Infinera announced that Italian research and education network GARR has chosen Infinera’s GX series ICE6 800G coherent solution to double the capacity of GARR’s new optical infrastructure GARR-T. As part of this project, GARR’s expanded network will now extend to Sardinia.

The deployment of Infinera’s solution on GARR’s ground network and the submarine fiber optic cable system operated by Sparkle strengthens GARR’s high-performance optical backbone, promoting high-speed cooperation between research institutions and universities at the national and international levels.

This expansion is funded by the EU Recovery Fund project TeRABIT, which aims to achieve high-wperformance integrated computing and network infrastructure for the Italian scientific community.

Once put into production, the connection with Sardinia will also provide additional access opportunities for relevant institutions of the Italian National Center for High Performance Computing, Big Data, and Quantum Computing (ICS). Through Infinera’s GX series, this new Sardinia connection not only provides fast data transmission, but also redundancy and reliability, benefiting the entire scientific community.

Massimo Carboni, Chief Technology Officer of GARR, said, “Infinera’s high-performance and open optical technology allows our community to freely manage a range of spectra rather than a single optical signal, achieving seamless integration between GARR-T’s ground network and Sardinia’s optical infrastructure. This is a key first step in GARR-T’s expansion, which will be completed by 2025 and will provide up to 400Gbps connectivity across Italy.”

Nick Walden, Senior Vice President of Global Sales at Infinera, said, “We are pleased to collaborate with GARR to leverage Infinera’s innovative solutions to expand GARR’s connectivity services in the research and education communities in Italy.”