SubSea Networks - March 2022 by BizClik Media

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This is the headline of Developing cable systems the feature around the globe

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DIGITAL REPORT 2022

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DEVELOPING CABLE SYSTEMS AROUND THE GLOBE 2

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SUBSEA NETWORKS

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SUBSEA NETWORKS

SubSea Networks has been involved in the telecommunications industry for a decade, providing high quality consultancy services for global clients. Lynsey Thomas tells us more

ubsea Networks was founded in 2012 by Jol Paling after many years working for BT, STC Submarine Systems, ASN and Global Crossing. His idea was to form an independent consultancy business made up of specialist subsea personnel. Based in the heart of the historical subsea industry near the Porthcurno submarine telegraph museum in Cornwall Jol selected experts with the necessary background and experience to offer support and solutions for people looking to build new cable systems. Jol was soon joined by Jeremy Marston, Denis Gallagher, and Neil Dann who had previously worked for Global Crossing and Level 3. SubSea Networks are also supported by a number of other subject matter experts providing detailed knowledge and experience in a number of key disciplines including marine surveys, subsea installation, optical design and other commercial and technical backgrounds.

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SubSea Networks: Developing cable systems around the globe

Building projects, new customers development and negotiation as well as and the EllaLink system the construction because you become Six years later, Lynsey Thomas joined the really focused on making sure you have management team on an outreach basis, the best agreement in place to facilitate rather than in Cornwall, and has been at the a smooth build phase.” Talking about the company for almost four years. During that stages of involvement in a project, she time, she has helped with the development added that SubSea Networks are typically of several of Subsea Networks’ projects and engaged from concept through tender contracts. “We really like to get involved with evaluation and on to construction and O&M. new projects right at the beginning, at the “We provide project management services embryonic stage when new routes are being to support both turnkey and disaggregated developed. This includes due diligence, supply and we can provide managed business case development, looking rep solutions, which consist of client at designs, finding anchor tenants and representatives on board vessels or in cable customers and forming stations,” Thomas said. Subsea contracts with them,” Networks have provided Based in the heart of the Thomas said, explaining Horizontal Directional Drill historic subsea cable how the company solutions but much of their industry, Subsea Networks supports its customers. work focuses on the earlydevelops and manages submarine cable projects She also points out that stage development, contract around the world from when developing new support and getting projects its offices near Penzance systems, it’s “really great funded and/or signed. Subsea in Cornwall. to work on the contract Networks is very proud of the

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SUBSEA NETWORKS

“We really like to get involved with projects at the beginning, at the embryonic stage. This includes business case development, system design, finding anchor tenants & customers to reach the critical mass that brings a project to reality” LYNSEY THOMAS

DIRECTOR, SUBSEA NETWORKS

Lynsey Thomas TITLE: DIRECTOR COMPANY: SUBSEA NETWORKS

EXECUTIVE BIO

INDUSTRY: SUBSEA CABLES, SUBMARINE, TELECOMMUNICATIONS Having been involved with the subsea telecommunications industry since 1995 Lynsey’s previous roles include VP Global Sales for Xtera, Director of Operations for Apollo SCS Ltd and Department Head for the Cable & Wireless Submarine Systems Engineering team. During her time at C&W Lynsey worked on the Europe India Gateway system, leading the Commercial Working Group and co-chairing the Purchaser Group from conception through to contract. Having worked worldwide as a supplier, customer, operator and consultant, she has an extensive knowledge of the telecoms market. Lynsey has served as a trustee in the renewables sector and is a freelance writer and previous columnist for The Guardian.

SUBSEA NETWORKS

fact that once their customers have worked with them at the early stages and seen what they can do, then they are usually engaged for the ensuing project management quality assurance, technical support and network lighting, to name just a few aspects. Over the last five years SSN has supported EllaLink both through the development of the funding,and negotiating and managing anchor tenant contracts, as well as the technical consultancy and project management support. “EllaLink is a new lowlatency, diverse, transatlantic cable system,” Thomas says. “It runs from Sines in Portugal to Fortaleza in Brazil, and it has branches into Madeira and Cape Verde. The EllaLink system has created a direct connection between Europe and Latin America that

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avoids the two-hop route via North America that traditional cable systems take – it is a route revolution!” Thomas explains that the company worked on that project from formation to provisional acceptance, adding it was “fantastic to be involved with.”

The NO-UK cable system: 700km of cable across the North Sea in 22 months A highlight for Subsea Networks was the recent NO-UK cable system, that was designed and installed by turnkey supplier Xtera. Running between Norway and the UK, connecting the Green Mountain data centre in Stavanger and the Stellium data centre in Newcastle, the project was a team effort with just 22 months between contract in force and provisional acceptance.

Subsea Networks were engaged to get the system over the line, to make the vendor selection recommendations and to support the drafting and negotiation of the supply contract. This resulted in a twoyear engagement to project manage the successful installation and system turn up. “It is easy to underestimate the challenges a system like this can create,” Thomas said. “We were working in the North Sea, which as you know, has many constraints in terms of terrain, weather and cable crossings. Lockdown in the UK came a month after we signed the supply contract, which obviously created issues for everyone in the industry to some extent. The market was exceptionally busy, with vessel availability stretched and cable manufacturing slots sparse.”

Another challenge the team faced was permitting the project in time to allow marine operations within the available weather windows. “In order to obtain the permits in principle, crossing agreements and the operational permits in time to meet the programme, the teams at Subsea Networks, Xtera, NO-UK and Altibox Carrier (the system operator) had to remain very focused. The experience of the experts involved played a key part in the NO-UK success story”. “An active dynamic management style was needed for this project, and everybody played their part,” Thomas said. She noted that one of the interesting aspects of the project was that during the commissioning period, Ciena, the lighting vendor selected by Altibox Carrier, performed trials which concluded that NO-UK is the only submarine cable system in the world that has been able to carry an 800Gbit/s channel to date. This is in part due to Xtera’s wide bandwidth and low noise repeater, and is a terrific achievement for the teams at Xtera and Ciena and a great result for the customer.” Thomas said. “Furthermore, using software automation that forms part of Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme

“You really need to have a good idea what all the suppliers are capable of and what technology is available, but also what it will take to get a concept or project over the line” LYNSEY THOMAS

DIRECTOR, SUBSEA NETWORKS

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Creating outstanding solutions for undersea system owners

Exponential increases in data and cloud services, streaming and social media have driven an explosion in demand for new undersea networks. Cable owners need rapid solutions, high performance systems and commercial agility to keep pace with global demand. Xtera design and deliver outstanding turnkey underwater networks. Our team has deep industry knowledge, technical expertise and a straight-forward commercial approach that accelerates your project success.

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Our mission is to swiftly deliver subsea networks through best-in-class project management and strategic partnerships with industry-leading suppliers From initial route design and survey through to marine installation and commissioning, our team has significant subsea telecoms experience in both repeatered and unrepeatered networks. Xtera’s expertise, know-how and ability to innovate is underpinned by leading-edge research and development which enables us to deliver subsea systems efficiently, with maximum capacity and capability. The recently deployed NO-UK submarine cable system is a testament to our ability to deliver challenging projects within recordbreaking timescales - with the project being completed just 22 months after the Supply Contract came into force. The 8 fiber pair system, which forms part of Altibox Carrier’s network, provides a robust connection across the North Sea between Stavanger and Newcastle with a record-breaking bandwidth capability. Direct Data Center to Data Center connectivity is where the market is headed and the Xtera team are leading the way.

Xtera offers turnkey or disaggregated SDM subsea cable systems with repeatered transmission from one to 24 fiber pairs. Our repeater goes beyond the industry norms with subtle evolutions offering builtin equalization, intelligent powering giving greener use of energy, sensors embedded in the repeater and best-in-class repeater monitoring as we have worked to retain the active supervisory in spite of offering a highly competitive 24fp SDM capability. We can meet your needs for complex subsea architectures with power, fiber and band-switching branching units and can take the system from Data Center to Data Center with our complimentary competence on terrestrial and unrepeatered systems, using our high launch power amplifiers and system design expertise.

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Number of employees

2012 Year founded

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SUBSEA NETWORKS

JOL PALING TITLE: MANAGING DIRECTOR

feature set we were able to test all 8 fiber pairs in one day during the Purchaser test period. Something which would have taken far longer previously. This automation, combined with a collaborative open cable way of operating (as per ITUT G.977), allowed Ciena, Xtera and Altibox Carrier to work together throughout the project to ensure all parties expectations for the system were aligned.” Finding supplier strengths for each project When starting a project, it’s important for the purchaser to select its suppliers carefully and make an informed decision on which one would suit it best. This process is adopted by Subsea Networks for every project it embarks on. Discussing it further, Thomas said: “We’ve worked with the main players in our industry. We’ve been deeply involved with new build projects from Xtera, ASN and SubCom for many years, so we’re well versed in the sort of technology and skillsets of the various suppliers.

EXECUTIVE BIO

COMPANY: SUBSEA NETWORKS Jol Paling is the founder and managing director of Subsea Networks Ltd. His expertise ranges across the full scope of submarine cable project development, having been involved in over 20 new cable system build projects. His passion is taking projects from conception through to completion. Jol gained a master’s degree in telecommunications at the University of Essex in 1990 and Chartered engineering status with the IEE in 2002. After his degree he joined BT as a NOC manager in 1990, before moving to STC Submarine Systems/ASN and then Global Crossing, until setting up Subsea Networks in 2012.

“You have to consider which supplier is right for which project. Some may have more strengths on the marine side. Others may have more strengths on the project management, permitting and optical side. You have to look at the region, the seabed, geopolitics, the required functionality of the equipment or capacity of the system, amongst other things. “So, you really need to have a good idea what all the suppliers are capable of and what their technology and availability is, and match this with what your customer wants,” summarises Thomas. Subseanetworks.com

SUBSEA NETWORKS

Is time more important than money when it comes to customers? The tender process Thomas says that, in reality, time and money are likely to be equally important, and moreover are often one-and-thesame thing. “But what are the main drivers for your customers?” she asks, before explaining that the “best way to get a good understanding of how to design and construct any new system is to run a tender process.” These can be time-consuming and involved, and so Thomas says it’s often a good idea to engage someone who has a deep and broad subsea knowledge if your company doesn’t have that skill set in-house. Experts can help customers to run tender processes and evaluate the available suppliers both fairly and equally, so that the customer can move forwards into the next stage of contract negotiation, Thomas explains. The SubOptic Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging working group and its aim to promote culture and ethnic equality in the subsea industry Thomas is a member of SubOptic’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging working group and helped to start their mentoring programme, a subject which she feels passionately about. Our goal is to foster innovation and attract diverse talent into the submarine cable industry; we aim to promote cultural and ethnic equality, respect and value differences. “I’ve had mentors throughout my career, and I think it’s really valuable for development and confidence. It’s a two-way street: both mentors and mentees learn and benefit from each other,” Thomas said. 14

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DIRECTOR, SUBSEA NETWORKS

International Women in Engineering Day: Encouraging women to develop their engineering careers Speaking of diversity and inclusion, Thomas points out that there has been an increase in proactiveness regarding encouraging women to pursue careers in the subsea and engineering industries. Discussing this in more depth, Thomas said: “As a woman who’s worked in this industry for 27 years, I would say it is a good working environment for women. I have always felt supported and have worked within many different inclusive teams. Subseanetworks.com

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SUBSEA NETWORKS

However, the number of women pursuing careers in engineering is low, something which Thomas would like to change. “There is a massive shortage in young girls signing up to become engineers, and there has been for many years,” she said. Thomas also participates in many initiatives to promote women in engineering including celebrating ‘International Women in Engineering Day’ with her peers and encouraging a diverse participation at conferences and events. As part of the Advisory Board for ‘Submarine Networks EMEA’ Lynsey said she was “pleased that the conference will have free tickets for students and recent graduates this year”.

“An active dynamic management style is required, and projects generally don’t happen without targeted momentum” LYNSEY THOMAS

DIRECTOR, SUBSEA NETWORKS

Long-existing contracts and embryonic partnerships to continue into the future Looking ahead to the future, Subsea Network’s aim is to continue to support its existing customers and partnerships. Which are very much a crucial part of the business. “We’re always on the lookout for projects at the early development stages, identifying where and how to build new systems, identifying customers and negotiating the contracts – that is really the exciting part of our job. Developing designs, supporting the development of new routes and getting projects off the ground, these are the sort of activities we have planned as a company over the next 18 months,” noted Thomas excitedly. Subsea Networks also prides itself on the fact that it has been able to add momentum to projects, both at the start, middle and end of their life cycle.

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Subsea Networks Ltd Custom House The Quay Penzance United Kingdom TR18 4AS subseanetworks.com POWERED BY: