SubTel Forum Issue #15 - Tenacity in Submarine Telecoms
FORUMSubmarineTelecoms
Submarine Telecoms Forum is published quarterly by WFN Strategies, L.L.C. The publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the permission of the publishers.
Submarine Telecoms Forum is an independent commercial publication, serving as a freely accessible forum for professionals in industries connected with submarine optical fibre technologies and techniques.
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.
The publisher cannot be held responsible for any views expressed by contributors, and the editor reserves the right to edit any advertising or editorial material submitted for publication.
Contributions are welcomed. Please forward to the Managing Editor: Wayne F. Nielsen, WFN Strategies, 19471 Youngs Cliff Road, Suite 100, Potomac Falls, Virginia 20165, USA.
Tel: +[1] 703 444-2527, Fax:+[1] 703 444-3047.
Email: WNielsen@SubTelForum.com
General Advertising
Tel: +[1] 703 444 2527
Email: Advertising@SubTelForum.com
Designed and produced by Ted Breeze
Exordium
Welcome to the 15th edition of SubTel Forum, hitting smack-dab in the middle of one of the most exciting seasons of the Tour de France in many years.
I must admit that my interest in the “Tour” has been piqued by this year’s potential record setting endeavors of one particular Texan, who by incredible staying power, resolute focus, and sheer will in overcoming so many would-be terminal obstacles, may very well set a new and seemingly unbreakable consecutive win record.
I mention this incredible competitor for one simple reason: I think we could all learn something about tenacity from Lance Armstrong, and in today’s roller-coaster market mood swings, maybe tenacity is what will see the survivor through.
In this issue John Pockett discusses performance measurement, and Paul Grant reveals the power of spatial data management using GIS. We continue the serialization of From Elektron to ‘E’ Commerce, a unique tome covering the industry’s first 150 years. And for the first time, we have included an Author’s Index, dating back some 31 months, or the last 14 issues.
STF and SubOptic are conducting our 2nd annual pulse taking, asking you the industry to spend a few moments to describe your thoughts, concerns and hopes for our market, and as before, we will publish these results in the Autumn. Thanks to those who have already responded.
Happy riding and see you in the peloton,
Wayne Nielsen
BT Plans Investment in Americas Region
BT announced plans to continue investment in the Americas and its growth strategy in the region.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/6_june_2004.htm
C&W IDC Wins IP-VPN Contract
Cable & Wireless IDC has supplied an international IP-VPN QoS network to Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd., the leading producer of mobile telephone capacitors.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/6_june_2004.htm
Carriers Describe Malaysia-Indonesia Cable
Telekom Malaysia and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk. have signed the Construction and Maintenance Agreement and Supply Contract of the new Dumai - Melaka Cable System.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 6_june_2004.htm
East African Telecom Project to Invite Tenders
Five international companies will be invited to tender for the project to develop a submarine cable on the East African coastline, according to published reports.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 4_july_2004.htm
Esat BT Adds VoIP Services in Ireland
Esat BT is pioneering innovative converged solutions with the introduction of the first hosted voiceover-IP (VOIP) services in Ireland.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 6_june_2004.htm
Etisalat Executive Expresses Confidence
In an address delivered to attendees of the Connect Telecom Summit in Dubai, Khalid Al Kaf, reaffirmed Etisalat’s vision to set the industry standards
A synopsis of current news items from NewsNow, the weekly news feed available on the Submarine Telecoms Forum website.
of technology and service, maintaining its leading position as the region’s pioneer.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 6_june_2004.htm
FLAG, VSNL Reach Agreement on Capacity to India
FLAG Telecom and VSNL have reached agreement for the sale of capacity on the FLAG Europe Asia (FEA) cable system into/from India.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 11_july_2004.htm
Global Crossing Details Bridge Financing
Global Crossing has announced that it has received the first $40 million installment under its bridge financing agreement of $100 million from an affiliate of Singapore Technologies Telemedia.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 6_june_2004.htm
Global Crossing Reports Investigation Completed
Global Crossing announced that Deloitte & Touche LLP has completed an independent investigation of circumstances giving rise to the company’s understatement of cost of access liabilities and expenses.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 28_june_2004.htm
Global and Phoenix Form Vantage Subsea, Inc.
Vantage Subsea Services is the joint venture formed to offer offshore Oil & Gas customers in the Gulf of Mexico high quality, cost effective services through technically superior and unique equipment.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 6_june_2004.htm
Golden Telecom Buys Carrier in Uzbekistan
Golden Telecom, Inc. has announced that it has closed the acquisition of 54% of the shares of SP
Buzton, Uzbekistan’s leading alternative telecom operator.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 6_june_2004.htm
Installation Begins on Tata Indicom Cable
Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System achieved another milestone as the CS Tyco Durable departed to commence laying the 3,175 km cable on May 15.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 6_june_2004.htm
International Telecom Announces Multi-Cable Project Deal
International Telecom has been selected to install six marine cables connecting the mainland to several islands in British Columbia.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 6_june_2004.htm
IT Announces Cable Maintenance Program
International Telecom Inc. has announced the new SENTINEL Cable Maintenance Program.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 28_june_2004.htm
KT Submarine Launches Cable Ship
KT Submarine, a subsidiary of KT, announced that they launched Badaro, which the company says is the world’s largest cable operation ship (12,500 tons), on May 18 at the Seohang Pier in Woryeongdong, Masan, to start business in the submarine cable construction market in earnest.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 13_june_2004.htm
New Venture to Serve International Carriers
Responding to an urgent need in the international telecom arena, a group of senior telecom executives and advisors recently announced the formation of a unique business service company called NavaTel LLC based in White Plains, New York.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 11_july_2004.htm
New World Network Announces Changes
New World Network, Ltd. completed its review of company’s strategic corporate and marketing plans.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 11_july_2004.htm
Nexans Picked to Supply Cables for COGIM
Nexans has been chosen by International Telecom Inc. to supply the cables that will connect La Gaspésie with les Îles-de-la Madeleine, in Canada.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 13_june_2004.htm
Omantel Signs on with FALCON
Omantel, the national telecom operator in Oman, has signed a dual landing station agreement for the FALCON cable system.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 6_june_2004.htm
Omantel, Etisalat Talk
A session of official talks was held on Omantel premises recently between Omantel and the UAE’s Etisalat dealing with telecom and horizons for future cooperation between the two companies.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 4_july_2004.htm
Phoenix
International
Expands Services
Phoenix International, Inc., announced that it has augmented its inventory of One-Atmosphere Diving Systems (ADS) by taking delivery of two more 1,200 fsw depth rated HardsuitTM 1200 diving suits.
Song Networks Holding AB has announced that its Finnish subsidiary, Song Networks Oy, and CJS
TransTeleCom have signed an agreement for interconnection of networks.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 28_june_2004.htm
Telstra and PCCW Resolve REACH Debt
Telstra Corporation Limited and PCCW Limited have agreed with REACH’s banking syndicate to buy REACH’s US$1.2 billion term loan facility for US$311 million.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 28_june_2004.htm
Tiscali Picks Level 3
Level 3 Communications, Inc. has announced that it has signed agreements to supply optical wavelength services to Tiscali International Network BV. www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 4_july_2004.htm
VSNL Launches Services Using SEA-ME-WE-3
VSNL Lanka Limited (VLL) has announced the formal launch of its telecom voice and data services in Sri Lanka.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/ 13_june_2004.htm
International Submarine Cable Systems Map 2004 Edition
SubTel Forum and T Soja and Associates are making available the industry’s first comprehensive worldwide submarine cables map in over three tumultuous years.
• Accurate and detailed picture of the world’s major existing and planned submarine cables
• Landing point references on the Caribbean, Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean, Asian and SubAsian coasts
• Color distinguished cable routing of all major operational or under construction systems
Available laminated for wall mounting and mark-ups, or in electronic form, the Submarine Telecoms Forum International Submarine Cable Systems Map is today’s “must-have” system planning resource.
pdf Version$350 inc shipping
Printed and Electronic Versions$465 inc shipping www.subtelforum.com/catalog/maps_279992_products.htm
call +1 703 444 2527
Emails to the Editor
An excellent issue - as always, and Stewart Ash’s article reminded me of my grandfather’s time as regional manager in a number of overseas posts with the Eastern Telegraph Company (a forerunner of Cable & Wireless).
The Forum has just got to be the best-informed telecoms industry newsletter available.
Alastair MacDonald
TMS International Ltd
Let me pass on my compliments on the map ... I’m going to get it framed for our conference room in short order.
Elaine Stafford
Submarine Telecoms Industry Survey
SubOptic and Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine are co-sponsoring the second annual Submarine Telecoms Industry Survey, the results of which will be shared online and published in an upcoming issue. One lucky responder will receive a free laminated copy of the 2004 edition of the
Submarine Telecoms Forum International Submarine Cable Systems Map, which was developed by Submarine Telecoms Forum Magazine in conjunction with T Soja and Associates, presenting the industry’s first comprehensive worldwide submarine cable map in over three tumultuous years.
Please take a moment to respond by printing these pages and sending by mail or fax to: WFN Strategies
19471 Youngs Cliff Road Suite 100, Potomac Falls Virginia 20165 USA
Fax [1] 704 444 3047
1.Which best describes you?
Academic Management
Marketing Other
Engineer/Project Manager
2.What best describes your business?
Cable owner System Integrator
Marine Surveyor Other
Cable Installer/Maintainer
3.How would you rate the content of Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine?
Excellent Unsatisfactory
Good Poor Satisfactory COMMENTS_____________________________
4.How would you rate the content of NewsNow and the STF website?
Excellent Unsatisfactory
Good Poor Satisfactory
COMMENTS_____________________________
5.Would you like to see any particular changes in Submarine Telecoms Forum or News-Now, or other information services?
6.Did you attend SubOptic 2004?
Yes No COMMENTS_____________________________
7.What did you find the most stimulating and relevant topic to be discussed at SubOptic?
8.If you did not attend, why, and do you have any immediate thoughts on what would change your mind for SubOptic 2007?
Continued on next page
9.Are business conditions improving or getting worse? Improving Worse COMMENTS
the
10.Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future?
11.Does your current business performance indicate that we are still in an industry recession?
12.How have client requirements changed over the last three years?
Nexans Norway AS P.O Box 130 Økern, N-0509, Oslo Norway
Tel: + 47 22 63 88 20
Fax: + 47 22 63 74 55
US Contact: Les Valentine
Tel. +1 281 578 6900
Fax: +1 281 578 6991
E-mail: les.valentine@nexans.com
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
The Power of Sp The Power of Sp The Power of Sp The Power of Sp The Power of Spa a a a atial tial tial tial tial
Da Da Da Da Dat t t t ta Management a Management a Management a Management a Management
R. Paul Grant, PE, Senior Manager of Engineering Services, GIS and Mapping, Tyco Telecommunications
Historically, the telecommunications industry has relied on maps for its data needs. Maps are simple, easily viewed and portable. However, maps and related documents standing alone are limited in their usefulness as they are simply static snapshots that capture a set of information at a single moment in time, and are in essence a form of data output. As an Undersea Cable Network Owner, System Supplier, or Cable Maintenance Authority, how do you manage your cable records? Assuming your records are correct at the system’s Ready For Service (RFS) date, can you guarantee that your data is correct on day 2 and on day 200 of operations?
Undersea network owners and operators generally use the same type of data on a daily basis. Route position lists, straight line diagrams, bathymetry, and geology data are all components of a comprehensive information set that describes the parameters of a specific cable network. However, what is not common
across the industry is the manner in which this data is managed and maintained.
If maps and cable records are to be considered as output, what is the input? Where can it be found? How is it stored? How is the data managed and maintained so as to be an effective planning and maintenance tool? The answer to these questions can be found in the definition of a spatial database. In its simplest form, a spatial database is nothing more than a relational database with the capability to manipulate and display geometry in a cartographic environment.
All of the data types above can be considered spatial data. Everyone in the telecommunications industry relies on this data for system planning, engineering and maintenance. Spatial data is information that can be related to a geographic location or reference point. Virtually any piece of information can be spatially referenced or linked to a spatially referenced object.
The Power of Effectively Managing Spatial Data
Take the convenience of a traditional, undersea fiber optic cable map. Combine it with a centrally located, spatial database. Then add a PC enabled Graphical User Interface (GUI) and all the elements are in place for a powerful data management tool that can provide an array of benefits to numerous members of the cable system “owner, operator, supplier spectrum”. System planners, designers, installers, manufacturers, operators and maintenance providers all serve to benefit from efficient use of a spatial data management application.
Consider a typical “as-laid” undersea cable system depicted on an undersea map showing bathymetry and geomorphology. With a static map, there is no way of verifying whether the information is current and accurate unless a map was recently created with the latest dataset. In most cases, it would require a concerted effort of numerous people across different functions
to verify that the various data components are current. This exemplifies why a map should be considered a static snapshot in time. Furthermore, unless explicitly stated on the map, there may be very limited details about the source of information used to generate the map. The map may contain basic information about the survey or instal-
lation company and the equipment used, but will likely not indicate that two surveys were subsequently conducted in the same geographic area, that there was recently a cable fault on an adjacent cable, or a surprisingly high number of reported fishing gear snags, which is where the benefits of a spatial database enters the picture.
If the source data used to create this static map were linked to a centrally located, spatial database, it is relatively easy to verify accuracy of the data and if any related entries or activities of interest exist. Verifying the accuracy and timeliness of the data can be done through a simple query to the spatial database. The terms “query” and “database” shouldn’t be terms that invoke fear into the typical PC user.. anyone who has ever found driving directions on the internet or looked up an employee’s telephone number over a corporate LAN is already an expert at performing database queries. Modern software applications make it easy and in many cases, transparent to the end user to perform complex queries. This simple search method can easily be applied to spatial data and, coupled with a GUI software package, the process can almost become enjoyable. Very similar to looking up driving directions, a mapping tool that utilizes a spatial database, search engine and a GUI, can efficiently search the available information and extract any related information. Cable crossings as opposed to road intersections are accurately identified. Nearest fault location as opposed to nearest restaurant is flagged as a point of interest. These are only a couple of examples that illustrate the ease, power and benefits. By leveraging the same technology that enables hundreds of millions of people around the world to surf the internet, a userfriendly spatial data management tool provides distinct benefits to the undersea cable industry.
Data About Data
The additional map details that were discussed above play a critical role in the power of spatial data. This information, called metadata, is nothing more than “data about data”, and can commonly be thought of as a way to catalog information in a manner that manages data characteristics such as content, origin, quality, and location.
In short, metadata is what gives spatial data its analytic power.
Metadata enables software applications to render maps in a “show me all cable systems that were installed by” format. This allows different users to look at the same data in ways specific to their interest or business process. This would be very difficult to do if map data was stored on paper or in a static, electronic format.
Maintaining a cable system would be easy if change wasn’t a factor but, the fact of the matter is, that this isn’t the case in the real world. A cable system is constantly interacting with and being affected by its environment.
Whether it is new cable systems being installed, local fishing activity, or earthquakes, there needs to be a mechanism in place that enables a quick response to all factors that influence and affect the ongoing operation of the network. Managing spatial data in a dynamic environment is an effective way of not only securing, but proactively protecting cable assets.
Geographic Information Systems
The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) goes hand in hand with the use and management of spatial data. A GIS is a computer system or collection of computers systems that can process, manipulate, archive, and retrieve spatially referenced information. GIS is no longer a stand alone application best left in the hands of geographers, cartographers and data specialists. GIS is an extension of everyday office productivity tools. The use of spatial or geographic data isn’t limited to generating a map or limited to one particular software vendor. Different users with different applications, all accessing a common data source, are the norm for modern day information systems.
The importance of a spatial data model in a GIS environment is easily illustrated in following example. Maintaining a cable system is dependent on being able to respond to a situation quickly and with accurate information. The ability to quickly gather information as part of a cable repair operation is critical to the successful maintenance and operation of the network. The goal is to maximize efficiency and minimize downtime.
In a “paper-based environment”, it could take several days, perhaps even weeks, to gather the necessary route positions lists, charts, fiber maps, straight line diagrams and similar documents in attempt to isolate the cable search area. Regardless of how well your documents are managed, valuable time is undoubtedly lost.
Paul Grant is currently the Senior Manager of Engineering Services, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Mapping at Tyco Telecommunications. During his employment at Tyco, Paul has managed the design, development and operation of Tyco Telecommunications’ proprietary in-house GIS system, TYSIMS.
TYSIMS was designed to manage the extensive amounts of internal cable and maintenance data that Tyco maintains by virtue of their leadership positions as both Undersea System Supplier and Marine Services provider.
Paul has a Bachelor’s Degree in Survey Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, Canada and is a registered professional engineer. Spatial information management has been at the center of his academic and professional achievements.
However, in a “GIS-based environment”, the data collection process is conducted in real time with a simple query. Using the metadata in your spatial database, a report is generated detailing all of the documents that have been found based
on your search criteria. From here, these documents can then be downloaded and packaged for the repair operations. Efficiency is further increased by having a mirror image of your spatial data and GIS running onboard the actual cable vessels themselves.
Once a repair is complete, results are verified and uploaded into GIS. A final customer report is easily generated in a format that is tailored to customer requirements, using a stored query that is based on customer specifications. The beauty of the process is that the information comes full circle. The GIS can be queried for a list of documents that have been affected by repair operations. Reports can then be generated as needed.
Summary
More and more, the members of the telecommunications industry demand real-time access to and distribution of reliable cable information. The issue of whether to use a paper-based approach as opposed to a digital method isn’t necessarily the crux of the matter, albeit an important one.
The critical issue question is how one can be certain that the information available and used for decision making is the most current, accurate and comprehensive available. In an industry that has gone from boom to bust to survival of the fittest, managing information in an efficient real-time manner like that employed by a GIS spatial data management tool will play an important role in a new era of system supply and maintenance.
P P P P P
ar ar ar ar ar tnering tnering tnering tnering tnering
Success Success Success Success Success
By John Pockett
Beat a service provider with a big stick when he fails and he will do his best to avoid a beating again. At first sight this seems to be a good solution from the customer’s perspective and it sometimes is. However, much will depend upon the reaction of individuals employed by the service provider and this can be unpredictable if anyone feels personally threatened. This is because, in an environment where a big stick is routinely wielded, there will be some individuals who will try to avoid the next beating or minimize its impact by any means available.
The methods used can include hiding the facts, changing the records or challenging the contracted terms. Such activities make identifying and eliminating the root cause of the failure much more difficult, leading to the possibility of repeated failures. So, nobody wins and resentment and mistrust abound.
There is another way, develop a true strategic partnership between customer and supplier, which recognizes that the key activities undertaken depend on both organisations cooperating fully and being willing to innovate and learn from problems. This does not involve blindly trusting suppliers, but putting in place a commercial framework that benefits both parties if effective changes and improvements are made. The whole agreement aims to translate and deliver the customer’s strategy in the most effective way possible.
The advocates of “big stick” may suggest that the strategic partnership approach would require the customer to trust the supplier too much and relinquish control. Not so, putting in place a balanced scorecard performance management system ensures that suppliers understand their responsibilities, how they will be measured and rewarded and their role in managing change, business activity improvements and innovation.
It should be ideally suited to the submarine system business, where long term agreements are already the norm.
Let me provide an actual example from value benchmarking exercises in another industry. Two large financial service companies outsourced their multi-million pound IT and telecommunications activities to a major service provider. The first spent all their time beating up the supplier about the cost of telephones and other small service items.
The annual best value benchmarking exercise was seen as a further opportunity to minimize costs rather than identifying value, tempting the supplier to manipulate statistics and change the evaluation goalposts to show they were providing the best overall contract price.
The second financial organization encouraged the supplier’s contract manager and technical adviser to set up an office very close to their Director’s floor and called them in whenever important business changes were being
John Pockett worked in the submarine cable industry from 19741987, then moved into other roles related to the setting up and trading of regional and global telecommunications networks and services.
Pockettbook Associates Ltd, of which he is a director, has undertaken a number of sales training, marketing and commercial due diligence consulting projects within the submarine system and wider telecommunications industry. The company has also worked in the finance, nuclear energy, and government sectors facilitating the setting up of commercial agreements, performance management systems and carrying out value benchmarking and due diligence exercises.
considered. The supplier contributed considerably to major changes such as demutualisation of the business and new working practices. This customer recognized that communications and IT services were critical to remaining competitive in their crowded market.
Whilst the annual value review still benchmarked charges against competitors, its main purpose was to identify how the relation-
ship should develop to provide even better value for the coming year.
The relationship between submarine cable operators and their construction and repair service provider should be just as strategic as the latter example. However in a recent article [Issue 12, January 2004 Page 18] about the performance management system adopted for ACMA little mention is made of any framework for improvement and innovation, but there appears to be a reliance on a penal regime to drive improvements
Several of the parent companies of major ACMA cable owners have adopted balanced scorecards to performance manage and improve other areas of their telecommunications business, so it is difficult to imagine that all ACMA parties want to depend solely on the “big stick” penalty for failure approach.
The current difficult market conditions present an ideal opportunity, not just to cut costs, but to reassess and make more effective all the key activities and interfaces that impact on submarine system business continuity and growth.
Imposing performance measures that a service provider must accept if he is to win the contract is not the answer. Service providers are employed for their distinct expertise, so why not use that expertise to help form the right contract? In true partnership contracting arrangements, all parties are involved in recom-
mending and agreeing the measures that are totally relevant and realistic. It is also recognized that further improvements and innovations will be made within the period of the agreement, which are driven by an agreed strategy for service improvement. Where known at contract outset, these “driving” measures are put in place, but additionally there will be a framework to set up new performance measures related to changes in strategy, new innovations and organizational structure.
How a balanced scorecard can help:
•converts strategy into action across organizations and at all levels
•aligns culture and behaviour of all parties to organizational goals
•develops real measurable partnerships, across company boundaries
•uses integrated measures that identify cause and effect
•communicates requirements down and feeds measurements and improvement opportunities up.
By using performance measures in four areas:
So what are some of the key steps to moving to a strategy based management system:
•communicate strategy across organizations and at all levels
•define strategic themes and improvement areas, involving all parties that will be required to achieve them.
•set up a limited pilot project and identify the strategic, operational and support organizations that are required to run it
•define the downward and upward information flows and measures, again involving all parties.
•agree the performance evaluation system
•set up the information technology support system to present and use the management information that is produced in a simple and clear way.
Is this strategy focused management approach relevant to customer and service provider relationships?
Yes, particularly where services have been provided largely internally in the past and have only recently been outsourced. The introduction of new specialist service providers into the submarine system market makes it even more important to ensure that they work and develop closely to the strategic requirements of the submarine cable owners.
In providing telecommunication services to governments and major business customers, many telecommunications operators will have participated at some time in balanced scorecard performance management arrangements to demonstrate that they are providing to be of the best value. There should thus be ready sources of information and experience that can be tapped within cable owners’ parent companies.
If not, exploring the books and other publications of originators and authors Kaplan and Norton will provide the principles of the balanced scorecard concept and how they have been applied successfully.
Making the change will not be easy, but will certainly be worthwhile and will ensure that better partnerships are in place to benefit from the next boom in submarine cable systems.
The Calendar
Submarine Telecoms Forum is seeking like-minded sponsors to contribute their corporate images to the 2005 Submarine Cable Industry Calendar.
The 2005 Submarine Cable Industry calendar will be provided free of charge to Submarine Telecoms Forum’s subscriber list, encompassing some 5000+ readers from 85 countries, including senior government and international organization officials, telecom company executives and team, support and supply company management, and technical, sales and
purchasing staff, field and shipboard personnel, academicians, consultants, financiers, and legal specialists.
The Submarine Telecoms Forum industry calendar will be printed in full colour on high quality 200gsm silk art paper, approx 600 x 300mm, giving sponsors an area of approx 300 x 300mm to display their corporate image.
For further information, sponsorship costs, reservations and information contact: Tel: +1 (703) 444 2527 Fax: +1 (703) 444 3047
Email: 2005calendar@subtelforum.com
From From From From From
Elektron to Elektron to Elektron to Elektron to Elektron to
commerce
commerce
commerce
commerce
commerce
150 years of laying submarine cables
Serialised from the book by kind permission of Global Marine Systems Ltd
Compiled and edited by Stewart Ash
Part 1
Birth of the Industry
1720-1856 continued
The Founding of an Industry
By the late 1840s, the basic technology existed, albeit in primitive form, to make submarine cables. It was not long before promoters came forward with the first commercial submarine cable project - to connect England with France. They were two enthusiastic brothers Jacob and John Watkins Brett.
On 16th June 1845 Jacob Brett registered the General Oceanic Telegraphic Company but the registration lapsed due to government
inertia. Later that year he patented a version of a weight-driven printing electric telegraph instrument invented by Professor Royal E House of America which he proposed to modify to work on submarine cables. Jacob was then joined by his brother John and in 1846 they
registered the General Oceanic & Subterranean Electric Printing Telegraph Company:
To establish a telegraphic communication from the British Islands across the Atlantic Ocean to Nova Scotia and Canada and establishing electric communication by land and sea with the Colonies.
The landing of a submarine cable in England only required the formality of a licence, which did not exclude others from obtaining licences of their own. In France, however, a concession, once obtained, granted exclusive rights for ten years. The Brett brothers obtained their first French concession in 1847 after a lengthy period of negotiation but let it lapse. They were able to renew it again in August 1849 for a further ten-year period with the proviso that it too would lapse if communication had not been established by 1st September 1850.
So the brothers had a year to organise themselves, get the cable manufactured and lay it. They formed a third company, the English Channel Submarine Telegraph Company in which four shareholders put up £500 eachJohn Watkins Brett, Charles Fox, Francis Edwards and Charlton James Wollaston, the latter acting as engineer.
John Watkins Brett Jacob Brett
Jacob Brett’s Electric Telegraph
They placed an order with the Gutta Percha Company for 25 nautical miles of copper wire covered with Gutta Percha to make a “cable” with an overall diameter of half an inch. This, without any other protection, would be laid directly in the sea. Needless to say, the primitive manufacturing processes and the many joints provided plenty of scope for faults, and it is remarkable that it did in fact work.
The plan for laying the cable was to use a small paddle-driven steam tug, the Goliath, chartered for the purpose. The Goliath came up the Thames and individual coils of cable were jointed and wound on to a huge horizontal drum seven feet in diameter and 15 feet in length mounted across the vessel just behind the funnel. At Dover and at Calais, special shore-end cables were installed before the Goliath’s arrival.
The weather on 28th August 1850 was fine as the Goliath steamed out of Dover harbour escorted by HM Surveying Paddleship Widgeon. Having picked up and jointed the main cable onto the shore end, the little flotilla steamed off for France with the drum rotating steadily and the fragile cable streaming out behind. It was known that a cable of this design would be almost buoyant in water, so lead weights were attached. Gradually the French coast drew near, and at 6.00 pm the same day, the Goliath dropped anchor near the buoy marking the shore-end at Cap Gris-Nez just outside Calais.
The modified House printing telegraph instrument was hooked up to the cable end for tests back to England. The House machine would normally print on to a paper tape at about fifteen words per minute, but on this occasion little of what emerged was intelligible although signals of a kind were present. With daylight disappearing the “final splice” was made and the cable consigned to the sea. It was very disappointing.
Once the cable party was ashore in France, the more sensitive Cooke and Wheatstone needle telegraph instrument was connected up and the first signals exchanged with England. Later that evening it appears the House machine was persuaded to work, perhaps more slowly, and various messages were sent and received, one of which was from John Brett to the soon-to-be Emperor, Napoleon III, who had been taking a keen interest in the project. That day, 28th
Goliath laying the first cross-Channel cable escorted by HM Surveying Paddleship Widgeon
August 1850, 150 years ago, marks the start of the submarine cable industry in Britain.
The next morning The Times reported: “The electric telegraph appears to us more like a miracle than any scientific discovery or mechanical achievement of our time”, but unfortunately bythe following morning the cable was found not to be working. The return to Boulogne of a fisherman bearing a considerable length of what he thought was a new variety of seaweed with a gold centre, appeared to explain the failure although, more prosaically, when the cable was raised for inspection a few days later, the lead tube that formed the protection for the shore end was found to have been badly damaged on rocks, about two hundred yards from the beach.
So, short-lived though it was, the Brett brothers’ first cable had demonstrated conclusively that telegraphic communication could be made to work under water over quite long distances. But it was found that, because the cable was acting as a store for electricity (like a “capacitor”), the transmitted signals became delayed and distorted, and this was probably the reason the House instrument had not worked well initially. There was much still to learn.
John Brett managed to get the French government to roll his concession forward for another ten-year period provided a cable connecting the two countries was working by 1st October 1851. With so recent a failure, raising the
Cable making machine probably at Wilkins & Weatheley’s wire rope factory, Wapping, 1851
money proved difficult. Eventually, just seven weeks before the French deadline, the famous railway engineer Thomas Russell Crampton personally put down half the £15,000 required and raised the balance between Lord de Mauley and Sir James Carmichael, the three of them forming the board of a new company, the Submarine Telegraph Company.
Thus the manufacture of the cable could now proceed. Crampton made it his business to see that the lessons of the Bretts’ first cable were thoroughly learnt. Whilst a cable hardly more substantial than domestic lighting cable might function well electrically, it certainly needed protecting in the relatively shallow waters between England and France. The new cable would be constructed as a Gutta Percha “core” similar to the 1850 cable, but with a protective sheath of iron wires.
The core of the new cable in fact contained four copper wires, each individually covered with two layers of Gutta Percha applied with Hancock’s new extrusion process (similar to that of Siemens & Halske) and laid up together. This was then taken to the nearby firm of Wilkins and Weatherley in Wapping, who made wire ropes for collieries. They began applying a helical layer of ten galvanised iron wires to produce a well-armoured cable with an overall diameter of about 1.3 inches.
Not long afterwards an injunction arrived from another firm of wire-rope makers, Messrs
Newall & Company of Gateshead claiming patent infringement. Eventually it was agreed that Newall’s staff would complete the contract at Wapping. In due course the cable was manhandled out of the factory into a hulk called Blazer which was then towed to the lighthouse at South Foreland for cable-laying operations to begin. It was 25th September 1851. This time the weather was not good, the tugs drifted, cable was wasted and the last mile had to be temporarily completed using four Gutta Percha coated wires. Nevertheless, Crampton was able to tell scientists present at the closing ceremony of the Great Exhibition, in Hyde Park, that the cable had been successfully laid to France.
On 19th October 1851, the temporary wires were replaced with a further mile of armoured cable using a steam tug called Red Rover. Although technically the 1st October deadline had been exceeded, the French government fulfilled its side of the bargain and granted the tenyear concession.
The Crampton-Brett cable continued in service for many years, eventually finding its way, much repaired, into the Post Office in 1890 when the assets of the Submarine Telegraph Company were taken over as part of the nationalisation of the UK’s telegraph system, begun in 1868. During its life the Submarine Telegraph Company laid a total of thirteen cables, mostly to continental Europe and in 1894 its cableship, the Lady Carmichael, became the first
in the Post Office’s line of cableships bearing the name Alert.
The industry in the 1850s consisted of a number of cable makers, to whom the Gutta Percha Company was the sole supplier of Gutta Percha insulated core. Some of the cable makers were originally manufacturers of wire rope (mostly used in coal-mines) and others emerged from the rapidly developing telegraph industry itself.
The finished cable of the 1850s was still a far from perfect product. The basic copper wire was described as “hard, brittle, soft and rotten” and the Gutta Percha covering had bumps and seams in it. The wire-rope companies suffered from the breakage of armour wires which also frequently damaged the core itself from lumps of galvanising as well as from knots and hard bits in its own yarn covering. The factories themselves were dirty, noisy and badly laid out, and possessed only the crudest arrangements for handling and storing delicate core and finished cable.
Gradually the industry went through a process of rationalisation, although it was not until the disaster of the first transatlantic cable in 1857 and 1858 that the paramount importance of quality was fully appreciated. The quality problem was finally solved in 1864 in preparation for a second transatlantic cable when the Gutta Percha Company and Glass, Elliot & Company were brought together under the responsibility of a single management as the
Charles Tilston Bright
Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Company, sometimes known as “TC&M” or “Telcon”.
Towards an Atlantic Cable
Although many failures lay in store for hopeful cable “projectors”, the highly successful Crampton-Brett cable of 1851 acted as an ongoing inspiration to all of them. But over how great a distance could electrical communication be persuaded to work? Many, including the Brett brothers, had the Atlantic in mind.
In 1847 a young man, Charles Tilston Bright, took a job with the Electric (William Fothergill Cooke’s Electric Telegraph Company) when he was still only 15. His brother Edward, who also joined the company shortly afterwards, was 16. Charles’ first job was as a telegraph operator working in a signal box at Harrow station on the London and North-Western Railway which had engaged the Electric to supply telegraphic services under contract. Within a year, he and Edward had become inventors and applied for a patent, which was finally granted on 21st October 1852.
The patent contained 24 individual inventions, the most significant of which was a system for testing telegraph lines to localise faults from a distance. Without the ability to make such “localisation tests”, investors would not have had the confidence to advance the enormous sums of money that “wiring the world” with submarine telegraph cables would require.
The other significant event of 1852 for Charles was the invitation to become Chief Engineer of the English and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company (later known as the “Magnetic”) - an extraordinary appointment for a 20 year old. His brother Edward was already the company’s manager. The Magnetic was strongly supported by northern capital, one of its investors being a wealthy Scottish cotton merchant who had moved to Manchester called John (later Sir John) Pender. By the time of his
death in 1896, Pender’s companies controlled one third of the world’s submarine telegraph system and formed the nucleus of what was later to become Cable & Wireless.
Pitted against the Electric with its head start of six years, the Magnetic had to promote itself energetically and a bit differently. Its head office was in Liverpool, not London, its electric signals were generated by magneto-electric induction, and its main lines in England were largely laid underground. Charles Tilston Bright extended the Magnetic’s system on a vast scale throughout the UK and (awaiting a submarine connection) throughout Ireland.
Following their success with the 1851 Channel cable, the submarine cable making side of Newall’s business developed quickly. In 1853, it made a heavy cable to connect the Magnetic’s English and Irish telegraph systems across the 23 miles of the Irish Channel between Portpatrick and Donaghadee. This was the fourth attempt at connecting England with Ireland and only the third successful submarine cable to have been laid - an outcome justifiably attributed in large measure to Charles Tilston Bright’s direct supervision.
It will be recalled that when Professor Royal E House’s modified printing telegraph instrument was connected by the Brett brothers in 1850 to their first cable to France, little of what had emerged from the machine was intelligible. Yet there had been signals present
which could be read more slowly with a needle instrument. This was the mystery to which Charles and Edward Bright now turned their attention.
Transmission speed was vital to a telegraph company. With Charles Tilston Bright’s cable to Ireland, the correct conditions became available for the first time to make the necessary investigations for the Atlantic cable, which the two brothers were planning. They discovered that a cable laid underground behaves, electrically speaking, very much like a cable laid in the sea. With the English and Irish systems connected together, the Bright brothers possessed in electrical terms the equivalent of thousands of miles of submarine cable. From 1853 to 1855, while the Bright brothers were advancing the Magnetic’s telegraph system to the west of Ireland to be ready to interconnect with a transatlantic cable, they were also conducting transmission experiments. These experiments necessitated a re-arrangement in the way the underground cables were connected. For example, instead of 10 circuits from London to Manchester of roughly 200 miles, they might reconnect the wires in series so as to provide one long circuit of 2,000 miles. At other times long circuits were arranged by looping back and forth in the various underground cables (and their new 1853 submarine cable) between London and Dublin. In this way a subterranean circuit of Atlantic proportions could be represented.
Since all this work had to be undertaken at night or on Sundays to avoid interrupting normal traffic on the network, the Bright brothers suffered many nights with little or no sleep.
Following Wheatstone’s work in the mid1830s, everyone was just getting used to the idea that electricity travelled along a wire (in air) inconceivably quickly - in fact at a speed comparable with the velocity of light. But it certainly didn’t seem to be going at anything like that speed in a subterranean or a submarine cable, and it was years before telegraph engineers fully understood the problem. The first paper on this subject was presented by Edward Bright to a meeting in Liverpool of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1854.
The following year Charles and Edward Bright took out a patent for the special methods they had developed for signalling through long underground and undersea conductorsmethods which were certainly going to be needed for an Atlantic cable.
In 1855, Edward Bright accompanied by some of the staff from the Magnetic, chartered a small fishing smack to survey the south-west coast of Ireland for a suitable landing for an Atlantic cable and in due course reported to his brother that Valentia was the most suitable landing point. In fact, it was almost exactly the nearest point to the American continent in Newfoundland.
It was a similar story on the other side of the Atlantic. The first task was to provide a reliable telegraph connection between New York and St John’s, Newfoundland, the nearest point where an Atlantic cable could land. This was no easy project; Newfoundland had no roads or railways and the country was mostly impenetrable forest, remote and exceedingly uninviting. In fact the difficulties had already overcome an English engineer and entrepreneur, Fredrick Gisborne, who had been attempting to bring St John’s onto the telegraph network. His plan was to exchange messages with passing ships using water-tight barrels and save the additional two days’ passage to Halifax where they would normally be dropped off or collected.
Gisborne had surveyed the land route across Newfoundland, obtained a concession from the legislature and visited England to purchase a submarine cable to link Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick, which was laid in late 1852. It was the first commercial submarine cable to be installed on the American continent. But the difficulties in constructing the land-line were immense, and when his backers withdrew he was forced into bankruptcy. Barely 40 miles out of 400 had been completed. Almost destitute, he went to New York, hoping that something would turn up. It did. A chance meeting brought him to the notice of a wealthy paper merchant called Cyrus W Field who, at the age of thirty-five, was already retired. Field was ini-
Cyrus W. Field
tially a bit cool about Gisborne’s project but his imagination was fired later that same evening, when he was casually scanning the globe in his palatial library and realised the potentially enormous significance of linking the telegraph systems of the two continents with a cable across the Atlantic Ocean. This would be a great deal better than trying to catch message barrels bobbing around in the open sea - but what a vision!
Field realised that such a project, if possible at all, would be an immense undertaking, but it was just as well that he had no idea of the thirteen years of unremitting toil, heartache and expense that awaited him. For now, this was just
the kind of project a retired man of wealth was looking for. He was hooked, but cautious. The next day he wrote to the foremost experts in America - to Samuel F B Morse regarding the electrical feasibility of the idea, and to Lieutenant Matthew F Maury regarding its marine aspects. He was soon in possession of two favourable replies. It turned out that Morse, architect of the American telegraph system, having experimented with submarine cables had been predicting an Atlantic telegraph for over ten years. More surprisingly, it appeared that the National Observatory under Maury’s direction (and with immaculate timing) had just completed a line of soundings and core samples from Newfoundland to the south-west coast of Ireland using US Navy ships. In fact, he had even named part of this route the “Telegraph Plateau”. It must have seemed to Field that this was a project destined to happen.
So, armed with two undeniably respectable opinions, Field was able to gather the support of a number of capitalist friends and form the “New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company”. What incredible significance was bound up in those two little words “and London”! The company commenced by taking over Gisborne’s bankrupt operation and discharging his debts.
Field now came face to face with reality as working in Newfoundland quickly turned into a nightmare. As anticipated, the worst bit was the 400 miles of road and telegraph line that had to be constructed between St John’s and Cape Ray,
and, nearly as bad, a similar link 140 miles long on Cape Breton Island. Eventually after two years and a cost of over US$ 2m, they completed Gisborne’s original project and telegrams could be sent the 2,000 miles between St John’s and New York. Part of the system was 60 miles of submarine cable connecting Cape Ray at the south-west extremity of Newfoundland with Cape Breton island across the Gulf of St Lawrence. It was the ordering of this cable that, in 1854, brought Cyrus Field on the first of many visits to England. He placed the order with Glass, Elliot & Company of Greenwich, a newly established firm specialising in making submarine cables, formed out of the wire-rope business of Küper & Company.
While in England, Field made two key contacts. First he met John Watkins Brett of the Submarine Telegraph Company and pioneer of the first and second England to France cables. He was currently engaged on laying cables in the Mediterranean and had also been planning to construct an Atlantic cable, instead of which he invested £5,000 in Field’s company. Field’s other meeting whilst on that first visit to England was with Charles Tilston Bright of the Magnetic. The Magnetic’s growth in just a few short years plus all its experimental work for an Atlantic cable would have made a deep impression on him. So Cyrus Field returned to New York not only having ordered a cable, but
SS Persian loading John Brett’s Mediterranean cable at Morden Wharf, East Greenwich, June 1854
also bearing the news that Britain was well advanced in developing the technology for an Atlantic cable and that capitalists and their telegraph companies were pressing forward rapidly.
The cable Field had ordered was delivered the following year. Unfortunately due to bad weather and inexperience it was partially lost in the attempt to lay it across the Gulf of St Lawrence, but in 1856 Glass, Elliot & Company made and laid a replacement cable which lasted for over ten years. By the time the Gulf of St Lawrence had been bridged the land lines were also in place and telegrams could be sent as far as St John’s. With the land lines also in place on the Irish side, the thoughts of the “projectors” on both sides of the Atlantic could now turn to the vast undertaking of bridging the ocean that separated them.
In July 1856, Cyrus Field was despatched for the third time to England and once again met John Watkins Brett and Charles Tilston Bright with whom he had been corresponding since his previous visit. They agreed that a British company would be required in order to secure the maximum interest from British investors. So all three put their names to an historic agreement dated 29th September 1856: ... to exert ourselves with the view, and for the purpose of, forming a company for establishing and working of electric telegraphic communication between Newfoundland and Ireland, such Company to be called the “Atlantic Telegraph Company”...
The signatures of Cyrus Field, John Watkins Brett and Charles Tilston Bright agreeing to form the Atlantic Telegraph Company
On 3rd October, the Magnetic laid on yet another nocturnal demonstration, this time for Professor Samuel Morse who was electrician to the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, and in the early hours of the following morning Morse wrote to Field:
The experiments have most satisfactorily resolved all doubts of the practicability as well as practicality of operating the telegraph from Newfoundland to Ireland.
The Atlantic Telegraph Company was registered on 20th October 1856. With a solid agreement in place and the serious technical questions at least partially answered, the great enterprise could at last begin.
To be continued in our next issue
Letter to a friend
from Jean Devos
Somewhere in the deep south of France on June 26th, 2004
My Dear Friend
“One must cultivate its garden”. - Voltaire 1750.
I am writing you from my summerhouse garden. A gorgeous day! I worked 2 hours early in the morning, trimming my hedge, pruning my roses, plucking the cherries, watering the vegetable garden. A happy man!
But around 11.am, I decided that I had done enough, that the sun was now too high, and I moved to the shade with my PC, and a glass of my preferred St Emilion Bordeaux wine.
I relaxed and realised how well I felt in such an environment. My garden is an enchantment! A nice balance of species, of colours, of sizes, of smells! Each season brings different flowers, different greens! I have now, in my back-yard two squares, one for vegetables, and one for the herbs. My orchard has now reach maturity; the cherry blossom this year was impressive and we now enjoy the plucking! End of August we will enjoy the plums, white and red, and in September, the grapes! Thanks to my winter work of trimming the trees, bringing my own made fertiliser, and treating them with my favoured copper- oxide!
Most of the annual flowers that grow in the middle of the permanent green structure are actually coming from my neighbours! I barely ever bought anything! There is a permanent exchange activity among the many gardeners in the area.
While enjoying a nap, my mind starts to wander among the various types of gardens, especially the two extreme ones the Japanese gar-
den, so much under control and the English garden, only apparently wild, without forgetting the garden “ala française”, so structured. But yet another one springs to my mind, the one of an abandoned mansion that I have been walking trough quite often in this area. One could still perceived that it had been, sometime in the past a very pleasant place; but Mother Nature has now prevailed there, and made a jungle of it,
My dear friend... our submarine cable business looks today like an abandoned garden. A nice garden, even very modest, even just a tiny square of salad, is a piece of art that somebody has designed, managed, takes care of! My garden is the result of my own will and my own work.
We should treat our business that way! Our business cannot be abandoned to the law of the jungle!
Where are the gardeners?
Jean Devos
World 2004
Featuring more than 20 key carriers and cable operators in the submarine industry
The 7th annual Submarine Networks World 2004 has grown to be Asia’s most established and well-attended event by the submarine cable community. The senior level conference has evolved into THE "industry event" where cable operators, carriers and technology vendors converge annually.
Our outstanding speaker panel includes:
•Claire Paponneau, France Telecom
•Patrick Gallagher, Flag Telecom
•Bob Woog, Pivotal Telecom
•Kaz (Kazuhiro) Nishihata
NTT Communications Corporation
•Fiona Beck, Southern Cross Cables
•Stefano Mazzitelli, Telecom Italia Sparkle
•Andrew Kwok, Hutchison Global Communications
•Kamran Malik, Saif Group Telecom
•Ian Pulford, British Telecom
•Scott D. White, Azea Networks
Register now! Call our customer service hotline at (65) 6322 2700 today
Networking sponsors: Associate sponsors:
www.carriersworld.com/2004/snw_SG/
L L L L LO O O O OO O O O OK K K K KING BACK ING BACK ING BACK ING BACK ING BACK
Reviewing the last three years of Submarine Telecoms Forum
L L L L LO O O O OO O O O OK K K K KING BACK ING BACK ING BACK ING BACK ING BACK
The following pages comprise a complete list of all articles we have published in Submarine Telecoms Forum since our first edition.
To review any article just click on the relevant “STF Issue” hyperlink to take you to the issue in which that article was published.
Should any reader or author require copies of any article in quantity, please refer to our Reprints advertisement on page 38.
Chba,
Colonna,
Tanner,
Diary
FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES AND EXHIBITIONS
24-27 August 2004 Offshore Northern Seas 2004, Stavanger, Norway, www.ons.no/
14-16 September 2004 Offshore Communications 2004, Houston, Texas USA, www.offshorecoms.com
21-23 September 2004 Submarine Networks World 2004, Singapore, www.carriersworld.com
10-15 October 2004 SEG International Exposition & 74th Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado USA, www.seg.org/meetings/calendar/
2-4 November 2004 Hydro4, Galway, Ireland, www.hydrographicsociety.org
9-12 November 2004 Oceans 2004 MTS/IEEE, Kobe, Japan, www.oceans-technoocean2004.com
