Total length 12,700 km Technology Fibre-optic | Topology collapsed loop design Date of first use 2001 | |
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Design capacity 640 gbit/s (2001)1000 gbit/s (2008)>4000 gbit/s (2013) Currently lit capacity 80 gbit/s (2001)240 gbit/s (2008)320 gbit/s (2013) | ||
The Australia–Japan Cable, or AJC, is a 12,700 km submarine telecommunications cable system linking Australia and Japan via Guam that became operational in 2001. It had an original design capacity of 640 Gbit/s, but was initially equipped to utilise only 80 Gbit/s of this capacity. In April 2008 a capacity upgrade was completed, bringing equipped capacity to 240 Gbit/s. Design capacity was also increased to 1000 Gbit/s. Further upgrades will increase equipped capacity to meet increasing demand.
Contents
The AJC network employs a collapsed loop design that features diverse landings in Australia, Guam and Japan and diverse routing at water depths less than 4000m. This design reduces cost by utilising a common sheath in deep water, where risk of failure is low, but provides redundancy to mitigate risk in shallower waters and in the landing stations.
The network supports a range of access interfaces, including SDH at STM1, STM4, STM16 and STM64 levels, 2.5G clear, Direct Wavelength Access, Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. A range of protection options are available, including SDH span and ring protection and 1:n wavelength redundancy.
The cable has a design life to 2026.
Landing points
- Shima, Japan
- Maruyama, Chiba, Japan
- Tanguisson, Guam, unincorporated territory of the United States
- Tumon Bay, Guam, unincorporated territory of the United States
- Oxford Falls, Sydney, Australia
- Paddington, Sydney, Australia
Ownership
AJC is jointly owned by Telstra, BT, Verizon Business and Softbank.