Technology lifts Clear's capacity

By RICHARD BRADDELL

Clear Communications has doubled the capacity of its North Island backbone network through a $14 million project that enables multiple data channels to travel over the same fibre.

Clear has used Nortel-supplied dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology, which in effect allows different colours of light to provide separate data streams on the same strand in a fibre optic cable.

Network services director Ken Benson said the use of DWDM was an Australasian first and it enabled Clear to boost its carrying capacity up to 1.6 terrabits a second, or hundreds of times existing capacity.

The project also included the roll-out of an additional 250km of cable between New Plymouth and Hamilton that has created a new "self-healing" ring through Palmerston North, Wanganui, New Plymouth and Hamilton. This allows traffic to be instantaneously rerouted to its destination in the opposite direction around the ring, should a fault occur in a section.

Clear plans to lay a further 300km of cable to boost capacity to Whangarei, Warkworth, Wellsford, Nelson, Ashburton, Timaru, Oamaru and Dunedin.

It has spent more than $400 million on its network and has committed a further $120 million this year for its high bandwidth LMDS local wireless roll-out.