Indian data centre operator CtrlS is upgrading metro optical networks in five cities with Ciena equipment, targeting up to 100 Tbps of capacity across links that connect nine of its facilities.

Ciena announced the project on Monday. CtrlS will deploy Ciena's Waveserver platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) coherent optics, alongside the 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS), in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi and Noida. Ciena's services team is running end-to-end project management for the deployment, and the vendor's Navigator Network Control Suite will automate network operations and speed up service delivery.

The upgrade has a specific commercial anchor. CtrlS founder and CEO Sridhar Pinnapureddy said the metro work forms part of a larger managed optical fibre network (MOFN) deployment the company is carrying out for an unnamed "leading hyperscaler". The project also supports CtrlS' broader strategy to sell high-speed connectivity into India's cloud and AI-driven traffic growth.

"We see growing demand from enterprises and hyperscalers for reliable data centre interconnect solutions," Pinnapureddy said in a statement. "Ciena's optical innovations and network management capabilities strengthen our ability to provide resilient network services that meet the performance expectations of the world's most demanding digital businesses."

The numbers behind the deal explain the urgency. CtrlS currently operates 19 data centres across nine markets in India, with more than 370 MW of live capacity and a further 4.4 GW of projects at various stages of execution — a pipeline roughly twelve times its existing footprint. Metro links that stitch those facilities together must scale accordingly, and coherent optics at 800G-class line rates, such as WL5e, are the current tool of choice for data centre interconnect at this scale.

Ciena is framing the win in familiar vendor terms. "With this upgrade, CtrlS is boosting network performance to accelerate the next wave of digital adoption in one of the world's fastest growing digital markets," said Prashant Ramesh Malkani, VP and GM for India at Ciena. Strip out the marketing, and the concrete facts are these: one of India's largest colocation players has selected Ciena over rivals for a five-city metro build, with a stated capacity ceiling of 100 Tbps and automation software included in the package.

The deal also signals where Indian data centre traffic is heading. Hyperscaler-backed fibre builds, rather than retail enterprise demand alone, are increasingly the trigger for optical upgrades in the market, and Pinnapureddy's reference to an MOFN contract suggests CtrlS is monetising its inter-city fibre as a managed service rather than simply using it internally. The addition of Ciena's control suite points to operational efficiency — automating provisioning and maintenance — as a stated goal alongside raw capacity.

Neither company disclosed the contract value or a detailed rollout timeline. What is clear is the scope: five metros, nine data centres connected, 100 Tbps of design capacity, and a deployment tied to a hyperscaler engagement that will presumably expand as CtrlS converts its 4.4 GW development pipeline into live capacity in the coming years.