Global satellite giant Telesat will be deploying technology from a Kanata North company on its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites – the first and only LEO network designed to meet the needs of telecom, government, maritime and aeronautical customers.
Ciena will be supplying hardware and software – routing and switching platforms – for the satellites that will provide high-speed 5G connectivity. The technology will connect the 298 LEO satellites to earth-based landing stations, granting Telesat optimized control over the system. Ciena will also support the project through terrestrial network design, implementation, and testing.
“Telesat’s enterprise customers – MNOs, ISPs, aviation, and maritime companies – are seeking high-throughput, super-low-latency connectivity to support delay-sensitive applications like cloud-based services,” says Bruce Hembree, vice-president and GM, Americas, Ciena. “Telesat Lightspeed, powered by Ciena networking technology on the ground, makes reliable satellite broadband at fiber-like speeds possible.”
Based in Maryland, Ciena is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of fibre-optic telecommunications equipment. The company has more than 1,000 employees in the National Capital Region and operates a 425,000-square-foot campus in Kanata North, where it focuses on R&D.