Engineers from Ericsson, Telstra and Ciena have completed a successful trial of continuous data encryption at 100Gbps over a distance of 21,940 kms using multiple cable systems.
The teams demonstrated this while data was in transit between Los Angeles and Melbourne, using Ciena's ultra-low latency 100 Gigabit wire-speed encryption solution.
A statement from Ericsson said while existing encryption solutions could protect data when it is was "at rest" — at the start and end points — the trial had shown advanced security was possible while data was "in transit".
The encryption was done beyond the walls of a data centre across extensive networks, without any decrease in performance.
{loadposition sam08}Ericsson said organisations that had greater security obligations, like those in government, defence, healthcare and finance, would be interested in the new encryption technology.
"Testing this functionality is an essential step in the path towards commercialisation so Telstra can be sure of service quality prior to deployment," the company said.
Darrin Webb, executive director of International Operations and Services at Telstra, said: “This demonstration shows that customer services with large bandwidth requirements can be secured and data transported across virtually any distance and over an underlying network that uses multiple vendors.
"This means we can provide service consistency regardless of the cable system used. Customers will also be able to protect their data not only at the application layer, but also at the network layer without any reduction in quality.
“Enhancing our network leadership in the Asia Pacific region is a priority for us and this innovation continues our commitment to providing customers with a world-class network experience."
Emilio Romeo, head of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, said: “A series of advanced demonstrations such as these are necessary before any product is released commercially. In partnership with Telstra and Ciena, Ericsson provides end-to-end systems integration expertise to deliver the secure solution, with our teams continuing to hit faster encryption milestones.
"In January 2015, we had success at 200Gbps between Melbourne and Sydney, then with 10 Gbps speeds over the greater distance from Melbourne to Los Angeles in January this year. Now we have achieved 100 Gbps. Ericsson will continue to support Telstra’s path toward commercialisation of this enhanced security capability.”