OREANDA-NEWS. February 28, 2011. NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) and Pacnet today announced the signing of a multi-million dollar contract to upgrade the 9,620km EAC Pacific Cable Network ("EAC Pacific") which represents two of the five fiber pairs of the Unity Cable System, connecting Chikura, Chiba, off the coast of Japan near Tokyo, to Los Angeles, California.

EAC Pacific, with a capacity of 1.92 Terabit/s, was first installed in March 2010 and began operation the following month. In response to the rising transmission demands between regions, NEC is applying the latest technologies to support a dramatic 300 Gigabit/s upgrade. The upgrade is scheduled to be implemented in several phases, the last phase to be ready for service by June 2011.

"It's evident that, in less than a year since EAC Pacific was ready for service, we have seen aggressive traffic growth, therefore, have accelerated our upgrade plans to deliver additional capacity to meet growing Trans Pacific requirements," said Wilfred Kwan, Chief Technology Officer of Pacnet. "The latest upgrade also enables us with the potential to double EAC Pacific's design capacity through the use of latest 40G technologies."

According to TeleGeography research director Alan Mauldin, "Our latest research indicates that Trans Pacific demand is expected to increase at a compound annual rate of 50 percent between 2010 and 2016. To meet this demand, we have forecast that an additional 64 Tbps of capacity will be required across the Pacific."

"This upgrade is a significant step for NEC, as we demonstrate once again our capabilities to meet market expectations for high-quality products and services from a major client, and to deliver such a system in record breaking speed," said Osamu Harada, General Manager, Submarine Network Division, NEC.

Over the past 30 years, NEC has been one of the top vendors in the submarine cable field. The company has provided major submarine cable systems across the world, including the Asia-Pacific region. Furthermore, NEC has been awarded a number of new projects and system upgrades in the US and Caribbean.