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Nokia enhances GBI’s optical network capacity between Middle East and Europe through capacity upgrade

Press Release

Nokia enhances GBI’s optical network capacity between Middle East and Europe through capacity upgrade

  • Nokia’s PSE-V coherent optics will enable GBI to scale wavelength speed by a factor of x4 to offer high-speed connectivity across subsea cable and terrestrial network links
  • The upgrade positions GBI to address the increasing demand for bandwidth, capacity and cloud services in the region, particularly in advance of the World Cup

14 October 2022

Espoo, Finland Nokia today announced it is providing optical upgrades to Gulf Bridge International, a global cloud, connectivity and content enabler in the Middle East. This solution will increase GBI’s international network capacity ahead of the World Cup to enable high-speed connectivity between Doha, Qatar and Milan, Italy. Nokia’s PSE-V coherent technology will allow GBI to provide important capacity upgrades to its existing subsea cables and terrestrial links spanning two seas and three countries to meet customer demand for additional bandwidth between the Middle East and Europe.

GBI will upgrade its Nokia 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) optical transport platforms with new network interface cards powered by the Photonic Service Engine V (PSE-V) digital signal processors. This will enable upgrade to wavelength connections from 50 Gbps to 200 Gbps over GBI’s existing end-to-end subsea cable and terrestrial links spanning thousands of km and will allow the introduction of 400 Gbps services in the future.

The solution maximizes the capacity of two existing subsea cable links by greatly improving the optical spectrum efficiency through advanced techniques such as continuous baud rate adjustment. It also eliminates regeneration of the optical signal over two long-haul terrestrial links. Removing the need to convert between optical and electrical signals to boost the optical signal at intermediate regeneration points increases network efficiency and reduces latency and cost.

Gavin Rea, Chief Technical Officer at GBI, said: “We selected Nokia because its proven PSE technology will enable us to grow the capacity of our subsea cables and terrestrial networks efficiently and cost-effectively. We will be able to meet our customers’ increasing demand for the best connectivity services between the Middle East and Europe while ensuring that we can increase speed and capacity in the future. These routes are critical to our international carrier-grade fiber-optic Smart Network that connects service provider, cloud provider and enterprise customers to important financial and communications hubs across the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia.”

Manuel Ortiz Fernandez, Senior Vice President of EMEA Webscale Business, said: “There is a growing need for wholesale services that provide higher speed, reliable connectivity between cloud data centers, co-location facilities and interconnection hubs in the Middle East and Europe. We are delighted that GBI has selected Nokia to upgrade important routes of its Smart Network. GBI’s customers will benefit from the scale, reliability and efficiency of our optical solution while GBI will be able to increase network capacity while reducing network operations costs.”

Notes to editors:

The Nokia PSE-V is the industry’s most advanced family of digital coherent optics (DCO), powering the next generation of Nokia high-performance, high-capacity transponders, packet-optical switches, disaggregated compact modular and subsea terminal platforms. The PSE-V Super Coherent DSP (PSE-Vs) implements the industry’s only second generation probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS) with continuous baud rate adjustment a technique for optimal utilization of the available optical spectrum. The PSE-Vs supports higher wavelength capacities over longer distances – including support for 400G over any distance – over spectrally efficient 100GHz WDM channels while further reducing network costs and power consumption per bit.  

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About Nokia
At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together.

As a trusted partner for critical networks, we are committed to innovation and technology leadership across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. We create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs.

Adhering to the highest standards of integrity and security, we help build the capabilities needed for a more productive, sustainable, and inclusive world.

About GBI
GBI is a global cloud, connectivity and content enabler that owns and operates a smart and fully managed service network.

Our multilayer terrestrial and subsea cable meshed network bridges the East to the West through the Middle East, empowers businesses, connects societies, and contributes to the region’s transformation towards knowledge-based economies.

We are a carrier’s carrier and an enterprise global managed services provider dedicated to turning the region into a global connectivity hub.

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