SUBMARINE TELECOMS
FORUM ISSUE 113 | JULY 2020
REGIONAL SYSTEMS
EXORDIUM FROM THE PUBLISHER WELCOME TO ISSUE 113, OUR REGIONAL SYSTEMS EDITION
I
recently took a road trip with my wife to visit my in-laws in Detroit. They have been solo quarantining since early March, and we wanted to spend some time with my fatherin-law on his 87th birthday. He has been managing an ever more acute wife with dementia and we wanted to give him some special time. Flying is out for the near-term. This summer’s extended family trip to Cornwall and our village in Hampshire were canceled months ago thanks to COVID. So, road trips are the new rage, at least here in America. Planning a road trip takes me back to my college days. When we traveled then we did everything by car because money was tight, gas was just about manageable, but plane tickets and hotels were way too expensive. One would plan a trip based on how far you could drive in a day and “day” was a relative term. When my buddy, Jeff, and I went to visit my Hollywood director brother in the 70s we drove 45 hours straight from the Midwest in my overheating Mercury Montego, windows down the whole time in order to run the heater just to keep it going. We drove through blinding mountain snowstorms and blowing desert sandstorms within hours of each other with open back windows. When Peg and I have driven to Michigan in the past we have taken the same route through Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio, which thankfully has quickened over the years as the roads have been improved. But on this latest trip I wanted to do something new, and on the way back, we took a much longer route through southern Ohio, passing through Gallia County in the lower southeast corner of the state. Gallia was one of the first stops for the earliest waves of western expansion America felt just after the Revolution. Gallia was the first stop for my maternal family’s multi-generational quest
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INTRO VIDEO HERE
and in 1810 they followed Daniel Boone and others on oxen drawn Conestoga wagons through the Cumberland Gap in Virginia to Kentucky and the Ohio Valley beyond. So, Peg and I drove hours through a countryside of field corn until we arrived at the foothills of the western side of the Appalachian Mountains, then wound our way through the undulating tree covered landscape until we found an old cemetery next to an old white Baptist church. Within minutes we found a couple of lines of old tombstones, including the reason for the quest, that of my long-lost 4th great-grandmother, her 5th generation parents, as well as their extended family. After some 10 years of research I was able to put tactile context to a generation of early pioneers we had only heard snippets about, and in so doing was able to better understand my own wanderlust, which thankfully this industry has heretofore afforded. So, instead of the grand tour this summer to see a foreign telegraph cable anniversary we have been implementing a more regional approach; something closer and more manageable and in bite sizes, yet in many ways so much more meaningful.
A Publication of Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. www.subtelforum.com ISSN No. 1948-3031 PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER: Wayne Nielsen | wnielsen@subtelforum.com VICE PRESIDENT: Kristian Nielsen | knielsen@subtelforum.com SALES: Teri Jones | tjones@subtelforum.com | [+1] (703) 471-4902
As always, we have some awesome articles in this issue from a number of professionals representing both commercial and governmental organizations, and the words they provide give us a pretty good insight of how we are all holding up right now, as well as where we might be headed. We also bid a sincere thanks and auf wiedersehen to José Chesnoy, who is retiring after providing some of the most interesting articles for readers over the years of the Back Reflection section. José will be a tough act to follow, but we appreciate Bill Burns and Stewart Ash for providing their best efforts for a time going forward. As a sign of the times, we are proud to be supporting PTC in its offering of online accredited learning, which they discuss in detail herein. Thanks especially for their support to this issue’s advertisers: AP Telecom, Nexans, Prysmian Group, Sifam Tinsley and Southern Cross. Lastly, we highlight the updates to the online cable map with both recent big and little cable announcements; and of course, our ever popular “where in the world are all those pesky cableships” is included as well. Wishing you an awesome road trip…STF Good reading and stay well,
Wayne Nielsen Publisher
EDITOR: Stephen Nielsen | snielsen@subtelforum.com DESIGN & PRODUCTION: Weswen Design | wendy@weswendesign.com DEPARTMENT WRITERS: Bill Burns, Kieran Clark, Kristian Nielsen, Pamela Gidi Masías, Rebecca Spence, Sean Bergin, Stewart Ash and Wayne Nielsen FEATURE WRITERS: Anders Ljung, Andy Bax, Ashutosh Bhargava, Chris Bayly, Gavin Rea, Gavin Tully, Hans Christian Nilsen, Heiner Ottersberg, Jean-Francois Baget, Kjetil Korslund, Lynsey Thomas, Paul Hibbard, Paul McCann and Søren Arentsen
SUBMARINE TELECOMS
FORUM ISSUE 113 | JULY 2020
NEXT ISSUE: JULY 2020 — Offshore Energy AUTHOR AND ARTICLE INDEX: www.subtelforum.com/onlineindex Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. www.subtelforum.com/corporate-information BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Margaret Nielsen, Wayne Nielsen and Kristian Nielsen
OFFSHORE ENERGY
SubTel Forum Analytics, Division of Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. www.subtelforum.com/store/reports LEAD ANALYST: Kieran Clark | kclark@subtelforum.com | [+1] (703) 468-1382
RESEARCH ANALYST: Rebecca Spence | rspence@subtelforum.com | [+1] (703) 268-9285 SubTel Forum Continuing Education, Division of Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. www.subtelforum.com/education CONTINUING EDUCATION DIRECTOR: Kristian Nielsen | knielsen@subtelforum.com | [+1] (703) 444-0845 Contributions are welcomed and should be forwarded to: pressroom@subtelforum.com. Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine is published bimonthly by Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc., and is an independent commercial publication, serving as a freely accessible forum for professionals in industries connected with submarine optical fiber technologies and techniques. Submarine Telecoms Forum may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the permission of the publishers. Liability: While every care is taken in preparation of this publication, the publishers cannot be held
responsible for the accuracy of the information herein, or any errors which may occur in advertising or editorial content, or any consequence arising from any errors or omissions, and the editor reserves the right to edit any advertising or editorial material submitted for publication. New Subscriptions, Enquiries and Changes of Address: 21495 Ridgetop Circle, Suite 201, Sterling, Virginia 20166, USA, or call [+1] (703) 444-0845, fax [+1] (703) 349-5562, or visit www.subtelforum.com. Copyright © 2020 Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc.
V O I C E O F T H E I N D U S T RY
SUBMARINE TELECOMS
IN THIS FORUM ISSUE ISSUE 113 | JULY 2020
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features
7 QUESTIONS WITHPAMELA GIDI MASÍAS
26
BRINGING THE NORDICS TOGETHER AND BEYOND By Kjetil Korslund
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29
By Heiner Ottersberg and Ashutosh Bhargava
By Andy Bax
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34
REPEATERLESS AND REPEATERED SOLUTIONS FOR REGIONAL SUBMARINE CABLE SYSTEMS
CONNECTIVITY PROVIDERS ARE THE FOUNDATION TO ADAPTABILITY, BUSINESS CONTINUITY, AND THE FUTURE By Gavin Rea
REGIONAL SYSTEMS OR A NETWORK? A LOOK AT THE AMERICAS
BRIDGING THE GAPS By John Hibbard and Paul McCann
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50
THE NORTH ATLANTIC LOOP
TAILORING THE NETWORK FOR LOW-LATENCY AND HIGH AVAILABILITY
By Chris Bayly
By Steinar Bjørnstad
42
By Hans Christian Nilsen
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46
58
REGIONAL SYSTEMS
THE THIRD WAVE By Kieran Clark
BUILDING BLOCKS AND SPECIFICITIES OF REGIONAL SYSTEMS
DISAGGREGATED SUPPLY By Anders Ljung, Lynsey Thomas and Gavin Tully
By Jean-Francois Baget
departments
EXORDIUM........................................................ 2 SUBTELFORUM.COM.......................................... 6 STF ANALYTICS.................................................. 8 CABLE MAP UPDATE......................................... 10 WHERE IN THE WORLD..................................... 12
BACK REFLECTION........................................... 68 CONTIUING EDUCATION.................................... 76 SUBMARINE CABLE NEWS NOW....................... 78 ADVERTISER CORNER.......................................79
JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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SubTelForum.com
Visit SubTelForum.com to find links to the following resources
FREE RESOURCES FOR ALL OUR SUBTELFORUM.COM READERS TOP STORIES OF 2019
The most popular articles, Q&As of 2019. Find out what you missed!
NEWS NOW RSS FEED
Keep on top of our world of coverage with our free News Now daily industry update. News Now is a daily RSS feed of news applicable to the submarine cable industry, highlighting Cable Faults & Maintenance, Conferences & Associations, Current Systems, Data Centers, Future Systems, Offshore Energy, State of the Industry and Technology & Upgrades.
PUBLICATIONS
Submarine Cable Almanac is a free quarterly publication made available through diligent data gathering and
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
mapping efforts by the analysts at SubTel Forum Analytics, a division of Submarine Telecoms Forum. This reference tool gives details on cable systems including a system map, landing points, system capacity, length, RFS year and other valuable data. Submarine Telecoms Industry Report is an annual free publication with analysis of data collected by the analysts of SubTel Forum Analytics, including system capacity analysis, as well as the actual productivity and outlook of current and planned systems and the companies that service them.
CABLE MAP
The online SubTel Cable Map is built with the industry standard Esri ArcGIS platform and linked to the SubTel Forum Submarine Cable Database. It tracks the progress of
some 300+ current and planned cable systems, more than 800 landing points, over 1,700 data centers, 46 cable ships as well as mobile subscriptions and internet accessibility data for 254 countries. Systems are also linked to SubTel Forum’s News Now Feed, allowing viewing of current and archived news details. The printed Cable Map is an annual publication showcasing the world’s submarine fiber systems beautifully drawn on a large format map and mailed to SubTel Forum Readership and/or distributed during the Pacific Telecommunications Conference in January each year.
VIDEO STREAMING AND TUTORIALS
Watch all our industry relevant videos and streams. SubTel Forum streams the Submarine Cable Sunday sessions during the Pacific Telecommunications Conference in January each year on both YouTube and Facebook, as well
as other special events during the year. SubTel Forum tutorials teach how to use the ever growing SubTel Cable Map, including various map layers for data centers, cable ships, etc.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
SubTel Forum designs educational courses and master classes that can then appear at industry conferences around the world. Classes are presented on a variety of topics dealing with key industry technical, business, or commercial issues. See what classes SubTel Forum is accrediting in support of the next generation of leaders in our industry.
AUTHORS INDEX
The Authors Index is a reference source to help readers locate magazine articles and authors on various subjects.
EXCLUSIVE INFORMATION FOR SUBSCRIBERS OF MARKET SECTOR REPORTS SUBTEL FORUM ANALYTICS MARKET SECTOR REPORTS
SubTel Forum Subscribers have exclusive access to SubTel Forum online MSRs updated quarterly:
DATA CENTER & OTT PROVIDERS: details the increasingly shrinking divide between the cable landing station and backhaul to interconnection services in order to maximize network efficiency and throughput, bringing once disparate infrastructure into a single facility. If you’re interested in the world of Data Centers and its impact on Submarine Cables, this MSR is for you. GLOBAL CAPACITY PRICING: historic and current capacity pricing for regional routes (Transatlantic, Transpacific, Americas, Intra-Asia and EMEA), delivering a comprehensive look at the global capacity pricing status of the submarine fiber industry. Capacity pricing trends and forecasting, simplified.
GLOBAL OUTLOOK: dive into the health and wellness of the
global submarine telecoms market, with regional analysis and forecasting. This MSR gives an overview of planned systems, CIF and project completion rates, state of supplier activity and potential disruptive factors facing the market.
OFFSHORE OIL & GAS: provides a detailed overview of the
offshore oil & gas sector of the submarine fiber industry and covers system owners, system suppliers and various market trends. This MSR details how the industry is focusing on trends and new technologies to increase efficiency and automation as a key strategy to reduce cost and maintain margins, and its impact on the demand for new offshore fiber systems.
REGIONAL SYSTEMS: drill down into the Regional Systems
market, including focused analysis on the Transatlantic, Transpacific, EMEA, AustralAsia, Indian Ocean Pan-East Asian and Arctic regions. This MSR details the impact of increasing capacity demands on regional routes and contrasts potential overbuild concerns with the rapid pace of system development and the factors driving development demand.
SUBMARINE CABLE DATASET: details 400+ fiber optic cable
systems, including physical aspects, cost, owners, suppliers, landings, financiers, component manufacturers, marine contractors, etc.
COMING SOON! Cable Analysis Toolbox, Cable Planner’s Toolbox, Mapping Tools, and more features in 2020 and beyond! STF
JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
7
ANALYTICS
BY KIERAN CLARK
SUBMARINE TELECOMS MARKET SECTOR REPORT: REGIONAL SYSTEMS EDITION
T
o address the growing reporting and analysis needs of the submarine fiber industry, SubTel Forum Analytics continues its Market Sector Report series – designed to provide the industry with the information it needs to make informed business decisions. The Submarine Telecoms Market Sector Reports cover a specific sector of the submarine fiber industry and areupdated on a quarterly basis. The Regional Systems edition provides region by region overview of the state of the submarine fiber industry. SubTel Forum Analytics collected and analyzed data derived from a variety of public, commercial and scientific sources to best analyze and project market conditions. While every care is taken in preparing this report, these are our best estimates based on information provided and discussed in this industry. The following Executive Summary provides an overview of the topics addressed in the Regional Systems Market Sector Report.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The submarine fiber market continues to grow through 2020 at a similar rate to that observed since 2016. Some regions have begun to slow their pace with fewer systems planned beyond 2021. There are some overbuild concerns considering the rapid pace of system development over the last few
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
INTRO VIDEO HERE
years, but many cable systems that are reaching the end of their economic and technological lifespans and will need replacing. Due to increasing capacity demands along the north Transatlantic between New York and Europe, and the desire for new connections to the Mid-Atlantic of the United States and across the South Atlantic, the Transatlantic route has enjoyed steady growth. The need for more infrastructure is on the rise by Content Providers operating in the region and upgrades to existing systems do not adequately meet demand. (Figure 1) As with the Transatlantic market, until very recently the Transpacific has been almost fully saturated with
available capacity, leaving little room for growth other than route diversity and cutting down on existing latency. Lately, however, new systems are being explored in a similar manner to the Transatlantic. Demand from Content Providers and increased desire for route diversity are the primary drivers behind these newer Transpacific systems. Continuing off its strong growth trend, the Americas region has only a handful of systems planned for the next several years. The last few years have been relatively busy even compared to historical trends for the region. With a development rate that has remained steady since 2001, the period 20202023 should still be within historical
FIGURE 1: Systems in Service, Transatlantic 25
20
15 norms or even slightly explore routes from the ahead of them. United States to India Most new systems in and potentially bring AustralAsia will connect more system develop10 small nations to mainland ment to the region. 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Asia or existing internaInterest in Polar projtional pipelines, while a ects has grown over the handful will span nearly past few years, as cable FIGURE 2: Systems in Service, Transpacific the entire region. While developers are looking to 25 this region has seen a take advantage of signifitremendous amount of cantly shorter routes that growth in recent years, can be achieved through 20 activity has slowed down the Arctic Circle. Addiconsiderably. Most major tionally, systems exploring 15 population centers in Arctic routes avoid the the area have now been troubled Middle East connected to the interregion and circumvent 10 national telecommunicapotential privacy concerns tions network and growth in the United States. in the Pacific has shifted 5 towards Transpacific We hope this re2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 routes connecting data port will prove to be a center locations. valuable resource to the ity is observed in exploring additional The EMEA region has submarine fiber industry connectivity between Europe and averaged three new systems every year at large. To purchase this report, please since 2002. This region has historically India as well as new Nordic projects click the link below. STF to support their growing data center been characterized by the inter-reKIERAN CLARK is the Lead Analyst market. gional cables as well as large coastal for STF Analytics, a division of The Indian Ocean Pan-East Asian systems ringing Africa. The EMEA Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. He originally joined SubTel region does not generally have a strong region is the most consistent in the Forum in 2013 as a Broadcast telecoms presence on its own. Howworld and has a growth pattern that Technician to provide support for ever, with Australia looking for more is seemingly immune to the induslive event video streaming. He has 6+ years of live production route diversity from its western coast, try’s boom and bust pattern seen over experience and has worked alongside some of the an increasing desire for connectivity the past 15 years. Unfortunately, the premier organizations in video web streaming. In between Asia and Europe and the EMEA region continues to be rife 2014, Kieran was promoted to Analyst and is currently responsible for the research and maintecontinued growth of India’s telecomwith economic uncertainty and politinance that supports the STF Analytics Submarine munications industry, the region is cal instability, casting a cloud over any Cable Database. In 2016, he was promoted to Lead Analyst and put in charge of the newly created STF prime for growth. Additionally, there prospective projects that go through Analytics. His analysis is featured in almost the are hints that Content Providers will the Middle East. However, new activ-
entire array of SubTel Forum publications.
SubTel Forum Analytics provides a web-based subscription model for all its standard reporting services. An annual subscription provides access to all the Market Sector Reports as well as several useful analytics tools for the submarine fiber industry. Subscribe today to get access to the Global Outlook Market Sector Report!
SUBTELFORUM.COM/REPORTS
FEATURE
Interactive Cable Map UPDATES
T
he SubTel Cable Map is built with the industry standard Esri ArcGIS platform and linked to the SubTel Forum Submarine Cable Database. It tracks the progress of some 300+ current and planned cable systems, 45+ cable ships, over 800 landing points, as well as mobile subscriptions and internet accessibility data for 254 countries. Systems are also linked to SubTel Forum’s News Now Feed, allowing viewing of current and archived news details. This interactive map is a continual work and progress and regularly updated with pertinent data captured by analysts at SubTel Forum and feedback from our users. Our goal is to make easily available not only data from the Submarine Cable Almanac, but also more and more new layers of system information.
INTRO VIDEO HERE
Want to learn more about how to use the great features of the map? Take a look at our tutorial video series below:
The Cable Map tracks the progress of some 300+ current and planned cable systems, 45+ cable ships, over 800 landing points, as well as mobile subscriptions and internet accessibility data for 254 countries.
1. Print Widget 2. General Map Usage 3. Group Filter Widget 4. Select Twool 5. Control Buttons 6. Share Widget 7. Data Centers 8. Cable Ships We hope you continue to make use of the SubTel Cable Map in order to learn more about the industry yourself and educate others on the importance of submarine cable systems. Please feel free to reach out to our Lead Analyst, Kieran Clark, should you have any comments, questions or updates at kclark@subtelforum.com. STF
SUBTELFORUM.COM/CABLEMAP 10
SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
Since the last issue of the Magazine, the map has added 8 systems and updated an additional 34. The full list of updated systems are as follows:
JUNE 15TH, 2020
Systems Added 2Africa Avassa HAVTOR MSC Systems Updated AAG Crosslake Fibre Dunant MIST Project Koete Southern Cross Next
JULY 13TH, 2020
Systems Added Asia Direct Cable Dos Continentes I & II
COBRA Cable BALOK Systems Updated 2Africa Alexandros Alpal-2 Atlantis-2 BRUSA Crosslake Fibre Dunant Englandcable Estepona-Tetouan GWEN HKA HK-G JGA North JGA South Junior MAREA
METISS New Pacific PCCS RNAL SAM-1 SAT-3 SEAK SEA-US Southern Cross NEXT South Pacific Subsea Cable SxS Unisur
JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE THOSE PESKY CABLESHIPS? BY REBECCA SPENCE
A
nother quarter has come and gone, and much of the world is entering a cautious new form of normal. Currently, the fleet of cableships across the globe do yet seem to have returned to full steam, progress is still being made where possible. Currently, 15% of the vessels in the fleet are currently in transit, this decrease is 12% lower than what we were seeing in the beginning of the year when 27% of the 47 vessels were actively in transit. But one factor to keep in mind is that not all projects require as much transit time as others and are able to complete their tasks and return to post more often than others. Another aspect that we have been tracking, is the speed and general location of each vessel over the last several months. According to the daily status tracker, a vast majority of vessels do not spend more than a handful of days actively moving long distances. Roughly
80% of the vessels in the fleet have been logging a daily speed of under 1 knot. There was an increase in speeds seen in the data pulled in May, that is likely a result of some vessels being called back to port to await instruction because
Figure 1: Arrived at Destination
Figure 2: Reported Daily Speeds - Comparison
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
INTRO VIDEO HERE
of the Covid-19 epidemic. But these low speeds are not uncommon, as a vessel could be waiting on repairs, laying cable by ploughing, loading more cable, and countless other scenarios. The regions of activity have seen some slight shifting in the last several weeks with the China Coast still in the forefront with a 1% increase and the Baltic Sea now at 10%, down from 13%. A considerable amount of activity in the Marmara Sea was seen in April and May, with 8% of the overall activity happening there. And the South Pacific Ocean was removed from the data as there were no vessels reporting to be there.
The distribution of the current fleet has remained the same, with Alcatel Submarine Networks, and SubCom managing 32% of the fleet combined. Thankfully as restrictions across the globe begin to ease, and new precautions are put in place to keep cable engineers and crew protected, more projects should begin to ramp back up. STF REBECCA SPENCE is the newest member of the SubTel Forum team. She joined our ranks as a Research Analyst at the end of 2019. A graduate of Christopher Newport University, this is Rebecca’s premier article for the STF magazine.
Figure 3: Regions of Activity
Figure 4: Fleet Distribution
JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE
7 QUESTIONS WITH PAMELA GIDI MASÍAS:
Talking Industry Trends with Chile’s Vice-Minister of Telecommunications
1.
WHAT IS SUBTEL’S MISSION AND VISION?
The Vice-Ministry of Telecommunications from Chile (SUBTEL) works towards promoting and developing telecommunications as an engine for economic and social development. Over the years, since market liberalization, SUBTEL has set a very dynamic step for the telecommunications market. The early adoption of different technologies has been key to this. And, more importantly, this paradigm has been very stable across governments and has led to a market of nearly 85 internet users per 100 inhabitants and a service coverage close to 99 percent of the inhabited territory. As part of the institutional mission, SUBTEL’s role is twofold. First, it is in charge of proposing national policies on telecommunications, following government guidelines and overseeing the implementation of these policies. Also, SUBTEL is responsible for the compliance and enforcement of Telecoms Law, regulations, and standards. Equalize access to connectivity is also part of SUBTEL’s mission. There are mechanisms in place to promote access
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of telecoms into disadvantaged areas of the country and to improve competition among market players, which translates into the provision of higher quality services. As for SUBTEL’s vision, by 2022, Chile must successfully face the challenges posed by the digital revolution, with more and better-connected citizens. The deployment of fiber optics in regional capitals through the Austral Fiber Optic project (FOA) and the deployment of 5G mobile networks will be the key to achieve this objective. In the region, the country aims to become a digital hub, through the Asia - South America Digital Gateway project, which Chile as the regional landing point. We will increase competition, laying the foundations for an attractive market for companies, and thus promoting ICT investment. We will defend the rights of users and minimize the existing Digital Divide.
2.
WHAT PROJECTS ARE BEING IMPLEMENTED IN SUBTEL TO TURN CHILE INTO A DIGITAL HUB?
An extensive telecommunications infrastructure is a fundamental requirement to achieve the develop-
ment of countries. Today more than ever, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become clear that connectivity is a necessity, as more performance is demanded from networks, and more people need to stay connected for several purposes. According to this, one of the most significant projects is the submarine fiber optic cable that aims to connect Asia and South America, providing more alternatives for Chile’s access to international high-speed connectivity. At the domestic level, the National Fiber Optic Project (FON) purpose is to reduce the digital isolation of localities and less populated cities through the deployment of fiber optic networks in communal capitals, covering from the northernmost cities to the most southern. The project entails the deployment of nearly 9,000 kilometers of fiber optic lines. These new networks will benefit 13 regions of the country and 186 communes, included in 6 Macrozones (Arica and Parinacota, North, Center-North, Center, Center-South, and South). This initiative will be favoring more than 3 million people who currently live in 200 localities with insufficient or hard to access connectivity, and it has recently awarded five of the six macro zones of this FON project. The mechanism operating in the project consists of public investment obtained through a contest that leverages private resources. Finally, the Vice-Ministry intends to launch a contest to assign a spectrum for the deployment of national 5G licenses within the next few months (in Chile spectrum licenses are given through a tender instead of auctions). This technology introduces significant improvements to the current mobile network model, due to their high capacity, high speed, and low latency. The timely implementation of 5G technology in Chile offers the possibility of developing innovative applications and products in various fields of the economy, as well as improving the user experience that demands high-quality digital connectivity services. 5G will promote innovation in the markets, impulse the performance of the economy, and deepen the quality of life of citizens. All these projects promote Chile as a Digital Hub in the Latin American region.
3.
HOW DOES SUBTEL PARTICIPATE IN THE SUBMARINE CABLE MARKET?
Submarine cables systems are relevant to enhance and strengthen networks, and SUBTEL is continuously promoting the development of new systems to boost the telecommunications market and infrastructure in Chile. For instance, recently deployed Austral Fiber Optic project (FOA) was funded by SUBTEL through a subsidy over USD 80 million. Other terrestrial fiber-optic networks,
including National Fiber Optic Project (FON) have been subsidy with USD 100 million. SUBTEL is aware on the role that submarine cables play in the connectivity for daily life and it will continue promoting new projects, developing new initiatives based on deployment of new systems, taking care on cybersecurity issues that aim to protect our networks and users, encouraging foreign investors to build digital infrastructure in Chile and shaping public policies that stimulate submarine cables development.
4.
IS SUBTEL CURRENTLY INVOLVED WITH ANY NEW SUBMARINE CABLE PROJECTS?
Next-generation technologies like 5G or the Internet of Things (IoT) must be supported by high capacity networks that allow them to perform their potential. Accordin Asia plays an essential role as a technology promoter, so we think that is the perfect time to deploy a new submarine cable that will be the first one to link South America with Asia. We think about it as a new digital bridge that will expand technological possibilities in both regions, and Chile has decided to lead this initiative through SUBTEL. This project is a priority for us; in fact, President Piñera has announced it as a commitment. Even though Chile is leading this plan, this will be turn out as a regional initiative, and other countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador have already said that they supported the project.
5.
WHAT MAKES ASIA SOUTH AMERICA DIGITAL GATEWAY UNIQUE IN THE SUBMARINE SYSTEM MARKET?
Linking directly South America and Asia for the very first time is a big challenge. Latency is becoming one of the issues to provide any service in next-generation technologies, and this new system will provide an improvement in terms of latency between South America and Asia in comparison to any other current system. According to this, is projected latency will be reduced by up to 50% between those regions, which will improve service quality. Another issue is capacity. South America’s traffic is increasing consistently year to year, which confirms our region as an emerging and attractive source of data, and this system will improve massively available capacity with the added value of becoming the first gateway to Asia. Finally, this system will be the first transpacific route from South America, and there isn’t any other similar cable to compare. This route is attractive as a back-up for traditional transpacific routes and for global providers that require geographical resiliency on their networks to serve its worldwide customers. JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE
6.
IN WHAT STAGE IS ASIA SOUTH AMERICA DIGITAL GATEWAY CURRENTLY?
SUBTEL commissioned a feasibility study to the consortium TMG and WFN Strategies, and we are evaluating different routes. Simultaneously, we are seeking investment and funding options, and so far, there are a lot of interested players who have contacted us. This system is based on principles like network neutrality, open access, transparency, competitive neutrality, and non-discriminatory treatment that allow everyone to be part of the project. By next year we expect to secure funding and establishing agreements among partners. Hopefully, Asia South America Digital Gateway could be in service by 2025.
7.
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FROM A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE?
Our region needs more investment to develop and strengthen high capacity networks and, in particular, terrestrial networks that connect countries. It is a big
challenge, not only because of the investment involved but also because of the variety of institutional and regulatory approaches across the region. However, we are very enthusiastic about this as we are determined to work with the necessary stakeholders to contribute to this goal. According to this, the Asia South America Digital Gateway comes as a driver since aggregation of demand is a factor to make regional networks more profitable. Besides, more interconnectivity within the region helps to improve the Digital Economy of their countries. STF Pamela Gidi MasĂas took office on March 11, 2018 as Vice-Minister of Telecommunications in Chile. Previously to her duties as Vice-Minister, she worked for 8 years on DirecTV: first in Chile as Marketing, Products, and Public Affairs Director. After that, she was promoted as Vice President of DirecTV Latin America (AT&T) in New York. She has 25 years of experience in executive positions in multinational companies such as Unilever, Hasbro, Ford Motor Company, J.C. Penny Company, and The Walt Disney Company. Pamela Gidi MasĂas holds a BA in business and management from the Catholic University of Chile (PUC) and an MBA from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and London Business School (LBS).
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FEATURE
REPEATERLESS AND REPEATERED SOLUTIONS FOR REGIONAL SUBMARINE CABLE SYSTEMS
BY HEINER OTTERSBERG AND ASHUTOSH BHARGAVA
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ewly built long-haul and ultra-long-haul submarine cable systems offer huge surplus capacity which needs to be filled and fed through the regional networks. Together with the existing networks, they provide a worldwide grid of data highways connecting huge data centers and global hot spots. An increasing demand for regional feeder networks is been created for both repeaterless and repeatered technology. These regional feeder networks have a much smaller footprint. They may connect parts of the same country or multi countries of a geographical region. Systems connecting cities along the coastline of Chile (e.g. PRAT 3500 km), Norway (e.g. KYSTELE 1000 km approx.) or Islands of Indonesia, Philippines, Greece etc. or Countries of a region like Caribbean (e.g. ARCOS joining 15 countries of Caribbean), Baltic or Mediterranean countries like France, Italy and Spain are good examples of such regional systems. Compared to long haul systems, the regional systems are easier to finance, there is often just one customer and their time to market is shorter (less than two years from concept to implementation). The regional networks need to be high quality, state-of-the-art but cost-effective with priorities to the security, performance of the network and sustainability. Design flexibility, low CAPEX and OPEX are the major advantages of such systems.
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It is also critical to choose the type of the regional systems taking advantage of various technologies available for the utmost techno-commercial benefits. What is the right choice for a specific regional system? Repeaterless-, Repeatered- or even a Hybrid-system of both?
TECHNOLOGY
Regional submarine cable system needs to be state-ofthe-art but cost-effective, without any compromises on quality & security. Although there are differences between the repeaterless and repeatered systems in terms of technology, design and logistics but there are many synergies that the project can benefit from, justifying the feasibility of a hybrid system. The key advantages of regional systems are its Lower CAPEX and Lower OPEX. You can scale them with the demand and maintain them with non-propriety standard technologies.
Figure 1: Examples for regional repeaterless and repeatered submarine cables
Low cabled fiber attenuation is one of the key elements of repeaterless submarine cable system. The central metal tube, preferably made of copper, provides a stress-free and hydrogen sealed environment in order to maintain lowest fiber attenuation even if the fiber count is high. Cable fiber loss of less than or equal to 0.18Â dB/km for G.652 fibers and less than or equal to 0.16Â dB/km for G.654 fibers have REPEATERLESS SYSTEMS already been supplied to the market. For system cost optimization, it is mandatory to use Demand of high fiber count up to 192 fibers is more and submarine cable designs and their respective accessories that are optimized and tailor-made for repeaterless applica- more increasing and has been successfully met by the industry. Tailor-made tions. Within the cable there is no cable designs and need of e an outer copper layer or of accessories for harsh a thick high voltage insulation. The environmental cable design can thus be made more conditions or specific compact, with less weight for more applications, like efficient and cost-effective logisoffshore Oil and tic solutions, keeping the overall Gas, are also availCAPEX lower. able to meet special demands. Cable joints and transitions can be integrated during the cable manufacturing without the need of joint housings. In case of a joint housFigure 2: NSW Containerized modular tanks transport on standard container vessels ing, there is no need of a molded insulation but a need to be assembled quickly, even in the case of high fiber counts. The UQJ (Universal Quick Joint) is the main choice for offshore repairs and JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE repeaterless cables should be qualified for it. Repeaterless branching units are simpler and just have to provide flexible fiber management and routing features. Cost-driving features like optical add-drop multiplexers, power feed path support or even power switching are not required. Of-course repeaterless submarine cables and accessories should support electrical fault localization techniques like DC-testing or electroding. Therefore, the cable core central metal tube, preferably made of copper, can be utilized. The exponential development in the repeaterless DWDM transmission equipment technology in recent years has made repeaterless links even more attractive. Submarine cable systems which have been designed for 8 x 10 Gb/s in the year 2000 are now supporting in excess of N x 100 Gb/s. And newly deployed links for N x 100 Gb/s is just hitting the market for repeaterless transmission systems up to 450 km and more. This has been enabled by improvements in the Raman and ROPA (Remotely Optical Pumped Amplifier) amplification technology, as well as by advancements in the coding and forward error correction schemes. Repeaterless systems are fully open for a free choice of transmission technology, as the pure fiber is provided as an interface. Even for longer systems with Raman and ROPA technologies, there are no restrictions to use multi-vendor SLTE (Submarine Line Terminal Equipment). Cost effective and efficient Logistic concepts, tailor-made for repeaterless systems offer lot of benefits to the customers in keeping the faster timelines and lower CAPEX. Innovative and efficient means of transporting repeaterless cables can greatly enhance turnaround time and thus driving down
Figure 3: Cable storage tanks and repeater integration area at cable factory in Germany
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the cost significantly. One such application with a proven track record is the use of containerized modular tanks, which enables the manufacturer/installer to transport the cable on standard container vessels, offering regular feeder services as well as fast and reliable turnaround. The modular tanks are lifted by crane onto the container vessel, eliminating the need of long cable spooling/coiling times. On reaching its destination and depending on the laying spread involved, the cable can either be laid directly from the tanks, or alternatively coiled into the tanks of the cable layer.
REPEATERED SYSTEMS
When crossing the limit of repeaterless systems, by distance and/or design bandwidth, repeatered transmission will be the technology of choice. Of course, there will be a stepup of costs, especially of cable and transmission technology. This increases the need for smart system design, which also includes a careful look at route engineering, cable protection measures, transport logistics and wet plant installation. Specific designed repeatered cables for regional systems do provide tailor made electrical performance for systems up to 3000 km length. For this type of system, a cost-efficient submarine grade G.652 fiber would suffice, even having 200 GB/s per wavelength system in mind, and there is no need for expensive fiber solutions. Even for regional repeatered cables, there is an increasing demand for higher fiber counts of currently up to 24 fiber pairs. Similar to repeaterless cables, the cable joints and transitions can be integrated during the cable manufacturing without the need of joint housings. For offshore repairs or
planned jointing operations (e.g. in case of pre-laid shore ends) the cable needs to be qualified for the UJ (Universal Joint). The use of branching units will give enough flexibility in the system design. If possible, the spur cables should be repeaterless to remove the necessity of an additional power feed equipment at the terminal station. The branching units would just provide fiber management or optical add-drop multiplexer features only without cost driving power feed path switching options. The open system should be set up in such a way that it can grow with the demand. System operators need to have the opportunity to start with a cost-effective basic configuration. Features and bandwidth upgrades can be added at a later stage without traffic interruption. Even direct connections to the final data destination can be considered. The regional repeatered systems are assembled and integrated at the cable factory. Utilizing custom-built cable cages and repeater storage racks inside the cargo of a freighter vessel of opportunity allows considerable volumes of repeatered cable to be transported at a fraction of the cost of the
main cable layer. Cooperation with well experienced logistic companies, coupled with strictly controlled procedures for handling of the submersible plant, will make this approach an economically attractive alternative to conventional pickup and transportation by cable layer.
SERVICES
The implementation phase of the project can be as costly (if not more) as the production phase of a submarine cable project. Long experience in submarine cable project execution, including sensible risk management, timely permitting and secure installation, is therefore mandatory for cost-effective project execution. The geographic extent of a regional submarine cable system allows the deployment of a compact and dedicated project team with direct and effective communication channel to the system owner. Proactive planning and early identification and mitigation of the risks is one of the most critical aspects for a successful cost-effective project execution. Proper but optimized route selection and related risk
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FEATURE Figure 4: Cable landing operation around 1900 and today
mitigation during installation plays a major role in limiting the cost escalation during the execution. The integrity of the submarine cable system shall be ensured by appropriate protection measures especially at the shore ends. Depending on the soil conditions use of HDD, deep burial jetting, articulated or steel pipes and special heavy armored cables are common. Cable landings can be effectively executed as direct landings from the main lay vessel or as pre-laid shore ends, if the water depth does require or due to the project schedule. In addition to the lower CAPEX, a lower OPEX is also very important. A proper maintenance is critical for the cable system throughout its lifetime. Many system operators have arranged maintenance agreements sharing a common repair vessel. Such agreements may not always be of benefit for a regional system, as long-haul cable systems enjoy privileged status of access to such resources. In this case, tailor made solutions might be a better choice and can be considered.
SUMMARY
LOW CAPEX, LOWER OPEX, faster execution are critical for Regional Systems. With an experience in the execution of such projects one can plan an optimized cable design, an efficient and cost-effective project execution solution and a tailor-made Repair and Maintenance scheme in which the money goes where the mouth is. A proper selection of network configuration (Repeaterless, Repeatered or Hybrid), selection of the route, landing
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points, cable designs, installation and logistic concepts are key for a successful project. Sometimes just a simple step of transforming a pre-planned repeater system into a repeaterless configuration makes a project economically feasible and successful and it can be done without compromising the required network performance. What is required is a dedicated unbiased evaluation of the network configuration keeping in mind the techno commercial feasibility of the project maximizing its value for the owner and overall society. STF HEINER OTTERSBERG is NSW Director Engineering of Prysmian Group. Heiner took a Diploma from the University of Emden in Electrical Engineering specializing in Telecom. Since 2001 Heiner has worked at Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH (NSW) took successively more senior roles in cable design, system design and engineering of submarine telecom, power and O&G cable systems. Having various leading positions in product management, R&D and engineering within Corning and General Cable, Heiner was appointed as the Head of System Engineering and R&D for Subsea Telecom for the Prysmian Group in 2018. ASHUTOSH BHARGAVA is Business Head, Subsea Telecom of Prysmian Group. He is an Electronics and Telecom engineer from MIT Manipal, India and an MBAÂ from Kellogg School of Management, USA. He is a veteran in the Submarine telecom industry with an experience of more than 25 years. Having worked at the senior management positions of the top MNCs like SIEMENS, CORNING, General Cable, he was appointed as the Business Head for Subsea Telecom Business for the Prysmian Group in 2018.
FEATURE
CONNECTIVITY PROVIDERS ARE THE FOUNDATION TO ADAPTABILITY, BUSINESS CONTINUITY, AND THE FUTURE
BY GAVIN REA
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he significance of connectivity providers to normal life has never been as evident as it is today. Through the spread of COVID-19, we have all witnessed firsthand our society’s reliance on internet connectivity and associated applications to maintain a level of normality in our daily lives Our connection to the internet has proven to be the foundation for remote learning, remote working, social contact as well as a source for our entertainment. The infrastructure behind our internet connection is hidden under the sea and the ground but the operation of this infrastructure to a large extent has been positioned as the springboard to overcoming this pandemic. Connectivity providers like Gulf Bridge International provide an essential service that serves as the foundation to which other essential front line workers rely and build upon. We have seen surging network demand across the world as content consumption spikes with people being confined to their homes and remote working and learning becoming the new norm. With visiting family and friends being limited, the use of Zoom, Facetime, TEAMs, Google Hangouts, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc has become essential to maintaining social contact. The pandemic is impacting consumer behaviour worldwide, with online traffic across 20 different industries increasing by approximately 25% in the week ending April 19 according to Statista, compared to the reference period in January and February 2020. According to The New York Times, streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube saw growth of roughly 16% and 15% respectively between January and the end of March 2020, while Facebook saw a surge of 27%. On top of this, the video conferencing app Zoom saw growth from around 1.9 million daily app sessions in January
to around 6.5 million in March. As traffic continues to surge, as does the responsibility of connectivity providers to keep the world connected in the face of the new, varied and continuously changing challenges posed by the current situation.
GBI SMART NETWORK
The GBI Smart Network serves as a solid backbone network to cope with traffic spikes seen both regionally and globally. Being a regional company, GBI’s greatest asset is our carrier neutral, fiberoptic network that includes a mix of submarine cable systems and terrestrial infrastructure, that provides us our global reach. This infrastructure connects financial and communications hubs across the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. The GBI Smart Network is built upon investments in 9 major subsea cable systems with 9 points of presence (PoPs), 17 cable landings between London and Singapore, all of which are optimized via two diverse routes.
ADAPTABILITY THROUGH COLLABORATION
The GBI Smart Network has been purpose built for performance and reliability which is supported by our Smart Network Analytics, allowing us to proactively troubleshoot networking issues before they impact performance. A challenge faced by all connectivity providers is addressing the increase in demand previously referenced. Without having a prior contingency plan for this unexpected increase, connectivity providers would not have been able to meet the changing demands. All services at GBI are functioning as normal and increasing demands have been and will continue to be met with the same high level performance. GBI is able to scale capacity as needed by customers through seamless configuration and collaboration with partners. JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE
Even with Smart Network Analytics, repairs of cables cuts can provide a challenge During the current situation what was once a normal process changed on a daily basis making repairs a greater challenge. GBI through the support and collaboration with our dedicated suppliers, partners and both local and international governments, has been able to overcome these challenges. In particular, what this current situation has identified is that the systems and processes adopted by certain organisations do not easily transfer to remote working due to over reliance on being office and paper based. GBI along with its suppliers and partners in the Global Submarine Cable Industry will need to use the lessons learnt and encourage adoption of the new ways of working to ensure that if a similar situation arose we are even better prepared to deal with the challenges that arise. COVID-19 has unfortunately impacted infrastructure maintenance and related permissions needed but ultimately it is collaboration that has allowed us to troubleshoot and overhaul where necessary in an efficient manner.
BUSINESS CONTINUITY
By transforming networking with the adaptability and scalability needed for the connectivity demands experienced today, business continuity is made possible no matter what the situation may be. Networking infrastructure is at the heart of digital transformation and seamless connectivity, and it has never been so important for businesses, employees, and end users around the world. COVID-19 has put business continuity planning to
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the test globally and GBI isn’t exempt from this. GBI has been able to adapt by limiting the employee presence in our offices to the essential employees. These essential employees are mainly comprised of our Network Operations Centre (NOC) team who have been working tirelessly to ensure connectivity is interrupted during this critical time. For most companies and organizations, networking has been at the heart of business continuity planning. As connectivity has become prioritized during this time so has the role that GBI plays as a connectivity provider. Moreover, COVID-19 has set new policies for the workplace and work-related processes. GBI put in place new “pandemic-proof � policies that have built efficiency into troubleshooting both large scale and minor obstacles. These same policies will strengthen our business continuity plan and aim to streamline these processes post-COVID-19.
ADAPTABILITY
COVID-19 has greatly affected the way we live our everyday lives and to a large extent took the world by surprise. One of the main takeaways from COVID-19 has been adaptability both inside and outside the workplace. Many of the solutions around travel restrictions and social distancing measures are rooted in internet connectivity. In the coming months, we as an industry will have a better understanding of traffic volumes and behavior, as well as how this behavior will change once we have returned to our respective offices. In all cases, it is paramount that GBI is prepared for these changes as we have been at the start of this pandemic. GBI
should and will be able to scale up and down connectivity as required by customers, through the support and collaboration of our partners. Continuity planning and investments made in digital transformation technology have allowed organizations to be adaptable and proved highly beneficial in unexpected events such as COVID-19.
LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE
This pandemic has given way for business leaders to strengthen their digital infrastructure, scalability, and adaptability to build resilience within their everyday work policies. Connectivity providers and cloud providers play an integral role in this resilience and the new normal that is come. In conclusion, this pandemic has greatly demonstrated the importance of the role that connectivity providers play in our respective societies. We have seen a dip in economies globally but there is no doubt that without internet connectivity, we would be witnessing larger crashes in our economies and great limitations to business continuity. Moreover, operating within this industry, cloud providers and connectivity providers alike have considerable responsibility in keeping
the wheels turning, both during this pandemic and in the foreseeable future. Moving forward we need to review what we experienced, learn the lessons and implement appropriate improvements to ensure we are better prepared next time. GBI is proud to take on this responsibility and will continue to adapt and create processes to streamline the services we offer to our customers in collaboration with our partners. STF GAVIN REA is Chief Technical Officer, GBI. Gavin has over three decades of extensive management and industry experience in the development, delivery, operations & maintenance of international and domestic submarine telecommunications cable systems. Gavin has over 17 years of experience in the field and has previously held the position of Head of Subsea Centre of Excellence at BT. Gavin has extensive experience in leading large teams of engineering managers and technicians responsible for the implementation, operation & maintenance of subsea cable assets, as well as supporting the development of wholesale and
Although APTelecom is recognized for our subsea cable sales expertise, we also provide the support services needed to make calculated business calcul decisions.
FEATURE
BRINGING THE NORDICS TOGETHER AND BEYOND BY KJETIL KORSLUND
T
he Celtic Norse cable system will connect central Norway to Ireland, and both of them further to the East Coast of the United States. The German attack on Norway and Denmark started very early on the 9th of April 1940. In Norway the Wehrmacht headed for destinations of strategical importance. These were mainly the big cities, but also Egersund, an idyllic Norwegian city with only 3.250 residents at the time. At 04:15 AM two German minesweepers arrived in the harbour, and the first one docked at the steamboat quay at 04:24. 22 minutes later Rittmeister Eickhorn had located the telegraph station, and switched off the connection to Peterhead in Scotland. The cable itself was cut some days later. For the Germans, it was of utmost importance to hinder Norwegian communication with Great Britain. This cable was laid in summer 1869. Earlier messages from Christiania (Oslo) to Great Britain had to go via Sweden, Denmark and Amsterdam. Today all fibre in central Norway is routed through Oslo. What Celtic Norse is proposing to its owners and other
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CEO of Celtic Norse, Erling Aronsveen, at Den BlĂĽ Planet in Copenhagen, speaking to representatives of the Nordic data center industry. Photo: Vicki Maddison.
The three owners of Celtic Norse
Celtic Norse AS
TrønderEnergi AS 33%
utility companies in the central part of Norway, is to build their own cable.
ORIGINS
The story began in 2015 up in the Norwegian mountains. Erling Aronsveen and two other representives from Eidsiva energi, one of the major over the tops, were looking at the Åkrestrømmen site in Innlandet county, and considering it as a potential hosting campus for one of the global OTTs. Eventually, they had to realize that they were unprepared and unequipped for international connectivity. Everything they learned about what they couldn’t do in answering their principal’s demands for data centre space, got them into developing their own subsea cable. Celtic Norse is a member of the EasyFibre consortium, which is a Nordic terrestrial fibre consortium consisting of a dozen fibre owners that have pooled their fibre together to present a dark fibre offer proposition. For the OTTs or others who want to interact, they won’t have to contact all the different companies that have fibre. EasyFibre will coordinate them all.
2022
The cable is planned to be ready for service in 2022, and it will drastically shorten the response times for data communications between Norway and the US. The Celtic Norse cable will enable direct connection to the transatlantic AEC-1 cable between Killala Bay, County Mayo in the Republic of Ireland; and Shirley, New York, in the United States. The Celtic Norse cable will also have
NTE AS 33%
Eidsiva Energi AS 33%
branches to Iceland (Grindavik) and Scotland (Caithness). Additionally, the cable will benefit from other UK and US connectivity available in Ireland. The Celtic Norse cable is planned to land at Øysanden, in the municipality of Melhus in Norway, just south of the city of Trondheim. This is the best strategic position for future data centre development since Trondheim is a major domestic fibre hub. Onward terrestrial connections going south to Oslo and mainland Europe, as well as spur cables linking Northern Norway to Celtic Norse, are already in place. Cable route is approximately 2.000. km., and the safest possible one from Ireland to Norway. It will cross only three other major pipelines on its way.
SPECIFICATIONS: 8 FIBRE PAIRS / 240 TB CAPACITY 100/400 GIT/S WAVELENGTH DARK FIBRE/DARK SPECTRUM LANDING POINTS
Killala Bay landing point is the existing landing point of the AEC-1 cable, located at the mouth of the Moy Estuary close to the border between counties Mayo and Sligo. The wide sandy bay extends for almost 7 km. from west to east. Shifting sandbanks have modified the mouth of the Moy Estuary which is a protected Ramsar site. Sand dunes form much of the coastal terrain with also exposed rocky outcrops. Øysanden landing point has a west-northwest aspect and is located at the south eastern extent of Gaulosen — an arm of Trondheimsfjorden in the county of Trøndelag. It is apJULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE proximately 1.9 km long and 20 meters wide. To the north we find the mouth of the Gaula river with associated large mudflats. This is a Ramsar protected site: Trondheimsfjord wetland system. The beach is gently sloping and is composed of glacial sediments of coarse-grained sand and small pebbles. Access to the beach can be gained from many locations, and there is limited but adequate space on the beach for heavy plant to operate. Trailer-borne small can be launched from the beach or from Buvika 1 km. down the beach.
OWNERSHIP
Celtic Norse is owned by three energy- and fiber companies. These are Eidsiva Energi; TrønderEnergi; and Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk (NTE). The three have expertise in regional grid operations, hydroelectric and wind power production, as well as fiber-optic operations. Together they generate annuale revenues of 1.8 billion euros. Each of the companies own one third of the 2.000. km subsea fiber-optic project between Norway and Ireland
PARTNERS LANDING PARTNER SCOTLAND
SIMEC Atlantis Energy is a global owner, operator and developer of sustainable energy assets. This includes a 77 % stake in the world’s largest tidal stream power project — the MeyGen array in Scotland; 100 % ownership of Europe’s largest 220MW waste to energy conversion project in Wales; and 100 % ownership of mini hydro specialist Green Highland Renewables. Behind SIMEC we find the NGO Scottish Futures Trust. Scotland currently has limited international connectivity with most routes passing through England. Of the 53 international cable systems in the UK, there is only one commercial system currently accessible from Scotland. A 2019 workshop organized by Host in Scotland concluded that the single most important request of the data centre industry in Scotland was “three interlinked subsea cables connecting Scotland directly to Ireland and the USA, the Nordics and Amsterdam. A branch into Celtic Norse will fulfill this request.
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LANDING PARTNER ICELAND
Vodafone Iceland is a leading telecommunications and media company on the Icelandic market. Vodafone Iceland works in close cooperation with Vodafone Group regarding international services for the benefit of Vodafone’s Icelandic and international customers.
LANDING PARTNER IRELAND + OA&M CELTIC NORSE
Aqua Comms DAC is the owner and operator of America Europe CEO of Celtic Norse, Erling Aronsveen Connect-1 (AEC-1) and CeltixConnect-1 (CC1), interconnecting New York, Dublin and London. Building on its vision of efficient submarine infrastructure ownership, Aqua Comms is currently building America Europe Connect-2 (AEC-2), its share of the Havfrue cable, CeltixConnect-2 (CC-2) and North Sea Connect (NSC), to develop a resilient dual-path network across the Atlantic between North America and Europe, creating the North Atlantic Loop. Aqua Comms operates exclusively as a carriers’ carrier, and its focus is therefore on providing high-bandwidth, transport-layer subsea services, and only in the wholesale market.
FASTER AND GREENER
The Celtic Norse Cable will enable regional Norway to connect its attractive sites and vast renewable power resources to Europe and America with better response times to Eastern Seaboard US than anywhere else in the Nordic Region. There is plenty of land and power to accommodate hyperscale data centers In Norway, but the international connectivity is not yet optimal. At present all fibre in central Norway is routed through Oslo, but that will not suffice for data centres. Total cost approx. 71 million dollars. With branches: 122 million dollars. STF KJETIL KORSLUND (b. 1964) is Cand.philol. in The History of Ideas form the University of Oslo. His main areas are the history of British science, technology and literature in 19th century. He has written a series of articles on the history of technology for Tekna, the magazine for Norwegian civil engineers. Today he is working as a reviewer of nonfiction literature in Ny Tid.
FEATURE
REGIONAL SYSTEMS OR A NETWORK? A LOOK AT THE AMERICAS BY ANDY BAX
A
sk anyone from the telecom sector in this part of the world and they will tell you “the Americas are different”, and they would be right, especially in the wholesale market. Fiercely competitive and until relatively recently one of the most expensive regions in the world for wholesale services, the Americas remains a place where protecting your turf and maintaining the status quo is often considered more important than delivering what your customers actually need. A steep decline in wholesale pricing has only intensified these practices and while price erosion over the past few years has no doubt helped stimulate growth in the region, the development of individual cable systems as opposed to an integrated network fabric for the region still provides a stranglehold on any kind of step change in service delivery. If you were to look at a cable map of the Americas, you would be forgiven for thinking that there were plenty of cables, capacity and connectivity available across the majority of the region. What you would not see is the age of many of the cables creeping quickly toward retirement and the fact that they are, for the most part, owned by operators with a greater focus on the domestic markets they have a dominance in. Over the years this has created a tendency to be, at best, selective about cooperation between operators on
international connectivity and, in those worst cases, blatant protection of a dominant position in a market that prevents competition and diversity. For the hyperscalers, international carriers and sophisticated content owners this has not necessarily slowed their development in the region as they have the purchasing power and depth of organizations to either purchase independently on multiple systems or even build their own cables. The questions is “what about the other 95% of buyers in the region?” Those companies that operate in their local markets and are actually the drivers for innovation and better connectivity. They need international bandwidth that brings a combination of cost efficiency, high availability and reach. For them, the Americas does not need more submarine cables – it needs a resilient, integrated and efficient regional network where the different cable operators are willing to cooperate in delivering solutions across multiple cable systems, irrespective of ownership. I have not seen anywhere in our global subsea industry where this is more needed, and yet unfortunately more lacking, than in the Americas region. You only have to look at the strategy taken by the major hyperscalers globally versus those taken by traditional subsea cable owners to see that regional cable operators are missing an opportunity. On the larger inter-regional routes there are JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE multiple cable systems, and in most cases the hyperscalers have fiber or large amounts of capacity on three or four of those cables. They manage their traffic loads across these different systems to a point where if one or two cables suffer a failure at the same time, the remaining cables can carry their entire load. For these global players, a cable fault does not result in a service outage and, just as important, their approach creates the time to repair the cable fault properly. Of course this hyperscale capacity is not available for use by the rest of the market so everyone else is reliant upon the traditional cable operators. Take a closer look at the core routes in the Americas and it very quickly becomes apparent that this level of cable redundancy simply does not exist for the traditional operators. The Atlantic side of the region between the US and Latin America is a great example of this. Here you will find a number of cable systems, each one marketed by a different cable operator. These operators compete with one other on a day-to-day basis for sales and while this creates a healthy competitive environment, it also creates an inability to cooperate sensibly. Remember that cable fault that did not impact the hyperscale service at all? Well that same fault can disrupt almost all of the services delivered on that cable, and the result of a subsea fiber cable cut might mean no service from that operator for several weeks. Now it is true that building any submarine cable system is a huge investment with a long return profile. Even if you are a hyperscaler with a huge demand profile and you need a dedicated cable between your critical core data centers, it is still a major financial undertaking. Now imagine you are a cable operator in a highly competitive marketplace and ask yourself this. “Why would you build and reserve sufficient capacity on your cable to protect the service of your competition?” The answer is actually really simple and best explained with a short fictional tale. Three regional operators walk into a bar. They all want to sit at the same table, but ideally not with each other, and they all want the same drink. While they squabble over who is going to pay for the drinks, two hyperscalers walk in and sit down at that same table. The bartender ignores the three operators and walks over to hyperscalers and serves them first. The carriers are furious and ask the bartender “don’t you know who we are?” to which the reply is “yes of course I do. You’ve been coming to my bar for years, and over those years I’ve learned that if I’d waited for you three to sort yourselves out, I would have sold no drinks tonight” Even as competitors, hyperscalers cooperate and share their resources in the subsea space, whether that be as co-builders of new cables or by swapping what they have
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between them. Cable operators don’t necessarily have that luxury, but we can achieve the same result if the required mindset change can be made. Just to be clear, I am not talking about the old-fashioned restoration deals where operators would help each other out on a “best efforts” basis for a small fortune. These were cumbersome, time consuming and in most cases cost prohibitive to the operator needing help. Times have changed and technology has moved forward to a point now where network orchestration and automation is able to deliver a cooperative solution to buyers of international services of any size, using multiple different operator networks to deliver a wider solution. Accepting that no one operator can deliver everything a customer wants is the first step in achieving change. The second step is more difficult and will require a major mindset shift for most operators in the region. This step is being okay with the fact that in some cases you will be the primary provider and in others you are “behind the scenes” as part of a wider solution delivered by another operator. Finally, making capacity and services on your subsea cable available for other operators to sell as part of a wider solution at the same price as you would sell them for yourself is the real game changer. The all too often heard response of “you only get to buy my cable at that price from me” just will not work anymore. If we, as the underlying providers of critical connectivity to the region as a whole, cannot come together and accept that it is beholden on us to deliver a combined network that will support the connectivity and growth aspirations of the entire continent, then who else is going to do it? We can deliver solutions to the users of our networks by cooperating with each other, instead of making it difficult for them and requiring them to patch it together for themselves. To succeed as an industry in delivering what the Americas needs as a region, we need to not only say “you can buy on anyone’s network to anywhere from me and I will make it work for you” but also deliver on that promise between us collaboratively, not begrudgingly. So, as one of those subsea cable operators, I have a challenge for myself and all the other wholesale providers in the region. Let us leverage the huge infrastructure investments that we have all made to ensure that when people say “the Americas are different” they say it for the right reasons. Lets make sure the Americas are different because we collectively solve our customers’ needs with a view to the future as opposed to a longing for the past. STF ANDY BAX is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Seaborn. He is responsible for leading all aspects of Seaborn’s global operations and engineering. Over the past three decades, Andy has developed and brought into operation numerous transoceanic and regional submarine cable systems connecting Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.
STAY CURRENT
decades, Andy has developed and brought into operation numerous transoceanic and regional submarine cable systems connecting Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. Andy previously served as Head of Regional Submarine Networks at Global Marine Systems, a preeminent subsea cable installation company. Prior to Global Marine, Andy was an early member of Global Crossing’s Network Team, where he brought into service all of Global Crossing’s submarine networks, and he led engineering and implementation of network upgrades and provisioning of customer circuits on the global submarine network. He also led planning, construction, and operation of Global Crossing’s global NOC. Andy began his submarine telecom career with FLAG (FEA Submarine System), where he was responsible for the successful commissioning and bringing into service of all 15 segments of the Europe to Asia submarine system and for the centralized management of the entire system from the FNOC in Fujairah, UAE. Prior to Seaborn Networks, Andy led the project management for a new 1,240 km submarine fiber optic cable system linking Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname. Andy served in the Royal Air Force where he received a degree in Electronic Engineering and Aerospace Studies, and thereafter entered the telecom industry with NYNEX in the UK.
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FEATURE
BRIDGING THE GAPS
Submarine Fibre Optic Cables Around the Pacific Region BY JOHN HIBBARD AND PAUL MCCANN
S
ome 12 months ago we provided readers with an INTERNATIONAL IMPLEMENTATIONS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS outline of the excellent progress that is being made Since mid-2019, several international systems have been in building the mesh of submarine fibre optic cables implemented and several more are planned. around the Pacific Region (“Lighting up the Pacific” – STF 107). In that paper we focussed on the conTHE CORAL SEA CABLE nectivity for Pacific Island Countries (PICs) and presented The Coral Sea Cable was implemented in December the following table showing the number of cables either ex- 2019 providing connectivity from Sydney to both Port isting or being constructed or planned in mid-2019 which Moresby (PNG) and Honiara (Solomon Islands). Port Moservice PICs. resby, the capital of PNG, is on the southern coast of the Of the PICs being serviced by 54 cables, 34 involve spurs from BUs and 20 are point-to-point. International Domestic Cables (2019) Additionally, we did an analysis of the submarine cables In service 18 15 serving PICs which identified how adequately PICs are Under Construction 10 5 served with international cable connectivity. The following In Development/ Planning 4 2 table indicates those with international 32 22 Total connectivity to at least their capital city: Category PICs Percentage These tables clearly demonstrated that American Samoa, CNMI, Fiji, Guam, the Pacific Island nations were increasWell Connected 23% Samoa ingly being connected with cables. But FSM, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, how are they going now, a year later – Reasonably Connected 41% Palau, RMI, Tonga, Vanuatu, PNG, W&F are we “Bridging the Gap” between ‘the Cook Is, Kiribati, Niue, Tokelau, haves and the have nots’ of the submaConnections under Construction 23% Solomon Is rine cable world?
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Plans for Connection
Tuvalu, Nauru
9%
No Plans for Connection
Pitcairn Island
4%
island of New Guinea. The country’s second city, Lae is on the northern side. Between them are the Owen Stanley Mountains with heights of 4000+ metres. There is no good road from north to south linking these major cities, so all transport must be by sea or air. Communications has historically been by satellite or microwave. However, even the use of microwave presents a major maintenance challenge with microwave towers at close to 4000 metres high. Access is by helicopter and only possible in good weather as the mountains are frequently engulfed in cloud. For PNG, international connectivity has historically been into Port Moresby, since 2006 via the APNG2 Cable system. APNG2 was installed by recovering and re-installing the retired PACRIM WEST cable landing in Sydney, Australia. This was a PDH cable with maximum capacity of 1.1Gbps. With the implementation of PPC1 Cable system in 2009, an international cable linking Lae into Sydney was placed into service, hence supplementary connectivity from south to north PNG was achievable via interconnection between APNG2 and PPC1 in Sydney producing a very long “domestic” cable connection. The new Coral Sea cable greatly increases the capacity between Port Moresby and Sydney. The Solomon Islands hitherto had no international cable connection and so the development of the Coral Sea Cable system has allowed one more of the Pacific Island Country ‘have nots’ to be ticked off as now having a cable. For Solomon Islands, the availability of high speed, low latency, highly reliable submarine cable systems assists the country to remain contactable during the regular cyclonic events, and facilitates the development of eHealth, eLearning and many other internet based applications that all contribute to improve the life and wellbeing of the Solomon Islands people. Both Solomon Islands and PNG have implemented new domestic cables which are discussed later.
MANATUA CABLE
The Manatua cable connects French Polynesia with Samoa and has international spurs to Cook Islands and Niue. The cable has been laid and planned for commissioning in June 2020 so should be in service by the time you read this. In addition to affording Cook Islands and Niue their first submarine cable, Manatua is a second international cable for French Polynesia giving them much desired diversity to their existing Honotua cable implemented in 2010. For Tahiti, Honotua has been an amazingly successful cable increasing the pre-RFS capacity of 600Mbps for the country to now over 30 Gbps. The importance of this lifeline to the well-being of the country has been a driving force for this second cable to provide the comfort of network security to ensure the continuous running of the communications in the event of a cable break. For Samoa, this will be their third cable further enhancing their network robustness while positioning them to be a potential hub in the South Pacific. Both Cook Islands and French Polynesia have taken the opportunity to leverage Manatua to provide domestic cable connections which will be discussed later.
JGA CABLE
An initiative driven by RTI Connectivity Pte. Ltd. (RTI) has established the first submarine cable landing on the east coast of Australia – outside Sydney!! The JGA cable is routed Japan-Guam-Australia as its acronym suggests and so provides enhanced connectivity for Guam. However, a significant feature of JGA is JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE that it has a landing on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland because this is now an alternative east coast landing to Sydney where all existing Pacific cable land. So, over the last 12 months - we can now tick off at least three more countries that up till now had no international cable – three less ‘have nots’! But we are not done yet – we continue to “Bridge the Gaps”!
DOMESTIC CABLE IMPLEMENTATIONS
The majority of Pacific Island nations have multiple islands. In general, an international cable will terminate at the capital which is usually the principal source of traffic. This affords one island the potential for superior connectivity compared to other islands in the country. As you can imagine, most commonly these islands have been serviced by satellite links or in cases where distances allow - by microwave links. Notwithstanding the availability and growing cost competitiveness of satellite systems such as Kacific and O3B, domestic submarine cable links still provide a valuable place in providing Pacific Island domestic connectivity. This is a growing trend, often encouraged by the lending authorities as it delivers wider and more balanced benefits to a country. As a result, some five (5) countries have added domestic submarine cables in the past year.
FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA (FSM)
The Federated States of Micronesia is a country spread across the western Pacific Ocean comprising more than 600 islands. FSM is made up of 4 island states: Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk and Yap. FSM commissioned in 2019 the Chuuk-Pohnpei domestic cable thus connected the most populous island group to the capital. Thus, together with an existing cable to Yap, three of the four states of FSM now have submarine cable connectivity, and the fourth and final state of Kosrae is on the horizon for cable in the future!
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Solomon Islands is an archipelagic state situated in the south-west Pacific Ocean, approximately 2,000 kms to the northeast of Australia. Its land mass of 28,400 km² extends over nearly 1000 islands comprising nine main island
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groups. The capital, Honiara, is located on Guadalcanal, the largest island. As part of the Coral Sea Cable system project, the opportunity was also taken by the Solomon Islands Submarine Cable Company (SISCC) to provision a domestic cable network between Honiara (Guadalcanal Province) and three of the nine regional provinces comprising the Solomon Islands. The most populous province of Malaita (Auki) was connected to the capital Honiara, along with Choiseul (Taro) and Western Province (Noro) the tourist area in the north west islands.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA (PNG)
Arguably one of the largest domestic submarine cable networks anywhere is being progressively implemented in PNG. With 15 landings and 5500 kms of cable, and built by Huawei Marine, it creates a true mesh of connectivity for the Pacific nation. More than half has been implemented with the rest targeted for this year. Most significantly it provides a high capacity link from south to north overcoming the need to route via Sydney or mountain tops.
FRENCH POLYNESIA, COOK ISLANDS
As part of the Manatua project, domestic cables were established between Tahiti and Bora Bora (in French Polynesia) and between Rarotonga and Aitutaki (Cook Islands)
FEATURE with both links affording enhanced links to the tourist areas of the countries.
WHAT’S NEXT? THE BRIDGES CONTINUE TO GROW PLANNED CABLES FOR THE COMING PERIOD!
Planning of new cable systems in and across the Pacific Region has been continually active over the past 12 months - especially as the PICs see the benefits of high quality, reliable, resilient, and abundant capacity afforded by the cables. Some of these cables are already under construction and will allow further nations currently without a cable to be removed from the list of “have-nots”. Others are plans are for second cables and some for domestic cables.
PALAU
Palau got its first cable in late 2017. So successful has it been with growth from 400 Mbps to now over 4Gbps that reliability is essential or this economic lifeline of the country. So, Palau is already well advanced on a second cable, yet another spur, this time off the passing ECHO cable.
NEW CALEDONIA
New Caledonia has been pursuing a second cable for diversity for several years. Now they have two cables that have been announced. The TOMOO cable is a spur off Hawaiki whereas Gondwana-2 is a cable to Fiji. It will be interesting to see which one or both are constructed.
EAST MICRONESIA CABLE
Running from Pohnpei via Kosrae and Nauru to Tarawa, the East Micronesia Cable (EMC) is scheduled for commissioning in 2021/22 and will see two more PICs get cables (namely Nauru and Kiribati/Tarawa), in addition to providing cable connectivity to Kosrae as the fourth state of FSM to gain submarine cable connectivity.
SOUTHERN CROSS NEXT (INCLUDE TOKELAU DOMESTIC)
The Southern Cross NEXT cable will be laid between California and Sydney. As it passes across the Pacific Ocean, it will be landed into the following Pacific Islands: • Kiritimati Island: Kiritimati is part of the Republic of Kiribati and is approximately 700km across the ocean away from the capital of Kiribati Tarawa. • Tokelau: Tokelau is a country with three atolls spread over 200kms. SX NEXT cable will pass directly between two of the three atolls comprising the Republic of Tokelau. Two simultaneous submarine cable projects are currently being undertaken in Tokelau – one is the landing of SX NEXT in Nukunonu, and the second the implementation of a domestic submarine cable system linking the three atoll – Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo. Both these systems are planned to go live in the 2021/22 timeframe. Branch or spur cables from the main highway of SX NEXT Submarine Cable when complete will move another two PICs from the list of “Have-Nots” to the “Haves”!
VANUATU
For several years, Vanuatu has been seeking a second cable and the increasing dependence on ICN-1 has energised the drive for a diverse cable connection. ICN-2 from Port Vila to the Solomons which has been in development since around 2017 now has increased appeal with the completion of the Coral Sea Cable.
TUVALU
Recognition that Tuvalu was the last PIC (excluding Pitcairn Island where a cable cannot be presently justified) not to have a cable has motivated serious planning efforts! The provision of the Southern Cross NEXT connection to Tokelau or a direct connection from Tuvalu to SX NEXT, could provide an attractive new option to the alternative of a connection to Fiji. We eagerly await to see the final plan!
BRIDGING THE GAPS – SUMMARY
Across all parts of the Pacific Ocean - the implementation of new cables and the intensive planning and development that is associated with such initiatives, together with the JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE Across all parts of the Pacific Ocean - the implementation of new cables and the intensive planning and development that is associated with such initiatives, together with the construction of further cables means that by 2022, all PICs (except Pitcairn) should have at least one international submarine cable directly linking them into the global highway and global network! construction of further cables means that by 2022, all PICs (except Pitcairn) should have at least one international submarine cable directly linking them into the global highway and global network! However, this enhanced connectivity will only serve to facilitate increased demand for bandwidth such that considerable effort must now be applied to achieving resilience and diversity either by a second cable or via satellite. In summary, let us now update the tables for Bridging the Gaps: The conclusion that can be drawn is that major progress has been made right across the massive Pacific Ocean - particularly in the last decade. This has been driven and brought about significantly through the recognition by funding agencies such as World Bank, ADB, DFAT (Australia), MFAT (NZ), AFP (France).
JOHN HIBBARD is CEO of Hibbard Consulting Pty Ltd. John has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 40 years, and for more than 30 has been associated with submarine cables. An Engineer by qualification, John worked for much of his career at Telstra finishing as Managing Director of Global Wholesale. John was the inaugural Chairman of Australia Japan Cable which he guided to a successful implementation. Since 2001, John has been an independent consultant in his own company, Hibbard Consulting, involved in strategic and commercial aspects associated with the development and/or implementation of many international submarine cable projects across the Pacific including French Polynesia, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomons, PNG, Palau, FSM, and CNMI. He was President of PTC from 2009 to 2012. PAUL MCCANN is Managing Director of McCann Consulting International Pty Ltd. Paul has over 40 years network planning & development experience in telecommunications both in international and domestic arenas. Prior to returning to consulting in 2012, Paul spent over 8 years with Verizon in Asia Pacific, driving growth of Verizon’s network across Asia by developing & implementing plans delivering major operational cost reductions and improved service performance. Paul is now managing his own consulting business, specializing in development in the Pacific Region, where the core business focus is on “connectivity” with expertise spanning all aspects of planning and development for Satellite, Submarine cable and Domestic access technologies and business. Paul is well known for his personable nature, his rapport with customers and his ability to deliver on time.
Submarine Cables 2020
International
Domestic
In-Service
26
20
Under-Construction
19
8
In Development/Planning
1
0
Total
46
28
Category
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As a result, “The Pacific is Connected - We Have Cables – We are open for business!” So, what will be the focus over the next 5 years? We wait with interest! STF
PICs
Percentage
Well Connected
American Samoa, CNMI, Fiji, Guam, Samoa, French Polynesia, PNG
30%
Reasonably Connected
FSM, New Caledonia, Palau, RMI, Tonga, Vanuatu, W&F, Solomon Is, Niue, Cook Islands
45%
Connections under Construction
Kiribati, Tokelau, Nauru
14%
Plans for Connection
Tuvalu
5%
No Plans for Connection
Pitcairn Is
5%
SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
FEATURE
THE NORTH ATLANTIC LOOP BY CHRIS BAYLY
A
qua Comms, the independent carriers’ carrier and the owner-operator of five subsea cables will be launching its North Atlantic Loop in the second half of 2020. The North Atlantic Loop will comprise of two major Trans-Atlantic cables and three regional cables to bring to the market diverse, resilient and uniquely routed subsea cables. These will combine to deliver enhanced capacity services to the North Atlantic markets of the US, through to Ireland, the UK and the Nordics – all with diverse routing and landings. This new offering will provide critical infrastructure to key data centre markets as well as the major telecoms markets within the east coast of the US and western Europe. Two of the 5 cable systems in play are: • AEC-1 (America-Europe Connect-1) that went RFS in 2016 and runs from New York to Dublin • CC-1 (CeltixConnect-1) that went RFS in 2012 and runs from Dublin to Wales and on to London
Three new cable systems are expected to go live in 2020: • AEC-2 (America-Europe Connect-2) from New Jersey (NJFX) to Denmark (Blaabjerg) • CC-2 (CeltixConnect-2) from Dublin (Clonshaugh) to UK (Blackpool) • NSC (North Sea Connect) from UK (Newcastle) to Denmark (Houstrup)
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FEATURE growth as an attractive city for tech companies and finanAEC-2 will be the first new Trans-Atlantic cable to cial services continuing. Finally, the UK where London land in Denmark (Blaabjerg) in nearly 20 years – since remains one of the big 4 locations in Western Europe. TAT-14, a cable which is due to be retired in December The North Atlantic Loop therefore reaches the key 2020. On the US side, AEC-2 lands in NJFX in Wall, New interconnection points required to deliver the diversity Jersey – an industry-leading carrier-neutral cable landing and resilience that networks need today across oceans and station (CLS) campus and Tier 3 data centre. AEC-2 will seas, and then partners with terrestrial network experts to also branch into Ireland (Old Head), a diverse landing to deliver on to locations such as Ashburn in the US, and to the existing AEC-1 landing Killala, before routing on to Dublin. This new cable therefore offers route diversity from Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and beyond, through the UK or through Denmark. end to end, and will deliver secure, modern subsea cable Beyond the routing, resilience and diversity that this new capability from the US to the Nordics, Ireland and the UK. network delivers, Aqua Comms will also be managing the CC-2 will be Aqua Comms’ second unrepeated cable network through its managed outsource model. Aqua Comacross the Irish Sea, running from Clonshaugh, Dublin ms is an independent operator, that is staunchly carrier-neuvia the CLS in Loughshinny, to Blackpool, UK. CC-2 will offer multiple fibre pairs on a brand new route, again designed The North Atlantic Loop featuring AEC-1, AEC-2, CC-1, CC-2 and NSC to deliver secure and reliable services between Ireland and the UK. CC-2 will partner with CC-1 to deliver diversity and resilience between the UK and Ireland as part of the North Atlantic Loop. NSC will connect Denmark (Houstrup) to the UK across the North Sea to the Stellium carrier neutral data centre in Newcastle, UK. Its Danish landing will connect through a terrestrial fibre link to Blaabjerg as part of the North Atlantic Loop whilst also providing diversity of landings for NSC and AEC-2. tral and a carriers’ carrier. While many operators make this The combination of these new cables with Aqua Comclaim, most will typically sell to Enterprise too – selling to ms’ existing two cables will deliver a high capacity, modern Wholesale customers through one channel and then comnetwork to support the ever increasing demand for data peting with those customers in the Enterprise space. between critical markets. Aqua Comms only sells in the Wholesale space. In the US, the landings in New York and New Jersey Further, Aqua Comms’ brand is built definitively around are ideally positioned to deliver critical capacity services to Manhattan’s established data centres including 60 Hudson, “FOCUS: Fibre Optic Cables Under the Sea”. This FOCUS drives Aqua Comms to its goal to be the best in class 111 8th Avenue as well as Secaucus just outside the island, at delivering infrastructure layer services to Wholesale and core locations such as Ashburn, 165 Halsey Street. customers. That’s it. On the European side, the Nordics has become a It has set itself up with a core management team of 20 fast-growing data centre location driven by its vast supply of renewable energy at low prices. Continued growth is ex- staff, all with typically more than 20 years’ experience in pected in Denmark where Interxion, for example, is tripling this space, supported by a managed outsource model that ensures expertise but as a variable activity-based cost. The the size of its Copenhagen data centre and Sweden which managers of each function set the processes and delivis already a prime location for the hyperscalers. erables that are outsourced, so control and standards are There is a similar story in Ireland which has established maintained. itself as a core market for the hyperscalers with Dublin’s
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The evolution of the industry means that Aqua Comms sees this as the sustainable model for the future – ruthless efficiency, flexibility, scalability combined with industry expertise. This evolution has seen the telcos such as the PTTs move from being the investors in and core users of subsea A possible map for the cables to being relatively modest users Celtic Norse cable of these systems. The subsea investment model is now being driven heavily by the so-called Tier 1 OTTs. Such has the technology changed to support the enormous data requirements of those OTTs, that it doesn’t make sense for the majority of operators to look to own and run subsea systems. These companies typically have a stack of services to invest in, with huge investment currently needed in 5G, IOT and SD-WAN. They can therefore now turn to the likes of Aqua Comms to deliver their subsea requirements securely and timely, with no market conflict allowing them focus where they need to. This model not only supports developments across the big Oceans such as the Atlantic but also between regional markets such as Ireland and the UK, into the Nordics etc – where diversity is needed as a business critical requirement, along with latency and security. For the latter, this can take a few forms, from strictly controlled access to cable landing stations to laying the cables into deep water. A good example of this is AEC-1 that leaves Long Island in New York and lands in Killala in North West Ireland using the shortest amount of Continental shelf. This is a critical factor in reducing exposure to damage from human action – anchors, trawlers, fishing etc. Deep water, below 1500 metres, remains the most secure place for subsea cables. The evolution has led to integration of specialist activity as part of the modern day telecoms ecosystem: subsea cables, terrestrial cables and data centres – each with their own experts delivering in those specific spaces. These include the likes of Interxion in the data centre space and the likes of Telia, Zayo and Colt in the terrestrial network market. It has also led to those looking to develop their home markets to seek out partners to support this. A good example is in the Nordics where there is a huge amount of lowcost, green, renewable energy but with limited connectivity to give access to users and therefore it simply isn’t used. A group of utility companies have therefore combined to fund a new subsea cable, Celtic Norse, for a new route from
Trondheim in Norway to Killala in Ireland – where AEC-1 lands – with possible branches to Iceland and Scotland. This will connect these geographies with the North Atlantic loop to instantly provide access to an advanced and wide-reaching network. Aqua Comms is the operations partner for Celtic Norse Cable system, acting as the landing party in Ireland and providing system NOC services to the consortium. This activity forms part of its Professional Services portfolio which ranges from design, to build, to landing station operations, to full system operations, to a full outsource model including sales and marketing. Subsea cables are a major part of the world’s critical infrastructure and Aqua Comms believes it needs companies focused on this area specifically, to deliver the quality of service that we all now expect from the internet and rely on more so than ever. STF CHRIS BAYLY is Chief Commercial Officer at Aqua Comms. Chris has more than 25 years’ experience in the Telecoms sector. Previously, he was Director, Global Wholesale Solutions at Colt where he focused on large infrastructure opportunities as well as supporting Colt’s customers in delivering cost-effective, world class solutions. Prior to joining Colt, Chris worked predominantly in the submarine cable business as well as with service providers, network and component manufacturers and most recently with a major global terrestrial network operator. His experience covers both working internationally including running the Middle East and Africa business for Global Cloud Xchange (formerly FLAG Telecom and Reliance Globalcom) and successfully working in senior management roles across multiple functions including Sales, Marketing, Pricing, Finance and Business Development. As an experienced member of executive leadership teams and as a Chartered Management Accountant, Chris has successfully delivered on complex and varied business plans in both mature and emerging markets.
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FEATURE
REGIONAL SYSTEMS Why They Matter More Than You Might Think BY HANS CHRISTIAN NILSEN
N
orth of the Arctic Circle. Where the sun never sets during summer and never rises at winter. Where you, if lucky, can spot the majestic Northern Lights coloring the sky with its hypnotic green light. Here in the northern part of Norway you will find Rognan, a small town with approximately 2500 inhabitants. Almost 10% of them are working at the local Nexans plant, providing the world with customized submarine fiber optic cables waiting to be put under seas. Waiting to connect the world. “I guess we can say, we know a whole lot about regional systems. In Rognan, we understand what it’s like having to depend on others” When it comes to rural communities all over the world, Rognan have a lot in common with many of them. Small, remote and distant places, often in very sensitive environments, far from the usual range of services and solutions generously offered in larger urban areas. But still in need of the same high- quality services for health-
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care, education and communication as in any metropolitan area in the world. Like the riverbed communities in the Amazonas.
THE AMAZONAS. IN A WAY, QUITE SIMILAR TO THE NORTHERN PART OF NORWAY.
From a landscape point of view, the Amazonas is in many ways as inaccessible as the northern parts of Norway. The Amazonas has its river and rainforest. Norway has its mountains and fjords. Beautiful sceneries, nature at its finest. Serving as the lungs of the world, the rainforest of Amazonas is a fragile area, utterly vulnerable to any impact on its delicate ecological and biological systems. Even though it is expected to carry the world’s need of fresh air on its shoulders, the rural communities in the jungle must also be given a chance to develop like any other society. The needs care little for where they are situated, right? You cannot just
depend on satellite or mobile systems to provide you with reliable access and network speed. You need a system that can be trusted. In 2016 the Nexans Rognan plant was given the opportunity to manufacture customized submarine fiber optic cables for the PAC – Programa Amazonia Conectada – to be deployed in the Amazon riverbed. The mission was clear: deliver cables with minor impact to the environment, with no need for maintenance, but still equipped with the latest technology. Brazilian authorities conducted several tests on our cable before its approval – and they proved not to emit a single pollutant particle in the river, thus being considered environmental friendly and abiding to local regulations. The cables were loaded onto a vessel at Nexans Norway plant, transshipped onto a barge in Manaus, Brazil, and then carefully installed along the riverbed. Now, more than 700 kilometers of submarine cables connects 52 communities along the Amazon River and 1600 schools can access the internet at speeds of up to 100 GB/ sec. This provides opportunities for improving public health, education and supporting sustainable development in the Amazonas. And it gets better: after the pilot project, the partnership flourished, and the customer, pleased with the results, decided to carry on subsequent phases of the project. Now a new development is just under way, comprised of an additional 460 kilometers of submarine fiber optic cables ready to do their job: connecting the world through a regional system.
ing to establish itself as an internet hub in West Africa, the country hoped to take advantage of the many connections and transnational cables situated in the neighboring area. In 2017, Nexans was chosen to supply more than 1100 km of submarine cables that were laid on the bottom of the ocean, connecting the two countries. The cable directly links Kribi, in Cameroon, and Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, where several major systems connect. That allowed Cameroon to have access to several communication systems, crucial in their efforts to make the country known as a provider of internet connectivity.
A NEVER-ENDING NEED OF BETTER CONNECTIONS TO COMMUNICATE, DEVELOP AND EDUCATE.
There is much need for regional systems all over the world. In essence, wherever there’s water separating neighboring countries, or in
HOW REGIONAL SYSTEMS CAN BENEFIT FROM LINKING TO LARGER SYSTEMS.
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, we find another great example of regional systems. The one linking Nigeria and Cameroon. While Nigeria, as an oil producing country, has been able to attract extensive data network traffic, Cameroon was in a very different place. WantJULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE countries richly gifted with lots of islands, there’s a need for one. In the Stockholm archipelago, Nexans has delivered systems varying from 48 to 192 fibers, as the inhabitants of the Swedish capital demand fiber connection to their summer cottages for reliable internet connectivity. And as we have all been able to experience in the recent months, the corona virus crisis has not exactly reduced the need for reliable and fast internet connectivity. The very same goes for the regional systems in the Indonesian waters, where Nexans supplied 915 kilometers of submarine fiber optic cables. The Jayabaya high speed submarine cable system provides a fiber optic link between Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital and largest city, and Surabaya, the capital of east Java province on the Java Island. The link comprises three submarine segments, bridging the digital divide in the local communities scattered across the Indonesian archipelago. The name of the project is however an unsolved riddle: it might just be the abbreviation of Jakarta and Surubaya, but history also says that in the 1200th century, a great king called Jayabaya ruled on Java Island. Name mystery aside, the connection surely is an important contribution to upgrading the internet infra-structure of the most populous region, in one of the most populated countries in the world. Across the globe, we have delivered a wide range of projects within regional systems. Like the Skagen Fiber project and its 150 km of submarine fiber optic cables connecting Norway and Denmark with high
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bandwidth capacity; or the CARCIP project (Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure program), a regional initiative that involves several countries in the Caribbean such as St Lucia, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines, to which 250 km of cables were delivered in 2018; or the dozens of other projects delivered in Europe, in the Americas – from Alaska to the Patagonia – in the entire Middle East, around the African cost and in the whole Asia-Pacific region. For the past 30 years, Nexans submarine cables have been serving not only the telecom industry, but also key regional developments for improved telecommunication to Oil & Gas fields, maximizing transmission capacity over short and long distances around the world, resulting in an ever-growing track record.
ADAPTING THE OFFER TO THE RIGHT LEVEL: AN ARTFORM REQUIRED TO SECURE VIABILITY OF ANY REGIONAL SYSTEM
One can easily think that industry-standard expertise or an extensive portfolio of products is the best recipe for any project. Well, we believe it is not. Like any other project, a regional system requires careful review and consideration of all aspects to be successful and profitable. Listening becomes very important. What does your customer actually want? What are the expectations for the project? Issues to be solved, technical conditions? Hurdles to overcome? You sort all these questions and then you do the math. “Just because your project isn’t crossing the Atlantic or the Pacific, it doesn’t mean it isn’t important, nor that it doesn’t deserve proper attention” Regional systems may very well share the same requirements as the large intercontinental connection projects, but they have a totally different set up when it comes to resources and ability to invest. This calls for a rather delicate calculation that requires experience from the supplier and the capability to handle smaller lengths of cables in a simple, flexible and cost-effective way. A specific cable system, considered a minor project within the cable industry, could be the biggest investment ever for a client. It is, most of the times, a huge investment, and this particular aspect should never be underestimated by a sales organization of complex cable systems. “Who wants to make an investment for 25 years
ahead when the next generation of submarine fiber cables may literally be waiting just down the line? Submarine fiber optic cables are designed, built and tested to last for 25 years or more. But the industry evolution goes way faster than that, and in Nexans we strive to be at the forefront of technology, in constant evolution. Regional systems are obviously very dear to the people of Nexans. Just like the Rognan plant is very important to the northern region of Norway. Here, we are convinced that such systems are actually carrying intercontinental projects on their shoulders – they are the doers, the blue-collars, the strong links, though most of the times operating without the feathers and glitter that surround their big brothers.
The whole idea of a worldwide sustainable society, where everything and everyone live in symbiosis, where everyone is linked to each other, could not be more obvious. This insight helps us to better understand our customers. It helps us to provide better and more sustainable solutions for regional systems. It helps us to have a clear vision for the future. It helps us to connect. It brings energy to life. STF HANS CHRISTIAN NILSEN is the Director of the Sales and Marketing for Nexans Submarine Telecom and Special Cables division. He holds the position since November 2019. Prior background is management positions for 20+ years in the Oil & Gas industry.
Maximizing transmission capacity over short and long distances JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113 45
FEATURE
DISAGGREGATED SUPPLY Commercially Advantageous Or Too Much Hassle?
T
he supply market for subsea cable systems is changing at a rapid pace. Over the past few years, we have seen several changes of company ownership, a vast increase in vessel utilisation and after a long period of stagnation wet plant development is finally picking up speed. In addition, the way that certain customers are procuring systems is being remodelled, alongside amendments to industry standard commercial terms and variations in pricing methodology from the system suppliers. In a period of purchasing change, this article seeks to review whether turnkey system provision is really the customer’s best friend, or if a disaggregated supply chain model should be considered wherever possible.
WHAT IS DISAGGREGATION?
Disaggregation means to break into constituent parts; in the case of a submarine cable system these comprise of cable, repeaters or ROPAs, branching units, submarine line terminating equipment and all the other small parts and widgets in between. ‘Services’ are also supplied as part of the construction process and hence marine
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BY ANDERS LJUNG, LYNSEY THOMAS AND GAVIN TULLY survey and installation are considered herein. Historically, how submarine systems have been supplied has gone full circle. Disaggregation occurred in the early consortium systems with the existence of ‘supplier consortia’ providing differing SLTEs, repeaters and cable. There were mid-span meets, and mixed supervisory controlled different parts of the subsea system. The development of the Universal Joint helped to ‘open up’ cable supply and in recent times the move from the simple coupler to gateways and portals either side of the wet plant has led to a subsea Open System revolution. The alternative approach is to procure an entire subsea system from one just one vendor, including wet and dry products and services. Certain customers prefer this method as it keeps accountability with one party and in theory gives confidence that when the switch is flicked the lights will come on. One of the main draw backs of turnkey supply is that it doesn’t necessary lead to a ‘best in class’ solution for all parts of the system. A supplier may have fantastic cable but an inferior amplifier solution, a strong fleet but no space in the manufacturing schedule, etc. And well documented
are the drawbacks of procuring transmission equipment at the contract forming stage, where in effect you are buying something that could be out of date, from a technology and cost perspective, by the time it is installed. Interestingly, for many years, unrepeatered systems have been disaggregated: procured and installed in separate contracts. The very nature of their unpowered design results in a largely straightforward design and procurement process, and in theory if nothing goes wrong during the installation process then the performance measurements taken in the factory will yield the same results as those taken in the field. Complication obviously arises if this is not the case, and herein lies the main disadvantage of disaggregation – if there is a problem who is responsible?
WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL ISSUES OF A DISAGGREGATED APPROACH?
In submarine cable projects potential issues lie around every corner, from overstretched optical margins, to poorly designed marine routes, flaws in manufacturing practises to the quality of the installation, right down to a speck of dust on an optical connector – all these factors can affect performance. And as we increase the number of parties contributing to the work, unless technical and commercial responsibilities are well-specified, we increase the likelihood of errors occurring. To achieve successful disaggregation therefore requires the owner to negotiate strong and well-defined contracts with
the supplier of each constituent part. This requires considerable expertise in every aspect of the project build in order firstly to select the best vendor for each task, and subsequently to negotiate the best agreement possible with each. Identifying and minimising risk is crucial, and the ability to hold each party accountable for their work is key. Clear deliverables and measurables need to be agreed for each piece of work, and if open cables have taught us anything, it is that standards and metrics are difficult to agree on.
DOES THE ABILITY TO NEGOTIATE DIRECTLY WITH EACH SUPPLIER GUARANTEE YOU THE BEST PRICE?
Or do you lose out on the economies of scale from which a turnkey supplier would benefit? A purchaser has to be fairly confident of the supply chain process and value of goods in order to feel entirely comfortable in this respect. Unless the program, commercial and technical risks are adequately addressed, it is possible that by saving monies on the procurement side of your budget you are simply adding spend to your project management costs. Integrating all the working parts for a subsea system is no mean feat. Timing plays a huge role in the success of a submarine cable project, and to a large extent it is linked to the level of risk that an owner is prepared to take. With turnkey supply the vendor is responsible for almost all of the construction project. They need to put together a Plan of Work that will deliver in a timely fashion and are penalised with liquidated damages and a dented professional reputation if it doesn’t.
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FEATURE Permits and weather have always been issues facing the subsea community, but increasingly vessel availability and manufacturing resource are putting a strain on PoWs as well. So, does a disaggregated approach help or hinder in this respect? The answer here potentially sits with the purchaser and their willingness to take risk, their desire to reduce spend and their time to market requirements. A disaggregated solution could for example allow for utilisation of a vessel of opportunity to perform the survey or installation works. It opens itself to procuring cable from one of the non-turnkey suppliers who may have open slots on their manufacturing lines. It also facilitates better use of ‘local produce for local requirements’ – no need to freight cable halfway round the world when there is a nearby supply, or an installation vessel already in the region. On the flip side the developer will effectively need to perform a role similar to the turnkey supplier and bring together each aspect of the project at the right time. Perhaps there is an argument to say that the disaggregated approach traditionally applied for unrepeatered system lends itself well to regional systems with a straightforward optical and mechanical design but could be considered too challenging when applied to complex cable systems.
PRIMARY DRIVER FOR CHOOSING A DISAGGREGATED SUPPLY CHAIN – CROSSLAKE FIBRE CABLE SYSTEM:
There were many drivers that led CrossLake Fibre to take a disaggregated approach, one of which being that the majority of the turnkey providers were focused on larger projects. There was also the underlying belief that disaggregation would save money overall. During the early development planning progression on key scopes was key to keeping on schedule, while there were still material unknowns, such as the specific landing location on the NY side of the lake were not known. Pioneer Consulting, as the Project Manager, understood it would be difficult to tell a turnkey supplier “we don’t know” a critical piece of information without facing a complex contract which might ultimately penalize Crosslake Fibre for contract variations later in the project. By using a disaggregating approach the project team were able to disconnect some of the risks from each other and solve them progressively, using the latest information to solve the next issue. This was done
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throughout the entire project which allowed the solution to evolve by adapting to the changing needs of the project in a cost-effective manner. For Crosslake Fibre, although the journey definitely was especially important, it was the route and destination that really mattered. Crosslake Fibre and its investor understood infrastructure development well and were willing to manage and mitigate the risks necessary to achieve their goals.
APPROACH TO RISK:
A good contract is absolutely essential whether buying turnkey or disaggregated, but because there are so many different contracts with a disaggregated approach to supply, the real risks are outside the T&Cs. If you have a rock solid contract with both your installer and your cable supplier, but you haven’t anticipated your cable getting stuck in customs because you filled out the paperwork incorrectly then you might have an installation vessel sitting there waiting to load the cable. And all of a sudden you could be paying your freighter demurrage fees while paying your installer to be on standby. At that point no one has breached any contract but yet the owner has a huge problem on its hands. For project managers and integrators, it is especially important to make sure you are always thinking ahead, anticipating, planning, worrying even. It is easy to focus on the scope at hand because you’re comfortable with it but a good project manager needs to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. There will always be something to worry about, some problem looming ahead that has no answer. Surrounding yourself with an adaptable, strong team is essential. No one person can do it all.
IN CONCLUSION
So, we have seen that a disaggregated approach works for unrepeatered systems, whether it can really work for today’s coherent repeatered cable systems remains untested. The expertise to prepare the optical design for a repeatered system certainly exists within the industry but add in the impact of tilt and shape equalization, ROADMs, multiple BUs and routing challenges, and a large number of different skills are required - which starts to lead us back to turnkey supply. Regional systems make a better starting point for disaggregated projects than transoceanic ones, with the Google Junior system proving it can be done. But the main requirement for successful disaggregation will always be an owner and integrator who is prepared to take risk; entrepreneurs and innovators are the real driving forces necessary to create change in any industry. STF ANDERS LJUNG is the Business Manager Submarine Cable Solutions at Hexatronic in Hudiksvall, Sweden. Anders holds an MSc in Polymer Mechanics. Anders has been employed for 27 years in the fiber optic cable industry. More than twenty of these years he was in Ericsson’s organization
where he held several managerial positions within sales, project management and manufacturing of fiber optic submarine cables. When Hexatronic acquired Ericsson’s telecom cable plant in 2013 Anders was employed in his current position with a worldwide responsibility for Hexatronic’s fiber optic submarine cable portfolio. anders.ljung@hexatronic.com LYNSEY THOMAS is an independent consultant with 25 years of experience in the submarine cable business working who has held both technical and commercial roles for a number of organisations including Cable & Wireless, Xtera and SubSea Networks. Lynsey is also a freelance journalist and avid writer. lynseytsubsea@outlook.com GAVIN TULLY in a Managing Partner at Pioneer Consulting bringing a diverse set of skills from the undersea telecommunications industry. Previously employed at SubCom, Gavin’s career began in Mechanical Engineering of undersea cables before growing into System Engineering and then evolving into Global Sales for the offshore oil and gas, scientific and renewables markets. Having been responsible for “non-traditional” submarine telecoms, Gavin’s unique insights into the market allow for customized client solutions that range from broad commercialization concepts to important technical details. Gavin holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University. g.tully@pioneerconsulting.com
CASE STUDY: CROSSLAKE FIBRE SYSTEM ACROSS LAKE ONTARIO Pioneer Consulting was hired by Crosslake Fibre in 2017 to support the preliminary planning of the system and ultimately the entire procurement and integration chain. Crosslake Fibre had built their business plan around the concept of disaggregation and since the design was based on high fiber count cables they decided to buy the individual pieces themselves and put the system together. Because the distance across the lake was only about 60km no repeaters were needed repeaters, instead an in-land amplification hut was built, which simplified the process. Crosslake Fibre provided Pioneer with the overall philosophy for the project but left it to their team to propose the proper level of disaggregation. Pioneer generally knew they wanted to break apart the cable supply from the installation but needed to consider the appropriate level of disaggregation. Their approach was to invite companies to bid on the various scopes, create a risk/reward assessment and draw lines between the major scopes they wanted to procure individually. To assist the selection process and strategy the team evaluated the flexibility of each bidder to ensure they could adjust the scope during contract formation (and in some cases even after via contract variation) if they learned some new information
from another provider later in the process. These considerations and analyses progressed throughout the project on rolling basis. Pioneer noted that Crosslake Fibre and its investor trusted Pioneer, as the project manager, to make the right decisions. Whereas some clients or investors want to see an entire disaggregation plan (which may last multiple years) presented up-front with no risk gaps, Crosslake Fibre understood that to get the best technical solution for the best commercials, while also minimizing risk, it needed to place an enormous amount of trust in Pioneer’s execution team to be able to pivot during the project. As one scope was under construction another was still in the definition phase. Pioneer used real-time information and analysis to drive the project forward, constantly revising the plan and driving the project to successful completion. JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE SubTelForum.com/Cablemap
TAILORING THE NETWORK FOR LOW-LATENCY AND HIGH AVAILABILITY BY STEINAR BJØRNSTAD
I
n today’s market the need for low-latency and high availability services is growing, pushed by users in high-speed financial trading and the gaming industry, as well as new applications like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR). One of the key goals of the introduction of 5G network technology is to address these emerging applications and markets. Communication technology is continuously evolving and in combination with 5G targeting critical services in the automation of the industry (Industry 4.0). All demonstrating a strong drive for providing services with increasingly demands to high availability and 47612792ultra-low latency for supporting existing and emerging markets. Figure 1 shows a map with Tampnet’s fibre routes in and out of Scandinavia. Tampnet has from the earliest days of the company had an ultra-reliable low latency (URLL) building methodology in mind when deploying sub-sea fibre cables and building new fibre-routes. Let’s have a deeper dive into which building practices that should be followed for minimizing latency. In legacy long-distance fibre systems that predate modern optical coherent technology, dispersion compensation as part of the fibre link was mandatory. A commonly used method was to insert a so-called Dispersion Compensating Fibre (DCF), with the inverse and a higher dispersion than the transmission fibre. As a result, dispersion was managed
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and pulse distortion avoided. However, as inserting a piece of DCF fibre meant adding an extra segment of fibre, this resulted in added latency on the link. If DCF fibre is utilised the extra added segment typically corresponds to 2025 % of added length. On a fibre segment of 1,000 km, the DCF may add as much as 200 km in length, corresponding to 1 millisecond of delay. Alternatively, Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) based modules with the ability to compensate the dispersion while adding insignificant delay. This is a compensation method found in more recent long-haul fibre installations deployed before the current state-of-the-art coherent technology was taken into use. Hence, one of the important principles Tampnet follows when building fibre routes is to use up to date optical coherent technology and minimize, or avoid, the use of DCF fibre.
OPTICAL SWITCHING
To enable high availability, Tampnet has from its inception deployed optical switching elements like Reconfigurable Optical Add Drop Multiplexers (ROADM) and Wavelength Selective Switches (WSS). The optical switches enable high-speed switching to alternative routes and are used for redirecting traffic to alternative links in cases of planned work or failures on a link. Looking at optical switching from a latency perspective, the signal is transported optically and transparently through the
Figure 2. Tampnet network including the low latency route from Norway to U.K. The red circle indicates approximately where the ROPA solution is installed.
switches with no elements to cause significant additional latency. Typically, the added latency may correspond to the optical switches adding some length to the optical transmission. This will typically be in the range of meters, adding less than one microsecond of latency. Using optical switching and transparent optical network elements is therefore preferable from a latency perspective. Clearly, the highest contribution to latency in a long-range optical network is from the time it takes for the light to propagate through the fibre and not from network elements like optical amplifiers or switches. Latency added by the optical fibre is typically 5 microseconds/km, so if some kilometers of detour can be avoided along a route, latency may be considerably reduced. Terrestrial fibre routes are similarly selected for the shortest path, avoiding detours as found in typical alternative routes optimized for reaching the most populated areas. For achieving a high availability, fibre-paths through areas and in routes with a high risk for fibre-cuts, often coinciding with densely populated areas, are avoided.
PASSIVE SYSTEMS
Tampnet’s low latency route from Norway to the U.K. is shown in figure 2. For sub-sea routes, Tampnet deploys passive systems across the North-sea between Norway and U.K. Along the path the cable runs through oil and gas installations where optical amplifiers are deployed ensuring a good signal quality. Delivering URLL services along these routes is an objective and therefore, the length of the cable should be kept as short as possible. The shortest route is however not always achievable if the cable needs to take a detour for amplification on a platform positioned on the side of the shortest path.
LOWER LATENCY THANKS TO ROPA
Stockholm to London is one of several low and ultra-low latency routes offered in and out of the Nordics
by Tampnet. The routes ensure market leading low latencies for the Nordic and European financial markets as well as the gaming industry and media and 5G as it is adopted. However, this route involves a sub-sea cable running between Norway and U.K. When using passive sub-sea fibres amplification may be needed on offshore installations along the path. If this installation is not along the shortest path for the cable, it will inevitably result in a detour. To avoid this and maintain low latency, Tampnet has developed a method for avoiding unnecessary detours and cable-lengths along the sub-sea cable path. The lower latency is achieved by using a sub-sea Remote Optical Pumped Amplifier (ROPA) and locating this on the seafloor along the shortest cable-path. How the ROPA is connected to the cable and fed with optical pump-power from the offshore installation is illustrated in figure 3. The ROPA is in principle a conventional Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifier (EDFA), consisting of an erbium doped fibre as the amplifying element and a collocated laser pump for bringing energy into the system. In contrast to the EDFA, the optical laser pump of the ROPA is not collocated with the erbium doped fibre but located some kilometres away and energy is transferred through a fibre. For this implementation, the ROPA is inserted within an 800 km fibre optical path, as illustrated in figure 4. Tampnet feeds the ROPA on the seabed from an offshore installation located on the side of the shortest path, a few JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE kilometres away using a separate cable route. This differs from other deployments of ROPA’s shown so far, as the optical pump power to ROPA amplifiers then has been fed along the sub-sea data transport cable. The conventional method is not applicable when locating a ROPA far from a cable landing as is the case here, because the attenuation in the data-transport cable then becomes too large for transporting the required optical energy.
ELECTRONIC SWITCHING AND ROUTING
Figure 3. emote Optical Pumped Amplifier ROPA
One more factor that can add latency is electronic switching and routing, especially when aggregating links into higher bitrate links. Packet switching on top of the optical network uses electronic switches typically involving Ethernet, MPLS and IP for switching or routing packets in the network. The network design is crucial for minimizing the delay. In packet switched aggregation, packets are not inserted into fixed time-slots as Figure 4, The transmission and line system with the ROPA pumped remotely from an offshore installation. The in Optical Transport Network (OTN) complete system consists of both Raman and EDFA amplifiers along the path, and the ROPA is located approximately 160 km from Lowestoft (UK). and the legacy Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) circuit switching but aggregated by first putting the packets into buffers and then scheduling the packets whenever there is space at the outgoing interface (link). In this way, if there is a high intensity of incoming traffic, i.e. packets, there will be an increased waiting time in the buffer before the packets are scheduled to the output. In packet switching, the network may be dimensioned like a circuit switched network, ensuring that capacity on the Figure 5. Static circuit multiplexing as in OTN (left) versus statistical packet-based multiplexing as in Ethernet/MPLS output always is available. The network is and IP-networks (right). then dimensioned similarly to the circuit switched network e.g. aggregating ten 10 lost but even when the links are not busy, packets being Gb/s links into one 100 Gb/s link. Alternatively, it may be designed in a more efficient way using stored in the buffer will add delay. If for example, packets arrive simultaneously on ten 10 Gb/s links being aggregatso-called statistically multiplexing. Statistical multiplexing ed into a 10 Gb/s link, only one packet may be forwarded relies on using statistical variations in the traffic patterns immediately while the other nine packets will need to wait. allowing e.g. several 10 Gb/s links being aggregated into a Therefore, if e.g. the length of the packets is 1500 Bytes, it single 10 Gb/s link. If the link being aggregated becomes takes 1.2 microsecond to clock out the packet at 10 Gb/s too busy, packets will be severely delayed and may even be
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speed. Hence, the last packet must wait for the other nine packets to be clocked out before it is forwarded. The total delay for this slowest packet will then be 12 microseconds. If the links are heavily loaded with traffic, a much higher delay may occur. In our example, if bursts of ten packets arrive simultaneously at the ten inputs, the last packet must wait for the 99 other packets to be scheduled, the corresponding delay will be ten times higher than in the previous example: 120 microseconds. Furthermore, this latency will be added for every heavy loaded switch along the route. Comparing with the transmission delay, a lower but still significant amount of delay may be added if heavy traffic aggregation or heavy traffic loads are present in the system. We can see that, to get the full benefit out of the low latency provided from a well-engineered optical network, the network for the higher protocol layers should also be carefully designed and dimensioned. Summing up the key engineering and network design challenges for providing long distance URLL links for timing and availability critical services, the most important factor is to put effort into selecting and providing the short-
est optical path and to use up to date optical switching and coherent technology. Latency contribution from legacy links using dispersion compensating fibre can be considerable and using such links therefore should be avoided, latency contributions from electronic switching is less significant and can easily be handled by ensuring moderate aggregation and traffic intensity at higher network protocol layers as we have successfully implemented in the Tampnet network. STF STEINAR BJORNSTAD is strategic competence and research manager at Tampnet AS and has previously worked in several industry companies. He is also since 2004 Associate professor IIK/NTNU Trondheim, Norway and from 2018 Senior research scientist SIMULA Oslo MET, Norway. He has a master in physics from the University of Oslo (1991) and Ph.D. in telecommunication from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Trondheim, Norway (2004). He has been involved in multiple EU research projects during his work at Telenor R&D (senior scientist, 10-year period) doing research on optical networks. He has been responsible for development of Video over IP products at Network Electronics (now Nevion) before joining Ericsson Norway, responsible for system design of Ethernet switches. He founded TransPacket in 2009 and has been involved in IEEE 802.1 Ethernet and 1914.1/1914.3 next generation fronthaul interface/radio over Ethernet standardization. He is author/co-author of more than 60 scientific papers and has several international patent-families.
Submarine cable test and location equipment Tinsley Precision Instruments is a leading specialist provider of equipment for the testing and survey location of submarine and buried cables, supporting the increasing demand for efficient subsea cable maintenance. Our product range includes: 3 Portable Short-Haul Submarine Cable Test Set Model 5910 3 Long-Haul Submarine Cable Test Set Model 5903 3 Sinewave Electroding Generator Model 5915 3 Portable Trailed Electrode Detector (Battery Powered) Model 5916 3 Beach Electroding Probe and Portable Battery Powered Electroding Detector Models 5917/5918 3 Cable Termination Unit for unrepeatered systems Model 5941
Tel: +44 (0) 1376 335271 info@tinsley.co.uk www.tinsley.co.uk
Tinsley Instrumentation Ltd 1 Warner Drive, Springwood Industrial Estate Braintree, Essex CM7 2YW
JULY 2020 ISSUE 113connected 53 Tinsley - helping to keep the |world
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FEATURE
THE THIRD WAVE
Reflections on the Ownership Possibilities Ahead
BY KIERAN CLARK
B
ack in 2008, BP completed the first repeatered submarine fiber optic system for offshore oil & gas facilities. The Gulf of Mexico Fiber (GoM Fiber) system provided an immediate and unprecedented increase in telecoms capability – especially compared to more traditional satellite systems – that allowed for significant performance increases over night. (Otto, 2019) Since the implementation of GoM Fiber, numerous cable systems dedicated to oil & gas offshore facilities have been constructed which provide for several efficiency and safety improvements in the offshore industry. Up until this point, submarine fiber systems had primarily been constructed for the use of private commercial cables (such as those for Tier 1 Internet Service Providers) or government backed infrastructure. The implementation of GoM Fiber opened the eyes of the wider world to the possibility that dedicated submarine cables might be worthwhile for their own use cases and beyond that of simple bulk data transport over the internet. This kicked off the “First Wave” of system owners beyond the traditional telecoms carriers and government funded infrastructure. Almost a decade later in 2016, the first major Content Pro-
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vider backed system was commissioned. The FASTER system was Google’s second entry into the submarine cable market, but it marked the first time they held a major ownership stake. Since FASTER, there have been 12 major submarine cables backed by Content Providers such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft which represents nearly one-third of all cable systems implemented since 2016 and represents the “Second Wave” of new system owners. There are several reasons why providers like Google would choose to implement their own submarine cable infrastructure rather than simply purchase capacity from a traditional telecoms carrier. Security and scalability are major factors and owning your own submarine cable infrastructures provides “a layer of security beyond what’s available over the public internet”. (Google, 2019) This also allows for the ability to scale the network up or down based on your schedule and needs rather than having to work with and potentially wait on a third-party owner or operator. Another major reason is that building a cable yourself enables direct connection of your own data center infrastructure and the ability to choose routes “based on what will provide the lowest latency for the largest segment of
There are several reasons why providers like Google would choose to implement their own submarine cable infrastructure rather than simply purchase capacity from a traditional telecoms carrier.
customers”. Additionally, a privately funded cable can bring products and services to areas that have traditionally been underserved and guarantees certain levels of connectivity through the life span of the cable system. (Google, 2018) While owning and operating your own submarine cable infrastructure can come with its own headaches and drawbacks, when you are operating at the scale of these large Content Providers the economic and network management benefits can heavily outweigh the downside in certain situations. Moving forward, of the 60+ systems planned through 2023, there are 13 systems backed by Amazon, Facebook, Google or Microsoft representing nearly a quarter of all planned systems. However, Content Provider backed systems are far more likely to be completed due to the cashrich nature of these companies that allows them to avoid the biggest hurdle of submarine cable system development – securing financing. As other projects die off due to lack of progress or funding and Content Providers announce more system builds this percentage will only rise. Without a doubt, these companies have completely changed the landscape of the submarine fiber market. In a market that averages over $1.6 billion per year, four companies control 25 to 30 percent of the total value. However, there is a potential up and coming “Third Wave” of new system owners – largely spurred on by the new realities imposed on the global network by the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote collaboration and enterprise cloud service providers have seen a large increase in bandwidth requirements since the pandemic started earlier in the year. As Eric Handa and Sean Bergin discussed in the May issue of SubTel Forum, traffic for collaboration tools was up over 350% with Zoom alone up over 800% during the peak of the global pandemic. (Handa & Bergin, 2020) Taking into account the reasons offshore oil & gas companies and large Content Providers decided to build their own network infrastructure, a logical future step for companies like Zoom would be to start getting more control over their network – part of which is the submarine cable. Security is a huge concern for the kinds of services Zoom and others provide, so being in control of your network goes a long way towards keeping customers happy and their data secure. Beyond enterprise applications, gaming and video streaming are two other sectors that could potentially need their own infrastructure as well. Digital game distribution platforms like Valve’s Steam and EA’s Origin host and distribute games to millions of customers around the world. Steam alone attracted over 95 million monthly active users in 2019. (Chalk, 2020) Console gaming systems – which have traditionally
relied heavily on physical game sales – have seen a large uptick in digital sales in recent years. For instance, digital downloads accounted for 53% of the 42.9 million units sold for the Sony PlayStation 4 from the start of 2019 through June which was a 10% jump over the same period last year. (Bardwell, 2019) With many of these console and computer games clocking in at 40-80 gigabytes, these digital distribution methods need a high amount of bandwidth and will consume even more as digital purchases and online gaming continue to rise in popularity. So, what does all this mean? If we review the history of the offshore oil & gas and the top tier Content Providers it seems that once a certain level of scale is reached it becomes more practical and economical to simply own and operate your own network infrastructure. While many of these potential “Third Wave” companies may not be quite big enough yet, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major shift in the global economy to demand more remote collaboration and streaming media applications. As the tech world continues to become more global and more expansive, expect more companies beyond Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft to make the decision to simply build everything themselves. STF KIERAN CLARK is the Lead Analyst for STF Analytics, a division of Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. He originally joined SubTel Forum in 2013 as a Broadcast Technician to provide support for live event video streaming. He has 6+ years of live production experience and has worked alongside some of the premier organizations in video web streaming. In 2014, Kieran was promoted to Analyst and is currently responsible for the research and maintenance that supports the STF Analytics Submarine Cable Database. In 2016, he was promoted to Lead Analyst and put in charge of the newly created STF Analytics. His analysis is featured in almost the entire array of SubTel Forum publications. WORKS CITED Bardwell, T. (2019, July 30). PlayStation 4 Digital Game Sales Overtake Physical. That’s a First. Retrieved from CCN: https://www.ccn.com/playstation-4-digital-game-sales-overtake-physical-thats-a-first/ Chalk, A. (2020, February 5). Steam users played for nearly 21 billion (yes, billion) hours in 2019. Retrieved from PC Gamer: https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-users-played-for-nearly21-billion-yes-billion-hours-in-2019/ Google. (2018, July 17). Delivering increased connectivity with our first private trans-Atlantic subsea cable. Retrieved from Google Cloud: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/delivering-increased-connectivity-our-first-private-trans-atlantic-subsea-cable Google. (2019, November 14). Curie subsea cable set to transmit to Chile, with a pit stop to Panama. Retrieved from Google Cloud: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/curie-subsea-cable-set-to-transmit-to-chile-with-a-pit-stop-to-panama Handa, E., & Bergin, S. (2020, May 16). The Impact of COVID-19 on Telecommunications and the Future. Submarine Telecoms Forum, pp. 22-25. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/subtelforum/docs/subtel_forum_issue_112 Otto, G. (2019). PERSPECTIVES OF AN OIL & GAS SUBMARINE CABLE SYSTEM OWNER: ISSUES, ANECDOTES AND FUTURE TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS IN A CHANGING OFFSHORE ENVIRONMENT. SubOptic 2019. New Orleans: SubOptic.
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FEATURE
BUILDING BLOCKS AND SPECIFICITIES OF REGIONAL SYSTEMS BY JEAN-FRANCOIS BAGET
WHAT IS A REGIONAL SYSTEM?
T
here is no official definition of the Regional System, however the most widely accepted one is based on distance, where regional system may span from a few hundred kilometers to a few thousands, typically 3,000 to 4,000 km maximum. Having defined the category with its distance, there are a wide range of technologies and topologies that can be deployed in the scope of regional systems, and many of these systems are more varied and complex to implement than large scale transoceanic cables. All available submarine technologies are applicable to regional systems, unrepeated or repeated, Spatial Division Multiplexing, wet plant flexibility, extensions to PoP and Data Centers.
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REGIONAL SYSTEMS: THE CATEGORIES AND THEIR DRIVERS
Even if each system has its own specificity, we can identify some families or typologies of systems: • Connection of remote locations, that are likely to take place with the support of governmental or multi-national organizations, one typical example being connection of Islands in the Pacific to the regional hubs • Enhancing the domestic connectivity in a country distributed across several island, or where a subsea direct route offers significant benefits over terrestrial routes. Such systems can also be combined with Oil & Gas connections • Enhancing the connectivity between close countries separated by the sea, typical examples being in the Mediter-
Figure 1: Connecting islands in an archipelago - various options
ranean and the Caribbean • Connecting countries along a shore to a regional interconnection hub In case of remote location, current submarine cables are typically replacing satellite connectivity, and any system will deliver a significant improvement in the user’s experience. As such systems are mainly founded by public organization and deliver public connectivity services, priority will be in the delivery of a cost effective and resilient solution. Good examples are the systems used to connect all islands in an archipelago. Systems and operators whose objecFigure 2: Connecting neighbor countries with ROADM and PoP-to-PoP technologies tives are to provide connectivity between neighboring countries, may require highly scalable and flexible solutions, in order to cope with any change on the business patterns and traffic matrixes. Extensions of the network to the main cities and data centers inland can also provide a significant benefit. In some cases, regional projects are developed to extend the reach of a large capacity transoceanic system, connecting one major landing to a set of countries or regions around. Such extensions of large transoceanic networks may seek similar benefits in terms of scalability and flexibility, combined with large capacity to seamlessly distribute the traffic from the long-distance system to Figure 3: Traditional coastal festoon its regional extension. Like for any submarine system, the Designer will work with the following major objective: THE TECHNICAL “LEGO” • Resilience, As we have just seen, one characteristic of many regional • Scalability, capability to adjust network capacity to new systems is the combination of diverse technologies to delivbusiness requirements, er the required connectivity: • Agility and flexibility, for a permanent optimization of • Repeated and unrepeated segments may co-exist on the network capacity, system, • Cost Efficiency. • Capacity and flexibility requirement may be significantly different between the different landings, asking for differIn order to achieve these various business goals, a truly ent options of Branching Units and ROADM. multi-purpose network need to be put in place, combining the best technological options for each link, each landing or Selecting the most cost-efficient solution between unrefiber pair. peated and repeated technology can be a difficult exercise. Repeated systems are often considered as more complex to operated and repair. JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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FEATURE However, development of repeated systems with unrepeated or low capacity branch has provided a very reliable alternative to unrepeated festoons. Selection of a repeated systems with unrepeated branch can even be a very cost-effective solution to replace a ring network, as it avoids the need for extra cable to close the loop. These two options are illustrated in Figure 1. Coastal festoons installed in the past years suffered from their lack of resilience against any landing failure. Repeated branched systems are also a competitive solution as they provide higher availability, as illustrated in Figures 3 & 4. Figure 4: Coastal system implemented with trunk and branches Competitivity of repeated system architecture can even be increased with the use of Function Fiber Routing Fiber Switching Wave & SpecWave & SpecWave routing lighter cable specifically trum trum designed for regional Switching Switching systems. While most Components BU BU incl. Fiber BU + WSS BU + 3D WSS BU including transoceanic network are Switch ROADM ROADM coupler OADM implemented with 17 Schematic mm or higher diameter cable, a 14 mm solution has proven that it connectivity solutions, a large panel of products has been can deliver the highest level of resilience through several developed in the recent years in the industry and enables to deployments around the globe. adjust the design of each landing: Thanks to the development of SDM and 16 Fiber Pairs • Branching units with broadcast/coupling associated with cables, associated with relatively short distances, tremenunrepeated branch for low capacity landings, maximum a dous capacities of more than 300 Tb/s can be deployed on few channels. This technology is widely used for connecsuch system. When Branching Units are equipped with optical switches, topology can be adjusted during the full system lifetime, by example to deliver extra capacity associated to the installation of a hyper-scale data center close to one of the landings. In terms of
Figure 5: Topology simplification with 3D ROADM in a highly meshed network
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Figure 6: Main functional blocks of Submarine Network Management
tion of Oil & Gas platforms to repeated system trunks, • Branching units associated with WSS (Wavelength Selective Switch) ROADM units. That enable fine-grain configuration of the adding and dropping functionality, down to the channel. Various options are available: » Traditional WSS ROADM units close to the BU, with 2 fiber pairs towards the landing, » Innovative 3D WSS ROADM that delivers full traffic flexibility but offers significant savings on long branches with a single fiber pair, » ROADM functionality on-shore, as part of the Cable Station equipment, which is usually associated with a very short branch. • Fiber Pair switching inside a branching unit, to deliver a fully scalable and configurable system and be able to reconfigure system topology to handle to traffic pattern adjustments following major business changes. In addition to the cost-efficiency generated by the reduction of number of
fiber pairs, the 3D WSS ROADM also enables a significant simplification of network topology. In addition to the connectivity under the water, several regional systems also integrate terrestrial segment, that require protection. Such protection can be delivered with traditional Optical Multiplex Section Protection (OMSP) over 2 routes or through a slightly more complex but more flexible protection using R-OADM recon-
Figure 7: Worldwide distribution of Regional (400-4,000 km) Submarine Systems
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FEATURE figuration. Regarding the terminal equipRegional - # of Systems per Year (RFS) ment, all options 14 developed in the 12 submarine industry can deliver benefits 10 to regional sys8 tems. Extra gains Long Haul in capacity can be Regional 6 achieved with latest Short Syst. 4 generation SLTEs that implement 2 grid-less architec0 tures and are able 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 to adjust capacity of each DLS with tunable baud-rate in the transponders. Regional systems can also be implementRegional - Total km having RFS each year ed as open systems, 18000 including the ability 16000 to share and resell bandwidth across 14000 the network thanks 12000 to robust bandwidth 10000 sharing mechanisms 8000 Regional in the terminal 6000 equipment. 4000 Such mix of 2000 technologies, as well as the need to 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 configure the flexible nodes that are spread across the network, puts more emphasize on the efficiency and ease-of-use of CHALLENGES OF REGIONAL SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION the network manager. The combination of “wet and dry� Even if some people may consider regional project as WSS devices across the system is generating the need for easier to implement due to their smaller size, many of those Band and Spectrum management features, which is a new system show unique complexity due to the blend of techdomain in Submarine System Management. A dedicated nology involved and the specificity of each landing. management system, specifically designed for submarine Even today, several systems that are implemented repreapplications, and able to provide a consistent view of all sent the first landing into a given country, island or region. segments of the Regional System (repeated, unrepeated, Seabed information may be less accurate than around backhaul), will provide significant savings when a fault the traditional landings of the large transoceanic systems materialize and need to be quickly and accurately diagand permitting process may be less mature than larger nosed and understood. countries. However, this lack of local experience is often balanced by the high motivation of the population and local governments.
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The development of new regional systems in areas without submarine cable experience also raise the question of the cable station infrastructure, that need to be constructed in the scope of the project. In this domain, modular construction technologies are now offering a faster and cost-effective alternative to brick-and-mortar construction. In case of an unrepeated landing, a module of the size of a large container is sufficient to accommodate the cable termination and terminal equipment. For a repeated system, PFE and associated infrastructure may require assembly of several modules. For such a deployment, the main difficulties are usually linked to the purchase of a proper piece of land and granting of the construction permit for CLS and land route. The reduced length of regional systems enables to load their cable to smaller size vessels, or even barges for the shallow water parts. Use of freighter is a standard practice for the projects that are quite remote from the cable factory.
THE MARKET AND ITS EVOLUTION
of the key drivers of such growth is the need for any country or territory to benefit from a high capacity and reliable access to the global internet; and that cannot be fulfilled by the traditional satellite dishes. In the following figure, you can see the quantity of systems that are announced RFS each year for the 3 categories of Unrepeated Links (below 400 km), Regional or Short Haul Systems (400 to 4,000 km) and Long-Haul Systems (over 4,000 km). If we transpose this figure into kilometers of cable that reach RFS each year in regional systems, it shows most years in the last two decades between 5,000 and 15,000 km, as shown in the figure below. A typical regional system is on average 1500 km long.
Technology is now providing to new system developers a large set of options, in order to tune the capacity and design for each landing and each category of business they want to address.
Some analyses have been conducted using the Q1/2020 Telegeography database, and considering any in-service system between 400km and 4000 km of cable, and considering RFS dates between 2000 and 2019. Regional systems represent a very large number of projects worldwide, and a non-negligible volume of cable production. They roughly represent one third of the in-service cable and 15% of the overall cable distance. In details, the sharing is the following: • Short (likely unrepeated) systems below 400 km represent 40% of the projects for 2% of the cable distance, • Regional Systems between 400 and 4000 km represent 35% of the projects for 15% of the cable distance, • Long-haul systems over 4000 km represent 25% of the projects for 83% of the cable distance. • Regional systems are quite widely deployed across the globe, despite some more dense areas in South & South East Asia, Europe and Caribbean. The sharing is the following for all projects since 2000, including the planned ones: Concerning the evolution of the number of systems per year, we can see cyclical figures like for the overall submarine industry, with a steady growth in the last 5 years. One
CONCLUSION
The market for regional systems remains very active, with an average number of 6 to 8 projects and about 10,000 km of new cables being added each year. Technology is now providing to new system developers a large set of options, in order to tune the capacity and design for each landing and each category of business they want to address. High fiber count SDM design, combination of repeated and unrepeated sections, wet plant flexibility, bandwidth sharing mechanisms, PoP-to-PoP architectures are all bringing significant benefits to the design of a regional system. When coming to the implementation phase, the context may be highly different between a remote island in the Pacific and the landing in a highly populated area in Europe or South East Asia. When required, construction of a new cable station and land cable route will require a special attention to secure the Plan of Work. In any case, communication with all the stakeholders is essential to ensure the success of the project. STF
JEAN-FRANCOIS BAGET joined Alcatel Submarine Network in 1994 and has been involved in various technical functions in design, integration and engineering. From 2007 to 2019, he has been leading the implementation of submarine network projects, both for new builds and upgrade project. He recently joined ASN product strategy, Management and Marketing group. His background covers Network Management, Optical Network Architecture and WDM transmission and he is PMI-PMP certified for project management.
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• Almanac Data Sets • Capacity Pricing • Data Center and Cable Market Studies • Market Sector Reports • Customized Reporting
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BACK REFLECTION THE MAN HISTORY FORGOT (PART 1) THE FIRST IN A LIMITED SERIES BY STEWART ASH AND BILL BURNS
R
egular readers of Back Reflection will know that after the 1858 failure of the first attempt to lay the Atlantic Telegraph, six years would pass before the next attempt could be organised. We know that Cyrus West Field (1819-92) continued to campaign ceaselessly for it, and that after the collapse of the Red Sea cable project, the British Government and the Atlantic Telegraph Co set up a joint committee to inquire into the construction of submarine telegraph cables under the Chairmanship of Captain Douglas Strutt Galton (1822-99). The Committee had its first meeting on 1 December 1859 and the final report was issued in April 1861. However, little progress was made in gaining support for a second attempt at laying an Atlantic cable until Cyrus Field convinced John Pender (1816-96) to re-join the board of the Atlantic Telegraph Co, a conversation which took place during a walk from Pender’s residence, 18 Arlington Street, to the Houses of Parliament. Shortly afterwards, in 1864, Pender founded the Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Co. Very little was known or had been written about what went on in the interim. However, just before the Covid-19 lockdown, we were contacted by Caroline Oldridge, a great-granddaughter of James Stuart-Wortley (1805-81), and she provided us with a collection of documents that sheds a great deal
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James Stuart-Wortley as a young man by George Hayter
The Rt. Hon. James Stuart-Wortley c. 1835-37 by Thomas Phillips, R.A. (1770-1845)
more light on the important six years from 1858 to 1864 which resulted in the successful completion of two Atlantic cables in 1866. Over the next few issues we will relate the previously untold story of this remarkable man’s significant contribution to the success of the 1865 and 1866 Atlantic Telegraph cables. James Archibald Stuart-Wortley was born in St James’s Square, London, on 3 July 1805, the youngest son of James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (1776-1845), 1st Baron Wharncliffe, and his second wife Elizabeth, Caroline Mary née Crichton (1779-1856), who he had married in 1799. She was the daughter of John Crichton (1731-1828), 1st Earl Erne. The house in which he was born belonged to Frederick William Hervey (1769-1856), 5th Earl of Bristol, the younger brother of Baron Wharncliffe’s first wife, Lady Mary Caroline née Hervey (1753-1842). They had married in 1776 and later separated. James’ father was Lord Privy Seal under Robert Peel (1788-1850), a soldier and the son of Prime Minister John Stuart (1713-92), 3rd Earl of Bute, so James was very much a member of the British upper class establishment. He was educated at Harrow before going up to Christ Church College, Oxford, where he became President of the Union Debating Society. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1826 and a Master of Arts in 1831.
He was called to the Bar of the Inner Temple and went on the Northern Circuit before ‘taking silk’ as Queen’s Counsel in 1841. Later that year he went to Paris to ‘perfect his French’ and there, in October 1841, at a reception held by the British Ambassador in Paris, Sir Edward Charles Blount (1809-1905), and his wife, Lady Gertrude Frances née Jerningham (1811-97), he met for the first time the woman who five years later would become his wife. He would not see her again for two years. In 1844 he was appointed Standing Counsel to the Bank of England and in 1845 he became Solicitor General to the Queen Dowager, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (1792-1849), a position he held until her death. In January 1846 he became Judge-Advocate-General, a ministerial office he held until July that year, when the Government of Robert Peel was defeated. In May 1844, James’ elder brother, Charles James Stuart-Wortley Mackenzie (b.1802), came to visit him at his London residence in Grosvenor Street. Typically, as a second son, Charles had opted for a career in the army, later becoming a Captain in the Barnsley Troop of the Southern Regiment (West Riding) of the Yorkshire Yeomanry before taking up a political career. On 17 February 1831, he had married Lady Emmeline Charlotte Elizabeth Manners (1806-55), daughter of Henry John Manners (17781857), 5th Duke of Rutland, and they had had three children. Tragically, aged just 42, Charles died at James’ house on 22 May. A source based on family letters indicates that his early death
was ‘due to the effects of a hunting accident’ suffered before his marriage. We have been unable to clarify this any further, but if it was indeed the result of an incident relating to horses, he would not be the last Stuart-Wortley to be struck down by an equestrian accident. Further family bereavement followed on 19 December 1845 when James’ father died. His eldest brother, John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (1801-1855), then became the 2nd Baron Wharncliffe. Up to this point John had had a distinguished political career; between 1823 and 1830 he had been MP for Bossiney, in Cornwall, then from 1830 to 1831 he was MP for Perth Burghs in Scotland and in 1841 had been elected as MP for his home constituency of the West Riding of Yorkshire. He had served under the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), as Secretary of the Board
Wortley Hall July 2020 (Courtesy of Tim Oldridge) Jane Lawley in 1846 by Sir Francis Grant
of Control in 1830 and then, under Robert Peel, had been Under Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1834 to 1835. On succeeding his father, he took up his seat in the House of Lords, inheriting the family estates around the village of Wortley to the south of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, including the Manor House, Wortley Hall. The original house dates from 1586 and was built by Sir Francis Wortley (1591-1652), 1st Baronet, but was significantly remodelled in the 18th century. On 25 April 1846, at St George’s Hanover Square, James Stuart-WortJULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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ley finally married Jane Lawley, née Thompson (1820-1900), the daughter of Paul Beilby Lawley Thompson (1784-1852), 1st Baron Wenlock, and Caroline née Neville (1790-1868). Born on 5 December 1820, Jane was 15 years his junior and an excellent horsewoman, so as a wedding present, James commissioned a portrait of her by Scottish portrait painter Sir Francis Grant (1803-78) PRA. The painting shows Jane mounted on a white Arabian horse from the Godolphin blood line. That same year James was sworn in as a Privy Councillor. James Stuart-Wortley’s political career had begun in 1832, when he stood in the General Election as a Conservative candidate for Halifax, but was defeated. He stood again in 1835 and was elected as MP for Halifax, but held that seat for only two years, being defeated in the 1837 General Election. Then in 1842 he was elected as MP for Bute, in Scotland, where he retained the seat through three General Elections. He resigned this seat in 1859 in order to mount an eventually unsuccessful campaign to become the Conservative MP for the West Riding of Yorkshire, his home county. Following his defeat by much younger Liberal candidates, he had no further involvement in politics. After his marriage, his legal career had continued upwards. In September 1850 he was appointed Recorder of the City of London, a position he held for six years. During this period, he sat as a Judge in the Central Criminal Court and the Mayor’s Civil Court. From November 1856 to May 1857, he was Solicitor-General of England
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and Wales under Prime Minister Henry John Temple (1784-865), 3rd Viscount Palmerston. He had intended to resign as Solicitor-General before the opening of the new Parliament at the end of April 1857, with a view to becoming a candidate for the office of Speaker of the House of Commons, for which he had the support of the
The Right Hon. J.A. Stuart-Wortley M.P. Illustrated London News 9 November 1850
Government. However, most unfortunately, in late February 1857 while James was out riding with his brother-in-law, his horse slipped on the ice and he was thrown onto the high road, suffering a severe spinal injury. The full story of James’ injury did not emerge until some years after his death. In the 1920s his son Charles Beilby Stuart-Wortley (1851-1926), 1st Baron Stuart of Wortley and daughter Caroline Susan Theodora
Grosvenor (1858-1940) CBE, began to compile a book on the life of their grandmother, ‘The First Lady Wharncliffe,’ largely based on a collection of family letters. After her brother’s death on 24 April 1926, Caroline completed the draft and it was published later that year. While the chronology of the book ends in 1856 with the death of Lady Wharncliffe, the last chapter, which describes James Stuart-Wortley’s activities between 1844 and 1856, does have a brief summary of his life after the accident and includes this description of his illness: ‘The career which had begun so brilliantly was gravely interrupted in the winter of 1856-57. Riding one frosty day, James’s horse slipped and came down with him, injuring his spine. Owing to his wife’s illness at the time, he took no remedial measures until it was too late, and a very severe illness ensued. In April 1857 he resigned the Solicitor-Generalship. Meanwhile, the Speakership, which had fallen vacant about the time of his accident, was kept open for him for some weeks.’ In her 1979 book ‘A Scrap Screen’, Alice Caroline Helen de L’Aigle Buchan (1908-93), daughter of John de L’Aigle Buchan (1874-1940), 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (author of The Thirty-Nine Steps and later Governor General of Canada), and great-granddaughter of James Stuart-Wortley, provides further details of the incident (‘Jem’ was the family’s sobriquet for James): ‘Because Jane was recovering from confinement the brothers agreed that she must know nothing about Jem’s fall: she never forgave them for it. He put up with the pain of his back for nearly a month never letting her see how much it hurt
him, until the pain became too severe to be any longer hidden. For a long time he was extremely ill. He revived but as a changed man, no longer his old optimistic self. From family letters it is seen that this change in him from sunshine to darkness terrified the children. Modern medical opinion gives it that he had broken his back…’
‘There appears to be a difficulty about the Speakership. It had been intended to
Jane was recovering from her confinement for their daughter Blanche, born 18 December 1856, and from date evidence in various sources we believe that the accident must have happened in late February, as newspaper reports about his health only began appearing in the middle of March 1857. Just before this an article on his recent re-election as MP for Bute had appeared in The Right Hon. Mr. Stuart-Wortley, M.P for Bute Illustrated the Illustrated London News issue of London News 21 Feb 1857 21 February 1857, together with a woodblock engraving of the gentleman in his prime. As well as this initial delay in letting his wife know about the accident, Stuart-Wortley was clearly also hiding the true nature of his injuries from the public, and it was not until 16 March 1857 that this first notice of his illness appeared in the Morning Chronicle: Upper Sheen House/East ‘At a late hour on Saturday Sheen Lodge G. Montbard (14 March), on enquiry, we were informed that the hon. and learned gentleman was danpropose Mr. Stuart Wortley, the Solicigerously ill, but his medical attendants tor-General, and he would have been a considered that a favourable change had taken place, and that the crisis of his mal- very good candidate. But, unhappily, he has suffered from very severe illness; his ady (brain fever) had taken place.’ election is being conducted in his absence, and it would be impossible for him to By the end of March newspapers undertake the continuous and arduous were reporting:
duties of the Speakership.’ Some improvement in his condition was reported in April, and he held out hope that while he could not stand for the Speakership, he might be able to remain as Solicitor-General. However, by the first week of May rumours were circulating that he was about to resign, and over the next few weeks it became clear that he was not going to be fit enough to continue working at all. He resigned as Solicitor-General at the end of May and was replaced by Henry Singer Keating (1804-88), but stayed on as MP for Bute, although he performed no public duties for the rest of the year and into 1858. By August 1857 it was reported that he had ‘recovered from his serious attack of illness, the only effects remaining being a slight weakness’. He and his wife then spent the winter of 1857/58 in Italy in the hopes of his condition improving further, and in April 1858 this news item was published: ‘The Right Hon. Stuart Wortley M.P., former recorder of London, and afterwards Solicitor-General, has returned from Italy, after passing the winter in that genial climate for his health. We are happy to say that the health of the of the right hon. gentleman is entirely renovated, and that he is now able to attend to his duties in the House of Commons.’ Following the accident, it is quite likely that he was using strong painkillers to try to keep the severity of his condition from the public and keep up the appearance of a normal JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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BACK REFLECTION
life. At the time, in the absence of any alternatives, opium and opium derivatives such as laudanum were used as a cure-all, and these could be addictive, so chronic pain and the side effects of these unregulated medications might explain the dark moods that he is reported in family documents to have suffered from periodically over the coming years. It is also possible that a broken vertebra was in contact with his spinal-cord, which would, whether through manipulation or serendipity, occasionally move, giving him short periods of relief, but initially his physical condition was extremely poor. A Scrap Screen continues: ‘ Years later a daughter was to set down: “I cannot write of the long miserable years when between bouts of illness there were sometimes months of apparent recovery when hopes rose high, only to be crushed again.”’ ‘Jane did not leave him by day or night during the worst weeks and months of his illness for more than an hour or two. He became to depend on her step, her voice, her touch. Sheltered as all Victorian women of her class were, she had never had any dealings with money, but when Jem could only raise an arm with pain to scrawl a feeble signature and reading hurt his eyes, she took upon herself the sole management of their affairs. As he could no longer practice law, the house in Carlton Gardens had to be sold.’ His physical limitations severely reduced his income, and in 1858 he had to sell their large house at No. 3 Carlton Gardens and move the family to Upper Sheen House (also known as East Sheen Lodge), in Mortlake,
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south-west London. It was from there that his active involvement in the Atlantic Telegraph Co would begin, and his strategy to raise capital for a new Atlantic Telegraph would be executed. Given his physical condition, it is remarkable what he went on to achieve over the next eight years. The First Lady Wharncliffe summarizes the rest of his life in just two short sentences: ‘An interval of better health ensued, during which, in 1859, James became a candidate for the West Riding of Yorkshire, but was beaten by Sir J. W. Ramsden and Sir Francis Crossley. Once more his health failed him, paralysis set in, and for the rest of his life he was entirely disabled.’ As we shall see, this is far from the truth! STF
BILL BURNS is an English electronics engineer who worked for the BBC in London after graduation before moving to New York in 1971. There he spent a number of years in the high-end audio industry, during which time he wrote many audio, video, and computer equipment reviews, along with magazine articles on subjects as diverse as electronic music instruments and the history of computing. His research for these articles led to a general interest in early technology, and in the 1980s he began collecting instruments and artifacts from the fields of electricity and communications. In 1994 a chance find of a section of the 1857 Atlantic cable inspired a special interest in undersea cable history, and soon after he set up the first version of the Atlantic Cable website <https://atlantic-cable. com>, which now has over a thousand pages on all aspect of undersea communications from 1850 until the present. Bill’s interest in cable history has taken him to all of the surviving telegraph cable stations around the world, and to archives and museums in North America and Europe. He has presented papers on subsea cable history at a number of conferences, and in 2008 he instigated and helped organize
the 150th Anniversary Celebration for the 1858 Atlantic cable at the New-York Historical Society. Most recently, in 2016 he was involved with the celebrations in London, Ireland and Newfoundland to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1866 Atlantic cable.
Since graduating in 1970, STEWART ASH has spent his entire career in the submarine cable industry. He joined STC Submarine Systems as a development engineer, working on coaxial transmission equipment and submarine repeater design. He then transferred onto field engineering, installing coaxial submarine cable systems around the world, attaining the role of Shipboard Installation Manager. In 1986, he set up a new installation division to install fibre optic submarine systems. In 1993, he joined Cable & Wireless Marine, as a business development manager and then move to an account director role responsible for, among others the parent company, C&W. When Cable & Wireless Marine became Global Marine Systems Ltd in 1999, he became General Manager of the engineering division, responsible for system testing, jointing technology and ROV operation. As part of this role he was chairman of the UJ Consortium. He left Global Marine in 2005 to become an independent consultant, assisting system purchasers and owners in all aspects of system procurement, operations, maintenance and repair. Stewart’s interest in the history of submarine cables began in 2000, when he project managed a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the submarine cable industry. As part of this project he co-authored and edited From Elektron to ‘e’ Commerce. Since then he has written and lectured extensively on the history of the submarine cable industry. From March 2009 to November 2015 he wrote Back Reflection articles for SubTel Forum. In 2013 he was invited to contribute the opening chapter to Submarine Cables: The Handbook of Law and Policy, which covered the early development of the submarine cable industry. To support the campaign to save Enderby House—a Grade II listed building—from demolition, in 2015 he wrote two books about the history of the Telcon site at Enderby Wharf on the Greenwich Peninsula in London. The first was The Story of Subsea Telecommunications and its Association with Enderby House, and the second was The Eponymous Enderby’s of Greenwich. His biography of Sir John Pender GCMG The Cable King was published by Amazon in April 2018.
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THANK YOU SubTel Forum wishes a Thank You and Fond Farewell to José Chesnoy, author of the Back Reflection article since Issue 88 in 2016.
BACK REFLECTION: • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Antibes Port-Grimaud: A World First in Optical Fiber Communication Shark Threats Retrospective of Submarine Upgrades The Origin of the Optical Cable Cable Recovery and Relay: An Old Story The Epic of Forward Error Correction in Submarine Cables Cable Factory to the Beach Retrospective of Wet Plant Supervision Forward Looking 30 Years Ago The “Light Years” of the Bubble 1998-2005 EDFA Blooming: The Fall of the Barricades Our Digital Revolution is Enabled by Analog Submarine Cables! Submarine Optical Fiber Simpler is Better
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The List Goes On…
ISSUE 92 | GLOBAL OUTLOOK GLOBAL OUTLOOK EDITION
93 | FINANCE & LEGAL FINANCE &ISSUE LEGAL EDITION
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SUBSEA CAPACITY EDITION ISSUE 94 | SUBSEA CAPACITY
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OFFSHORE ENERGY EDITION
REGIONAL SYSTEMS EDITION
SYSTEM UPGRADES & NEW TECHNOLOGY EDITION
November 2017
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
January 2018
FINANCE & LEGAL
March 2018
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FORUM ISSUE 100 | MAY 2018
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THE 100TH ISSUE
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FORUM ISSUE 104 | JANUARY 2019
SUBMARINE TELECOMS
FORUM ISSUE 105 | MARCH 2019
SubOptic 2019 PREVIEW
GLOBAL OUTLOOK FORUM ISSUE 108 | SEPTEMBER 2019
OFFSHORE
ENERGY
SUBMARINE TELECOMS
FORUM ISSUE 109 | NOVEMBER 2019
DATA CENTERS AND
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ISSUE 103 | NOVEMBER 2018
17TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
OFFSHORE ENERGY SUBMARINE TELECOMS
FORUM ISSUE 106 | MAY 2019
DATA CENTERS AND NEW
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FORUM ISSUE 107 | JULY 2019
NOT TO MISS!
FINANCE and LEGAL
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ISSUE 102 | SEPTEMBER 2018
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REGIONAL SYSTEMS
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FORUM ISSUE 110 | JANUARY 2020
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
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FORUM ISSUE 111 | MARCH 2020
FINANCE & LEGAL JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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CONTINUING EDUCATION
CONTINUING EDUCATION - ONLINE! BY SEAN BERGIN
I
would like to start off this blog with a big thank you to all who have supported the PTC Academy over the last three years. It has been fantastic to watch it evolve and grow over time. The most recent 2019 PTC Academy course was a great success, and the students that attended provided constructive feedback, which helped us to improve the curriculum and backroom processes. In spite of the challenges facing us with COVID-19 and the subse-
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quent inability to travel, we have been working hard on reformatting the program so that PTC can continue
to deliver the Academy coursework in an online format. PTC plans on holding multiple courses to provide
In spite of the challenges facing us with COVID-19 and the subsequent inability to travel, we have been working hard on reformatting the program so that PTC can continue to deliver the Academy coursework in an online format.
Historically, each Academy has been delivered in person over a three-day period. Given the constraints of online delivery, we have chosen to take a different approach and plan on presenting the coursework as eight distinct modules in 90-minute blocks, delivered over a 2.5-week period.
options for students in various time zones, with the first course in September for Asian-based students and another course in November for U.S.based students. Historically, each Academy has been delivered in person over a threeday period. Given the constraints of online delivery, we have chosen to take a different approach and plan on presenting the coursework as eight distinct modules in 90-minute blocks, delivered over a 2.5-week period. This will enable the students and presenters to maintain their work commitments while gaining valuable accredited
training from the comfort of their home or office. We have a great lineup of presenters this year donating their time to deliver the curriculum and we are all very excited about this new format. In parallel, the team at PTC has also undertaken a great deal of work in conjunction with Submarine Telecoms Forum, to secure accreditation for the PTC Academy coursework. Submarine Telecoms Forum is an IACET-accredited continuing education provider that allows them to authorize the PTC Academy coursework and administer Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits for students completing the PTC Academy curriculum. A CEU is a unit of credit that is equal to 10 hours of participation in an accredited program designed for professionals with certificates or licenses to practice various professions. We encourage senior executives to send their rising stars to the PTC Academy in 2020! If you are already part of the PTC
Academy Alumni, please help support this PTC Outreach Initiative by telling your colleagues and management about this year’s new exciting courses and format. More details can be found here: https://www.ptc.org/ptc-academy. STF SEAN BERGIN is based in APTelecom’s Asian headquarters in Cambodia. Bergin has been instrumental in building APTelecom into a globally recognized leader in telecom and fiber consulting, elevating from a start-up business to an award-winning global organization which has generated over USD 195 million in sales for clients. Bergin has significant management experience at both national and international levels. Along with APTelecom Co-Founder and CEO Eric Handa, Bergin has generated over half a billion dollars in sales for clients throughout his career. Bergin is a Vice President and member of the Board of Governors for the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) and is a frequent speaker and panelist within the ICT sector.
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SUBMARINE CABLE NEWS NOW CABLE FAULTS & MAINTENANCE
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY
Internet Back to Normal in Vietnam As Cable Fixed
Facebook to Deliver Over $200B in Economic Benefits
Cable Faults Impact Internet in Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos
Seaborn Charts Course After Emergence from Chapter 11
Telecom Disruptions Caused by DNS Issues
MainOne Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary
Vietnam Internet Speed Sluggish Till Early June
Samoa Eyes International Telecommunications Business
CURRENT SYSTEMS
Vodafone, TPG Merger Gets Shareholder Approval Omantel Partners With CMI for Its Third Pop in Middle East
JGA North Cable System Is Ready for Service
SGS Extends Agreement with Global Cloud Xchange
HK Govt Disappointed With US Submarine Cable Denial
Africa Telcos Threatened As Facebook, Google Plan Cable
Justice Dept Opposes Google, Facebook Cable to HK
U.S.-Japan Dueling China for Influence in Indo-Pacific
Hawaiki Activates Upgrade to US Connectivity With Ciena
Digicel Offers Pacific Business As Security in Restructuring
HAWAIKI, ASH, ASTCA Form Pacific Broadband Alliance
DATA CENTERS
SUBTEL FORUM SubTel Cable Map – June 15, 2020 Changelog
Interxion Announces the Opening of MRS3 Data Center
Submarine Cable Almanac – Issue 34 Out Now!
Microsoft to Improve Azure Capacity
Technology & Upgrades
HGC Launches a New PoP in Bangkok
AAE-1 Doubles Capacity with Infinera
Equinix Acquires 13 Bell Data Center Sites in Canada MainOne Starts Construction of MDXi Data Center
FUTURE SYSTEMS Cable to Andaman & Nicobar Islands Gets Green Approval Montserrat’s Subsea Cable Connectivity Completed EllaLink, EMACOM Launch SMART Cable Initiative Chorus Deploys New Submarine Cable to Waiheke Island ASN to Deploy Second New Caledonia Submarine Cable Asia Direct Cable Consortium to Build Submarine Cable Maldives to Replace Outdated Submarine Cable: Govt HMN Completes Marine Survey of MSC System PNG Dataco Says Kumul Submarine Cable Network Lands in Bougainville PNG DataCo Lands Kumul Cable in East New Britain
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ADVERTISER CORNER Dear Readers,
I
n what feels like another blink of an eye, July is here, and I am grateful to be writing this piece from my office, at my desk. It is a funny notion; I had not once considered how much I valued the consistency and stability of being able to leave my house and drive to my dedicated workspace. We opened our office again some 4 weeks ago with masks adorned and hand sanitizer at every entrance. We few on-site staff lock ourselves away from the rest of the building, emerging only to find some local drive-thru or delivery for lunch at some of the few local restaurants still open. With restrictions, it is a semblance of a return to our “normal”, even if a small one. Anecdotally, I feel as if the industry at large is beginning to wake up from its hibernation, that we are all beginning to emerge from our own proverbial caves. Quantifiably, we have our greatest number of advertisers since this whole COVID mess started! There is no other way to say it, THANK YOU for your trust and faith in this Magazine and what we do. Without the supportive dollars of our advertisers, and their amazing marketing teams, there would not be a Magazine to read. Speaking of marketing opportunities, this year is going to a slim one for the conference crowd. If you spend the majority of your time in the air like so many of us, the remainder of this year is going to be a quiet one. So we’re faced with a tough question – how do we as an industry keep our brands in the public eye? Fret not, let us help! SubTel Forum is read in every major office and by every
decision maker in the industry. Our last demographics survey identified that over 60% of our readership has high influence or final decision-making power for purchasing in their companies. Be seen in the industry, show the world that you are still here – advertise with SubTel Forum!
SUBTEL FORUM ANALYTICS
I would be remiss to not mention the extraordinary effort the analysts of SubTel Forum. In the past weeks they have performed the monumental task of contacting owners, suppliers and any stakeholders on current and planned cable systems all to update the Submarine Cable Database. What is the Submarine Cable Database? Some ten years ago I started a spreadsheet so that I could edify myself on the submarine cable industry, if you were in the industry then you know well how tight-lipped we were. As we had just released the STF News Now
Kristian Nielsen Vice President
feed, I was uniquely placed to glean as much public domain information about cable systems as possible. Since then, the Database has grown into a massive entity consisting of over 500 current and planned systems detailed by over 60 unique data fields. This database fuels nearly every SubTel Forum publication, including the Cable Map, Almanac and Market Sector Reports. Every quarter, we validate our data with owners, suppliers, consultants – anyone that would have firsthand knowledge of a cable system. Good news, our Analysts have just completed the latest validation! You can purchase a version of the data collected in the Submarine Cable Dataset found here: subtelforum.com/product/submarine-cable-dataset. Buying the Dataset grants access to that data for one (1) whole year, you benefit from our quarterly updates at no extra cost. And even better, we are running a promotion for $500 off any Report through the end of July. Use REMOTE in the cart during your checkout to take advantage of the code. The data is current, validated and best yet, on sale! With that, Submarine Cable Industry, I bid you good health and good fortunes. Let’s get back to work. STF Humbly yours,
Kristian Nielsen Vice President JULY 2020 | ISSUE 113
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