Ciena: High speed connectivity and wave services closely linked

Ciena has released a new report on wavelength services – the first of its kind – that explores the need for high-speed connectivity. The report examines the critical role of wave services in enabling the expansion of interconnected data centres driven by AI, the growing importance of low latency and data sovereignty for AI workloads, and the build-out of terrestrial and critical submarine network infrastructure. 

It also highlights the pivotal role of managed optical fibre network (MOFN) business models to expand high-speed connectivity into new geographies and markets.

“As cloud providers scale data centre networks to address AI performance requirements, wave services must also evolve in terms of capacity, coverage, latency, and route diversity,” said Mark Bieberich, VP of Portfolio Marketing, Ciena.

“Demand for wave services is growing steadily worldwide, as data centre network expansion requires increasingly high-capacity interconnection among various types of network operators and end users.”

A cloud region is a geographically-defined area containing one or more data centres that host and deliver cloud services with the expected availability, latency, and compliance with regional regulations.

Source: Ciena Wave Services Report. Total cloud regions from Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud,
Huawei Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and IBM Cloud (Source: TeleGeography, Cloud Regions Data, April 2025)

From a list of top cloud providers, Asia continues to have the largest number of cloud regions, with China accounting for 53% of the total. However, new cloud region plans announced last year show a trend toward covering more countries and cities, with a focus on Europe, Asia, and Latin America. 

Hyperscalers have reduced the number of data centres per new cloud region, despite the continual growth in cloud services adoption. This is not an adjustment in demand, but rather a shift in strategy. Instead of large clusters of data centers, smaller cloud regions are being deployed, typically with a single data centre. This model is driven by several factors, such as the desire for low latency, compliance with data sovereignty requirements, and creating a cloud ecosystem to later increase capacity as the local market matures.

Cloud services encompass both AI and non-AI applications, and the development of cloud regions isn't solely about the growth of AI, yet they are increasingly intertwined on multiple levels, Ciena said. Regarding regulation, while AI and non-AI applications share requirements for data sovereignty and data ethics principles, AI presents specific challenges, such as where model training occurs. These are ongoing discussions that will son need to be addressed, the company said.

According to the report, the demand for wave services is significantly increasing in domestic markets to connect new cloud regions. DCI is required to integrate new data centres with existing ones and to regionally connect customers through cloud on-ramp connections.  

Wave services are the foundation of most high-capacity networks, particularly when connectivity to or between data centres is involved. Currently, wave services are dominated by 100G and 400G connections. There is still a high volume of 10G services deployed, but they are being upgraded to 100 G at a steady pace. The report predicted that growth in 400 G circuits is set to soar from 2024 to 2029, while 100 G circuits will see a steady rise, and 10 G circuits will experience modest growth.

In addition, Ciena’s report looks at the growth of submarine cables. It highlights that a record 161,100 km of submarine cables are planned to become ready for service (RFS) in 2025, dwarfing the previous high of 121,000 km becoming RFS back in 2001.

“With infrastructure expanding rapidly and resource constraints increasingly shaping growth, anticipating demand has never been more important,” Bieberich added.

“Network operators providing wave services can seize this moment by proactively routing new submarine cables to emerging data centres and innovating to address these challenges. Differentiation through greater route diversity, low-latency connectivity, and compelling managed services is key to staying ahead.”