets form the dominant traffic), and simpler fault recovery.
Following customer feedback that re-configuring the powering of a system can be time-consuming and difficult, Xtera has used the supervisory system to allow operators to switch the BU powering simply by sending commands. This avoids the need to disconnect or change the polarity of Power Feed Equipment (PFE) or arrange for synchronized ramping to ensure the desired current flow during re-configuration. There is also circuitry to minimize the effects of current surges, to allow hot-switching and to hold the configuration during a power dip.
"We have focused on making the BU robust and easy to use," said Stuart Barnes, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Xtera Submarine Business. "Our innovative supervisory also makes it possible for a user to check the BU operation via the network management system."
Xtera offers innovative turnkey solutions for building new subsea infrastructure, upgrading existing submarine cable systems, or recovering and re-laying existing cable assets.
Source: http://www.xtera.com/