The CtrlS Ciena network will connect nine data centres across five Indian metro areas with up to 100 terabits per second (Tb/s) of capacity, giving hyperscale and enterprise customers a faster backbone for AI and cloud workloads. CtrlS Datacenters announced the deployment on September 28, 2026, using optical technology from US-based Ciena.
The rollout spans Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi and Noida. According to the announcement, it is built around Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme-powered Waveserver platform, the 6500 Reconfigurable Line System and the Navigator Network Control Suite, which handles automation and day-to-day network operations. CtrlS says the links are designed to serve data centre interconnect needs of a hyperscale customer, whose identity has not been disclosed.
What Does the CtrlS Ciena Network Actually Deliver?
The headline figure is up to 100 Tb/s of throughput across five metro networks. In practical terms, data centre interconnect (DCI) is the high-capacity fibre layer that lets separate facilities in the same city behave like one large campus. That matters for AI training and inference clusters, which move very large volumes of data between sites and are sensitive to latency and outages.
Ciena’s Waveserver platform handles the high-speed optical transmission, the 6500 line system routes wavelengths across the fibre, and Navigator provides software control. Together they let an operator add capacity and monitor performance without rebuilding the physical network each time demand grows.
Why Does This Matter for India’s AI and Cloud Buildout?
India’s digital infrastructure needs are rising as businesses adopt AI services and cloud platforms. Ciena India Vice President Prashant Ramesh Malkani said the upgrade aims to improve performance as artificial intelligence workloads add to those needs. Data centre operators in India are increasingly competing on connectivity quality, not only on power and floor space, because hyperscalers usually run several facilities in a metro region and need them tightly linked.
For Indian enterprises, a stronger metro interconnect layer can mean more resilient hosting options, faster replication between sites and better support for latency-sensitive applications such as real-time analytics. Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and the Delhi NCR (New Delhi and Noida) are all established data centre clusters, so upgrading connectivity there touches a large share of the country’s colocation demand.
Industry Reaction and Expert Commentary
CtrlS chief executive Sridhar Pinnapureddy said enterprises and hyperscalers need more reliable data centre interconnect services, which is the gap the new network is meant to close. Malkani framed the project as part of a broader shift in which AI workloads are reshaping what India’s digital backbone must carry.
It is worth noting what has not been made public. The companies have not disclosed the contract value, the completion timeline, how the 100 Tb/s will be distributed between metros, or any independent performance verification. Analysts and customers will likely watch for those details as the deployment progresses.
What Happens Next?
The next milestones to watch are the go-live dates for each metro network, the identity of the hyperscale customer, and whether CtrlS extends similar interconnect capacity to other cities. Competitors in India’s data centre market are also expanding AI-ready capacity, so further announcements on network upgrades are likely.
For businesses evaluating colocation or cloud regions, the practical step is to ask providers about metro interconnect capacity, redundancy design and latency commitments, since these now shape how well AI workloads perform.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the CtrlS Ciena network?
It is a set of five metro optical networks connecting nine CtrlS data centres in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi and Noida. The design supports up to 100 Tb/s of throughput using Ciena’s Waveserver, 6500 line system and Navigator software.
Who is the customer for the CtrlS Ciena network?
The announcement says the links support the data centre interconnect needs of a hyperscale customer, but the customer has not been named. CtrlS has also not disclosed the contract value.
Why does data centre interconnect matter for AI?
AI workloads move large volumes of data between facilities and depend on low latency and high reliability. A high-capacity interconnect lets multiple data centres in a metro operate as one pool of compute and storage.
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