ACE Consortium Selected Ciena for Subsea Upgrade
The 17,000 km cable network connecting Europe and Africa will be upgraded to improve data capacity and scaling.
Updated on Sept. 21, 2026 in Data Centers
The ACE consortium, an alliance of 20 members, has tapped Ciena to modernize its 17,000 km submarine cable system. This infrastructure project upgrades the network spanning from Western Europe to South Africa using advanced packet-optical technology.
Why it matters
Upgrading high-capacity subsea routes is critical for maintaining connectivity between Europe and the African continent. This project enables the network to scale data traffic across 18 landing stations without requiring complex migrations.
Ciena is deploying its WaveLogic 6 Extreme technology to upgrade the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform. This hardware enables greater spectral efficiency, allowing the system to scale capacity across the existing fiber footprint.
The players
ACE consortium
An international alliance of 20 telecommunications members managing a 17,000 km subsea cable network connecting Europe and Africa.
Ciena
A networking systems and software company that specializes in packet-optical transport and coherent optical technology for large-scale data infrastructure.
The details
The upgrade relies on Ciena's WaveLogic 6 Extreme, a high-performance coherent optical engine — a component that converts digital data into light signals for transmission over fiber. By integrating this technology into the existing 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, the consortium can increase bandwidth without laying new cables or performing complex traffic migrations between sites. The infrastructure maintains a massive footprint, connecting Western Europe, West Africa, and South Africa through eighteen dedicated landing stations.
Timeline
September 21, 2026: Announcement of the ACE consortium selecting Ciena.
The Tech Race
Subsea cable operators are increasingly upgrading existing fiber pairs with coherent optical engines to stay competitive against new, high-capacity builds. This project updates the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, positioning the ACE route to handle the growing throughput demands of intercontinental data traffic.
For users and businesses reliant on international data links, this upgrade aims to enhance the reliability and capacity of internet traffic between Europe and Africa. The project will eventually accommodate higher throughput without the service disruptions typically associated with large-scale network migrations.
The takeaway
Reliable long-haul connectivity depends on continuous hardware refreshes to squeeze more data through aging submarine fiber. Watch for future performance reports from the ACE consortium once the new optical hardware is fully integrated into the 17,000 km route.
Further reading
For broader trends in infrastructure, explore the latest developments in Data Centers.
