GBI is the first operator in the region to offer true 100G connectivity on parts of its undersea cable network. GBI has made the move to 100G to meet the growing demand from the carrier community for high-capacity services that bridge Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 100G signals a new era of interconnectedness and demonstrates the level of technological innovation happening in the Middle East.
The networking technology uses state-of-the-art DWDM technology and total system design capacity has increased to close to 10 Terabits per second on certain sections.
At the center of the GBI cable system is a self-healing core ring in the Gulf. Unlike a festoon network, this topology will provide greater protection from cable cuts resulting in a higher quality of service with minimum service disruption. The Gulf network offers double landings at the major terminals of Qatar and Fujairah (UAE) with branched landings in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, Oman. Onward connectivity is available to Europe and Asia.
In addition special considerations regarding system powering will provide for additional layers of redundancy. The network incorporates Optical Add Drop Multiplexing (OADM) undersea branching units. This will reduce upgrade costs, increase reliability and system resiliency with the ability to by-pass a branch. OADMs will also provide customers with traffic security features that are not currently available in the Gulf.