Farice reached a sales agrement with Far North Digital (FND) for fiber connectivity between Japan and Iceland via Farice’s new IRIS submarine cable and FND’s planned Arctic cable.
Construction is currently underway for Farice's IRIS Subsea Telecoms Cable System from Iceland to Galway, Ireland. The system is planned for service early 2023.
The FND fiber cable will be the first Arctic route connecting Asia with Europe via the Northwest Passage, greatly reducing the optical distance between Asia and Europe, thus minimizing latency. FND is aiming for commercial launch by the end of 2026.
Farice and FND have agreed to develop a connectivity exchange at their shared landing site in Galway, Ireland. Through the exchange, customers will be able to buy direct connectivity between Japan and Iceland, linking the third largest economy in the world and Iceland, which has 100% green and sustainable electricity.
“We are very excited about the development of the new Arctic fibre cable that will bring the continents of Asia, Northern America and Europe closer together. The landing of the cable in Galway next to our IRIS cable will drive the development of a new submarine network exchange, connecting Iceland to Asia, North America and Northern Scandinavia”, says Thorvardur Sveinsson, CEO of Farice.
“Farice is a terrific partner, and Iceland has the renewable resources to make the Internet greener”, says Guy Houser, FND’s Chief Technical Officer. “Our combined system offers faster and more secure connectivity for the world and the North. It is critical infrastructure in the information age.”
https://www.fn-digital.com/news
https://farice.is/connectivity-between-iceland-and-japan-through-new-pan-arctic-fibre-cable/
IRIS cable to link Iceland to Ireland with up to 108 Tbps
IRIS, a new six-fiber pair undersea cable system, will connect Iceland and Ireland with up to 108 Tbps of system capacity.
Farice, the international connectivity provider fully owned by the Icelandic Government, has selected Subcom as the primary contractor.
Currently, there are two other submarine cable systems that connect Iceland to Europe – FARICE-1 (2003) and DANICE (2009).
IRIS will be approximately 1,700 km in length and connect south west of Iceland to Ballyloughane Strand in Galway, Ireland. Farice has already finalized the DTS and marine survey work on Ireland’s continental shelf and will complete the remaining survey works to Iceland in 2021. Manufacture of the cable and equipment will take place at SubCom’s manufacturing headquarters in Newington, NH, USA during 2021 and early 2022, with main lay installation operations scheduled for summer 2022. The system is expected to be ready for service by the end of 2022.
Farice opted to land the IRIS cable in Ireland, a nexus of trans-Atlantic connections and a center of European operations for many international businesses. IRIS will directly connect to a new high-speed undersea cable system that will enable more diverse, secure, high-speed connectivity between Iceland and mainland Europe.
