TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company, and Alcatel-Lucent announced an expansion to their joint maintenance program for submarine optical communication links throughout the Pacific basin. The Pacific End-to-End Maintenance Solution boosts the companies’ ability to maintain and repair undersea cables in the northern Pacific region, to support current telecommunications clients and other potential customers seeking marine services. Submarine cable networks connect countries and continents, carrying vast amounts of data traffic, including video. They are developed for high reliability over their 25-year design life. However, cables can be damaged by external forces such as earthquakes, hurricanes, intense fishing activity and ship anchors.