The coral sea 2 subsea fibre optic branching unit for the Solomon Islands.

The coral sea 2 subsea fibre optic branching unit for the Solomon Islands. I believe in the beginning these units were purely passive. They divided the fibre pairs into two or more paths. But more modern versions do optical switching of wavelengths. This BU is being stored aboard an Alcatel cable ship. Optical switching allows for more bandwidth efficiency as capacity can be flexibly allocated between branches. The older systems led to stranded capacity because usage was rarely equal across fibre pairs and branches. 



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