Aqua Comms names Jim Fagan as next CEO

Aqua Comms has appointed Jim Fagan as its new CEO, effective 1 May 2023, replacing Nigel Bayliff, who leaves the business on 30 April 2023.

Fagan currently serves as  Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer at GCX. He was previously with Telstra, Pacnet and Rackspace based in Asia and USA.

Aqua Comms provides services on seven subsea fibre cables connecting North America to Ireland, UK and onwards to northern Europe and soon on the new EMIC1 route opening up from southern Europe to India.

https://aquacomms.com/latest-news/aqua-comms-dac-announces-appointment-of-new-chief-executive/

Aqua Comms signs with Telecom Egypt for EMIC-1 subsea cable

Monday, June 20, 2022  Aqua Comms, Subsea  

Aqua Comms has signed a crossing and landing agreement with Telecom Egypt for the Europe Middle-East India Connect 1 (EMIC-1) subsea cable, which will connect the key European hubs of Barcelona, Marseille and Genoa with Salalah, Oman and Mumbai, India,.Telecom Egypt will provide EMIC-1, which is a new intercontinental subsea cable and terrestrial fibre system, a seamless optical path between East Africa, Asia, and Europe. EMIC-1 will land in Ras...

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Aqua Comms activates CeltixConnect-2 and North Sea Connect

Sunday, March 27, 2022  Aqua Comms, Subsea  

Aqua Comms confirmed the launch of CeltixConnect-2 (CC-2) and North Sea Connect (NSC) as part of its ownership of the Havhingsten cable system, which links Ireland, the UK and the Nordics.CC-2 is Aqua Comms’ second unrepeated system between the key data hubs of Ireland and the UK, with diverse landings into the Isle of Man (IOM). Together with CC-1 the new system brings resilient, high fibre count, capacity connectivity between these key hubs for...

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Havhingsten Cable System links Ireland, UK and the Nordics

Thursday, March 24, 2022  ASN, Subsea  

Construction has completed on the Havhingsten cable system linking Ireland, the UK and the Nordics. Partners in the project include Aqua Comms, Bulk Fiber Networks, a leading builder and operator of fiber network infrastructure, and Meta. The subsea cable was built by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN).The Havhingsten cable system runs across the Irish Sea from north of Dublin, Ireland to south of Blackpool on the west coast of the UK, with a section...

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Orange to provide landing in Marseille for Medusa Mediterranean cable

Orange will offer a high-performance interconnection solution to all partner operators of the new Medusa Submarine Cable System -- the first and longest submarine cable to connect the main Mediterranean countries. 

Medusa is an 8,760 km subsea system linking the North African countries and six EU member states (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus). 

Medusa is an open system that includes 16 landing points around the Mediterranean Sea. The cable will have segments withup to 24 fiber pairs with a capacity of 20 Tbps per fiber pair. Its festoon architecture gives it a unique design. 

It is expected Medusa cable reaches Marseille during the last quarter of 2024. The system will be ready for service end of 2024 for the West Med region and first half of 2025 for the East Med region.

Orange is building submarine cable landing infrastructure in Marseille to make France more attractive as a digital gateway for global exchanges.

Construction includes new urban infrastructure to increase the resilience and diversity of access and landing points in Marseille while connecting all the city’s data centers.

Orange will handle all the technical, regulatory, security, and environmental aspects, enabling its partners to enjoy a prime position in Marseille and strengthening France’s attractiveness

"We are particularly pleased to welcome the Medusa cable to Orange's infrastructure in the heart of the Mediterranean hub of Marseille, as part of a strategic and ambitious project. By combining our submarine cable landing stations with our new urban infrastructure, we are strengthening Marseille's attractiveness as a digital gateway to Europe, and beyond that, France's sovereignty," explains Michaël Trabbia, interim CEO of Orange Wholesale & International Networks.

Norman Albi, CEO of Medusa, stresses the importance of this agreement: “Marseille has always been a strategic Mediterranean interconnection point and joining forces with Orange means we can offer a cutting-edge service, against a background of growing needs in the digital economy. With this agreement, all Medusa landings in the western Mediterranean are totally secure and ready to be implemented.” 

https://newsroom.orange.com/medusa-submarine-cable-system-chooses-the-new-orange-infrastructure-in-marseille-to-land-a-new-strategic-route-connecting-southern-europe-and-north-africa/?lang=en

https://medusascs.com/

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U.S. Team Telecom recommends against ARCOS-1 cable to Cuba

The U.S. Department of Justice's Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector, which is informally known as Team Telecom, is advising the FCC to deny a cable-landing license application to modify the ARCOS-1 Cable System to include a new authorized landing point in Cojimar, Cuba. The license would have enabled the only direct, currently operable commercial cable connection between the United States and Cuba.

The Committee said the cable landing in Cuba presents "immitigable risks to the national security and law enforcement interests of the United States" because the landing in Cuba would be owned and controlled by the state-owned telecommunications monopoly.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1554426/download

• The Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) is a fiber optic submarine communications cable of 8,400 kilometers that extends between the United States, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Curaçao, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico. It first entered service in 2001.

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IRIS subsea cable completed linking Ireland and Iceland

The IRIS Sub-Sea Telecoms Cable System connecting Galway, Ireland to Iceland has now been completed.

The IRIS system will be ready for service in the first quarter of 2023 and will be the third submarine fibre optic cable system connecting Iceland with Europe. The system provides further redundancy in telecommunication connection between Iceland and Europe, with low latency connections around 10.5 ms, between Reykjavík and Dublin. The IRIS system is integrated into Farice’s network in Iceland and Europe to enhance the network and provide comprehensive, diverse, and secure connectivity between Farice’s network POPs in Iceland and Euro

Farice signed a contract with SubCom, LLC, a global subsea fiber optic cable system supply company, to install the IRIS Cable System and SubCom has now received provisional acceptance for the IRIS Cable System, the final phase before officially handing the system over to its owner, Farice.

The IRIS system will be ready for service in the first quarter of 2023 and will be the third submarine fiber optic cable system connecting Iceland with Europe. The system provides further redundancy in telecommunication connection between Iceland and Europe, with low latency connections around 10.5 ms, between Reykjavík and Dublin. The IRIS system is integrated into Farice’s network in Iceland and Europe to enhance the network and provide comprehensive, diverse, and secure connectivity between Farice’s network POPs in Iceland and Europe.

https://farice.is

Farice plans fiber route linking Iceland, Ireland and Japan

Sunday, July 10, 2022  Farice, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Subsea  

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...

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Construction begins on Farice cable from Iceland to Ireland

Monday, May 30, 2022  Iceland, Ireland, Subcom, Subsea  

Construction is underway for Farice's new IRIS Subsea Telecoms Cable System from Iceland to Galway, Ireland.Earlier this month, SubCom’s cable installation vessel the CS Durable landed the cable successfully at Thorlakshofn beach in Iceland.  Subcom said deployment is expected to advance at approximately 20-200 km per day with a target burial depth of 1.5m beneath the seabed in water depth of up to 1,500m. Work on the terrestrial section of...

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Gold Data plans subsea cable across Gulf of Mexico

Gold Data announced plans for a major subsea cable connecting Miami with multiple landing stations in Mexico.

The 10-fiber pair cable system will offer more than 250 Tbps of capacity.

Gold Data is working with Orange for the technical design; Orange Marine cable ship and Alcatel Submarine Networks for deployment; and Ciena for providing the GeoMesh Extreme SLTE and transport technology. Additionally, both Orange have signed agreements to acquire fiber pairs in Gold Data 1's system.

Gold Data said the US$150 million investment represents the third and final phase of its Mexico network expansion. Gold Data's network already reaches major data centers across the country.

"Our state-of-the-art topology network is revolutionizing Mexico's connectivity by reducing latency by up to 35%, something that is key for enterprises and content providers which are hungry for reliable, low latency, high quality connectivity. In addition, the expansion of this network to the US will be a game changer for Mexico's fast-growing innovators looking for a fresh alternative to Silicon Valley," says Renato Tradardi, CEO of Gold Data.

https://golddata.net/

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China Telecom, SingTel and partners agree on Asia Link Cable

China Telecom Global, Globe Telecom, DITO Telecommunity (Philippines), Singtel, and Unified National Networks (Brunei) reached an agreement to invest about $300 million for a submarine cable system in Southeast Asia. 

The planned Asia Link Cable (ALC) will be approximately 6,000-kilometer in length, connecting Hong Kong SAR, China and Singapore as its trunk, with branches into the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam and Hainan, China. 

It will have a minimum eight fiber pairs in the system, with 18 Tbps/Fiber Pair minimum trunk design capacity. An open cable system architecture is adopted for ALC, enabling Parties to select and maintain independent line terminal equipment that would suit their customer requirement.

HMN Technologies has been selected as the system supplier and is expected to complete the construction of ALC by the third quarter of 2025.

Executive Vice President of CTG, Mr. Wu Xiaolei stated, "In the Digitalisation Era, Asia Link Cable (ALC) is critical for connecting and creating value for our customers, especially in Asia. We are aiming to achieve a more sustainable environment and community as well as enhancing the efficiency in our communication processes, by building strong and reliable undersea cables around the world. CTG takes pride in playing an essential role in developing and promoting cloud and network integration. We welcome different service providers or industry partners in this endeavor, in the hopes that we can better serve our customers. With this cable, CTG will provide greater value to this community of partners, service providers, and customers, and achieve success together."

ALC Co-Chair, Mr Alan Tan (Singtel) said, "We started planning and designing the ALC cable more than two years ago at the onset of the pandemic, having anticipated the inevitable growth in high-definition content consumption, trade and innovation in this region. Despite the challenges presented by safe management restrictions, we managed to come up with a system that will help meet the evolving needs of consumers and enterprises and boost local economies today and in the near future."

CEO of HMN Tech, Mr. Mao Shengjiang commented, "It is a great honor for HMN Tech to team up with the global leading telecom operators to provide innovative turnkey subsea cable solution for the ALC System. This new cable system will provide new impetus for the ALC consortium to establish digital and intelligent networks in Asia and around the world."

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Transatlantic latency tests: Windstream, Aquacomm, Colt

Windstream Wholesale, Colt, and Aqua Comms announced wave connectivity from the United States to Europe with roundtrip latency of less than 100ms with no frame loss.

Originating in Chicago on Windstream’s Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON), the 100G Waves test traveled to New York and across the Atlantic to London, England, utilizing Aqua Comms’ subsea fiber optic network. The service connected Windstream’s U.S. network to Colt’s European wavelength network and terminated in Frankfurt, Germany.

Windstream plans to support 400G waves in the near future.

“Windstream Wholesale is pleased to announce our first trans-Atlantic 100G Wave in cooperation with Colt and Aqua Comms,” said Joe Scattareggia, chief revenue officer for Windstream Wholesale. “We are committed to best-in-class customer experience, and this three-way strategic partnership not only expands the reach of our low-latency, ultra-high Wave network, it also provides our customers with streamlined access with end-to-end connectivity from the U.S. to Europe for faster deployment.”

Jaya Deshmukh, executive vice president of Strategy and Transformation, Colt Technology Services, said, “Businesses, across industries, need access to powerful digital infrastructure to execute on their digital imperatives. From robotic surgery, seamless supply chains to immersive learning, the entire gamut of digital capabilities rely on ultra-fast connectivity across geographies. This requires a strong commitment to partnerships, working together to help customers succeed and fulfil their potential. I am excited by this unique collaboration between Windstream, Aqua Comms and Colt and the potential it delivers for connecting global businesses.”

https://news.windstream.com/news/news-details/2022/Windstream-Wholesale-Partners-With-Colt-and-Aqua-Comms-to-Deliver-Wave-Connectivity-From-U.S.-to-Europe/default.aspx

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WIOCC to activate capacity on Equiano subsea cable with Ciena

 WIOCC, a leading provider of digital connectivity and infrastructure across Africa, will activate a fiber pair on the new Equiano submarine cable system. WIOCC is deploying Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme Solution, which leverages the 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS), WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics and Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller. Ciena Services is providing turnkey planning, design and deployment services to ensure project success.

Equiano, which runs a total of 15,000km from Portugal along the African west coast, will be one of the largest cables serving Africa, with 12 fiber pairs delivering a total of 144Tbps of capacity. 

WIOCC is a key investor in Equiano, owning a full fiber pair on the system in addition to submarine line terminal equipment (SLTE) from Ciena. 

Chris Wood, WIOCC Group CEO, commented: “Ciena has extensive experience delivering market-leading submarine network solutions across the globe. This collaboration offers us the best lead times, a great commercial proposition and high-quality, accessible technical support – all vital as we expand our ability to support the cloud and wholesale community in Africa. Not only has this allowed us to pre-install our SLTE in Open Access Data Centre (OADC) facilities in Lagos, Nigeria, and Rondebosch, South Africa – meaning we’ll be able to light up our capacity as soon as the Equiano system goes live – but it’s also optimized budget utilization, enabling us to invest further in other parts of our network.”

“We’re also teaming up with Ciena on the new 2Africa submarine cable, on which we own a fiber pair across the system. The cable, now in deployment and scheduled to go live in stages throughout 2023 and 2024, will land directly in the new carrier-neutral OADC facility in Durban,” Wood added.

Ian Clarke, Vice President of Global Submarine Solutions, Ciena, said: “Having worked with us on other African cables, WIOCC is again entrusting us to maximize its network assets. Our collaboration is ensuring the systems, and regions, keep pace with bandwidth demands while reducing transport costs. Together, we’re making connectivity smarter and faster, utilizing software automation and AI to bring it ever closer to end users.”

• WIOCC is a strategic investor in hyperscale terrestrial networks, and in multiple subsea cables including 2Africa, Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), Equiano and the West Africa Cable System (WACS). Through WIOCC Group company Open Access Data Centres, it is establishing a rapidly growing data centre footprint in Africa, comprising 35 new facilities including hosting cable landing points for both 2Africa and Equiano. 

Google's Equiano subsea cable lands in Togo

Sunday, March 20, 2022  Africa, Google, Subsea  

Google's Equiano subsea cable, which will connect Lisbon, Portugal and Cape Town, South Africa with branching units along the west coast of Africa, will make Togo its first landing spot.Representing the State, Société d’Infrastructures Numériques (SIN), a public telecommunications asset company, has strategically partnered with CSquared, an open access wholesale broadband infrastructure company, to create a joint venture – CSquared Woezon, which...

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Google announces Equiano cable from Portugal to South Africa

Sunday, June 30, 2019  Africa, Cable, Google, Subsea  

Google unveiled plans for new private subsea cable connecting Lisbon, Portugal and Cape Town, South Africa with branching units along the west coast of Africa. The Equiano subsea cable, which is named for Olaudah Equiano, a Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist who was enslaved as a boy, will include a branching unit to Nigeria. Google plans to use state-of-the-art space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology to achieve approximately 20 times...

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Orange Marine inaugurates cable laying ship - C/S Sophie Germain

Orange Marine has launched the C/S Sophie Germain, a new cable laying and repair ship.

The 100m vessel, which is named for a French mathmatician and philosopher, was built at the Colombo Dockyard in Sri Lanka.

https://twitter.com/OrangeMarine_/status/1588157297162948610

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Egypt inaugurates Red2Med cable along west bank of Suez

 Last week, Telecom Egypt's CEO and Managing Director, Adel Hamed, along with Egyptian government officials officially inaugurated “Red2Med,” a new submarine and terrestrial cable running from the Ras Ghareb landing point in the Red Sea to the landing station in Port Said in the Mediterranean Sea through Internet Corridor of Egypt (ICE).

Red2Med is composed of three segments which are detached from the conventional public roads: from the south the Red Sea subsea festoon cable linking Ras Ghareb, Zaafarana and Suez, then extending to the ICE terrestrial from Suez to Port said, and finally connecting to the planned Mediterranean Sea subsea festoon cable.

ICE is a 200 km, one-of-a-kind crossing route connecting the new Suez 2 and Port Said 2 landing stations. This new terrestrial fiber optic route runs through Morshedeen route on the west bank of the highly-secured Suez Canal campus.  

Telecom Egypt says the Red2Med system will encourage and support better international connectivity between East and West, connecting Europe, Africa and Asia.

Hamed stated that launching Red2Med is a remarkable achievement and a breakthrough in the submarine cables industry, as it cements Egypt’s position as a regional data hub. He added that Telecom Egypt is pleased to offer the new cable system, a brand-new optical path that will encourage and support better international connectivity.  

https://mcit.gov.eg/en/Media_Center/Press_Room/Photo_Gallery/26972

 

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EllaLink plans petabit cable along Portugal's coast

EllaLink, which operates a subsea cable directly connecting Europe to Latin America, plans to build a direct connection between Sines and the Lisbon Metro Area via a new subsea cable.

The multi-petabit capacity "Olisipo" system will connect all the international submarine landings in Portugal with the major data centers in the region, including the data centers of Start Campus NEST in Sines and Altice LDV in Lisbon. The cable will land in Carcavelos and Sines and will be ready to branch into Seixal & Sesimbra cable landing stations and connect the Setubal area.

The unrepeatered, 110km fully buried cable will incorporate 288 fibers, providing a design capacity of 4.3 Petabits. The cable robustness will be enforced by particular care given to route engineering with special attention to cable crossing, full subsea and terrestrial burial strategy, full cable armouring and extra shore-end protection with bore pipe in Sines.

The Olisipo system will provide direct POP to POP connectivity at fibre pair level between the main Data Centres located in Sines and Lisbon Metro Area, connecting at day one 

https://ella.link/2022/10/18/olisipo-the-new-ellalink-cable-petabits/

EllaLink opens PoP with Brazil's GlobeNet

Saturday, April 30, 2022  Ellalink, Subsea  

EllaLink announced a new PoP with GlobeNet in Fortaleza, Brazil. Brazilian customers of GlobeNet will be able to use the EllaLink cable - which stretches 6,000 km between Fortaleza (Ceará) and Sines (Portugal) - to access service content providers and Internet Exchange Points (IXs) in Europe. Similarly, European companies will be able to use the EllaLink cable to access GlobeNet's network.GlobeNet offers direct low-latency routes and advanced...

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EllaLink cites 30% less latency for gamers on transatlantic link

Tuesday, February 08, 2022  Ellalink, Subsea  

EllaLink said its new fiber optic submarine cable linking Europe with Latin America enables gamers on both continents to play online matches with 30% less latency. EllaLink has entered into a partnership with IP Telecom - which provides differentiated IP transit access to the main content servers spread across the European continent - and with NoPing, a high-performance solution for latency improvement focused on the online gaming segment.Inaugurated...

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Algar Telecom upgrades subsea infrastructure with Infinera

Algar Telecom, a leading provider of telecom and IT solutions in Brazil, has selected Infinera's GX Series Compact Modular Platform and FlexILS Open Optical Line System to modernize and scale its subsea network infrastructure. 

Algar Telecom will deploy Infinera’s state-of-the-art coherent technology to increase capacity on its jointly owned Monet Cable System connecting Boca Raton in Florida with landing sites in Fortaleza and Praia Grande in Brazil, expanding its spectrum service offerings and paving the way for new operator partnerships.

“As the high-speed connectivity needs of our customers evolve, we continue to deploy best-in-class technology to ensure superior network resiliency and scalability,” said Ivan Mendes, Wholesale and IOT Director. “Our technology partnership with Infinera enables us to provide modern and flexible optical transport and ensure economies of scale and efficiency in the services we deliver.”

Infinera’s ICE6-powered GX solution delivers the capacity and reach required for high-performance submarine cable spectrum and leverages the unique features of Infinera’s optical engine, which include Nyquist subcarriers, forward error correction gain sharing, and photonic integrated circuit-based technology. The solution also includes Intelligent Power Management tools that will enable Algar Telecom to effectively manage optical power across the entire fiber spectrum and maintain spectrum service stability under diverse and challenging conditions.

“We are pleased to extend our longstanding relationship with Algar Telecom to help them deliver a superior customer experience as they expand their services across the subsea spectrum and throughout Brazil,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Infinera.

https://www.infinera.com/press-release/algar-telecom-selects-infinera-to-modernize-and-scale-subsea-network

Angola Cables picks Infinera’s ICE6 for subsea upgrade

Monday, October 17, 2022  Infinera  

Angola Cables selected Infinera’s ICE6 technology to upgrade its subsea network connecting Miami and São Paulo.Angola Cables operates a robust subsea cable infrastructure and highly interconnected IP network through its SACS, Monet, and WACS submarine cable systems, directly connecting the Americas, Africa, and Europe; it also has established partnerships to expand connectivity to Asia. The success of the U.S.-to-Brazil subsea network upgrade,...

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Sparkle activates capacity on the Monet subsea cable

Wednesday, July 20, 2022  Italy, Sparkle, Subsea  

Sparkle has activated spectrum capacity on the Monet submarine cable system connecting Brazil to the United States. The addition enhances Sparkle's regional backbone for the Americas, which now encompasses five diversified routes between North and South America. Sparkle is also present on the Seabras-1 cable system in the Atlantic and the Curie cable system in the Pacific.Sparkle now counts 56 Points of Presence across the U.S., Argentina, Brazil,...

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NEC charters submarine cable ship under 4 year contract

NEC Corporation signed a charter contract with U.K.-based Global Marine Systems for an optical submarine cable-laying ship for approximately four years. 

The deal is for the submarine cable-laying ship "Normand Clipper", a 127m long vessel capable of carrying approximately 7,000km of spooled cable.

NEC has been a leading global vendor in the submarine cable system business for over 50 years, manufacturing submarine cables, submarine repeaters, and terminal station equipment, in addition to coordinating marine surveys and route design, equipment installation work, cable laying, training and delivery testing. 

Until now, NEC has procured submarine cable-laying ships for each project separately. In order to respond to the growing demand for new submarine cables due to the recent spread of 5G and the increase in data traffic between data centers in various countries, NEC has chartered a long-term dedicated cable-laying ship for the first time. As a result, NEC will provide submarine cable systems more quickly and flexibly than ever before to meet customer demand.

https://www.nec.com/en/press/202210/global_20221017_01.html

NEC to build 24-fiber-pair transatlantic cable for Facebook

Thursday, October 07, 2021  Facebook, NEC  

NEC has been contracted by Facebook to build an ultra-high performance transatlantic subsea fiber-optic cable connecting the USA and Europe. The project will use NEC’s newly developed 24 fiber pair cable and repeater, enabling the system to deliver a maximum transmission capacity of a half Petabit per second, the highest to date for a long-distance repeatered optical subsea cable system.Facebook confirmed its first-ever transatlantic, 24-fiber-pair...

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NEC qualifies subsea repeaters and cables for 24 fiber pairs

Thursday, March 18, 2021  Fiber, Japan, NEC, OCC, Subsea  

 NEC and its subsidiary OCC Corporation have completed full qualification of subsea repeaters and optical cable containing up to 24 fiber pairs (FPs) (48 fibers). The new qualification is a 50% improvement in fiber count over the 16 fiber pair systems generally available today. Only minor modifications were needed to NEC's existing repeater and cable designs. Keeping NEC's quadruple pump redundancy in the repeater (established more than...

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Alaska Communications subsea fiber collects wave activity

Alaska Communications is collaborating with Oregon State University’s College of Engineering to allow wave activity data to be collected from the ocean floor via the company’s subsea fiber optic cable.

Oregon State Assistant Professor of Coastal Engineering, Meagan Wengrove, Ph.D., her Ph.D. student and two post-doctoral researchers traveled to Alaska Communications’ landing station in Florence, Oregon in September to attach a DAS interrogator (distributed acoustic sensing) to the company’s fiber. The instrument measures strain applied to the cable and reports data back to the research team. In addition, the team has radar on the surface of the ocean and two moorings on the ocean floor which contribute to the research.

“The Alaska Communications cable is in an ideal location for our team to monitor the interaction between waves and currents coming out of the Siuslaw River along the Pacific coastline,” said Wengrove. “This project will support continued learning about wave interaction which could potentially improve or provide warnings for coastal communities in the event of dangerous wave activity, like sneaker waves.”

http://www.AlaskaCommunications.com

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ASN expands manufacturing site in Calais

ASN inaugurated ambitious expansion at its manufacturing site in Calais, France, which produces cable and equipment for subsea networks. 

The expansion project increases the production, storage and assembly capacities of the site by 25%.

https://web.asn.com/en/

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C&W Networks upgrades Caribbean cables with Ciena's GeoMesh

C&W Networks, a wholesale telecommunications service provider that is part of Cable & Wireless Communications and a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Latin America, is upgrading its CFX-1 (Colombia-Florida Express) and EWC (East West Cable) submarine cable networks with Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme. The upgrades will enable broadband and IP services of up to 400 Gbps.

C&W Networks operates the largest submarine multi-ring fiber-optic network in the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean regions, providing reliable connectivity to approximately 40 countries. The 2400km CFX-1 express cable connects the United States, Jamaica and Colombia with less than 25ms latency, while the 1,700km EWC cable links the British Virgin Islands, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

“Online content, especially streaming video, continues to drive robust demand for data and high-speed connectivity in the regions we serve. The additional capacity we’re turning up on CFX-1 and EWC with Ciena allows us to meet this demand head-on, enriching our service offerings for customers while sustainably and cost-effectively extending the lifespan of these cable systems,” stated Chris Coles, Vice President and General Manager, C&W Networks.

Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme, which utilizes the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics, delivers C&W Networks’ new increased capacity with scalable service speeds on existing undersea systems. With Ciena’s latest technology, the CFX-1 cable connecting the U.S. with Colombia and Jamaica is transformed to provide a 10-fold capacity increase of over 32Tbps with 100Gbps–400Gbps services.

https://www.ciena.com

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Lumen acquires fiber pair on Google's Grace Hopper transatlantic cable

Lumen Technologies has acquired a fiber pair on Grace Hopper, a subsea cable system spearheaded by Google, between New York and Bude, Cornwall in the U.K. The Grace Hopper system will use Lumen landing station and infrastructure services at both locations.

Lumen is taking orders now on Grace Hopper which will be active and ready to deliver services in October.

"Data flow and capacity demands don't know boundaries. The bandwidth explosion across continents is real and we're meeting it head on by investing in new subsea cables," said Laurinda Pang, Lumen president of global customer success. "The Grace Hopper system is part of Lumen and Google's long history of collaboration. Together, we're building communications infrastructures for secure and reliable delivery of digital enterprise and consumer services around the world. We are pleased to be using our landing stations at these locations, and excited to add another end-to-end intercontinental connection to the Lumen network – one of the most deeply peered networks in the world."

Lumen now has a transatlantic subsea portfolio with six on-net diverse fiber routes, including Dunant, a Google subsea system. Dunant connects Virginia Beach in the U.S. with Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez on the French Atlantic coast. Lumen has an on-net route utilizing Dunant between Richmond, Virginia and Paris, France.

https://news.lumen.com/2022-09-21-Lumen-invests-in-its-sixth-on-net-subsea-route-across-the-Atlantic#assets_117:20782

Google's Grace Hopper subsea cable lands in Cornwall

Wednesday, September 15, 2021  Google, Subsea, UK  

The Grace Hopper subsea cable has landed in Bude, Cornwall, UK. This follows a successful Bilbao landing earlier in September.Google says Grace Hopper will use a new switching architecture to provide optimum levels of network flexibility and resilience to adjust to unforeseen failures or traffic patterns. https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/united-kingdom/our-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-has-landed-uk/?linkId=131609522Google's Grace...

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Google's Firmina cable to link North and South America

Wednesday, June 09, 2021  Google, Subcom, Subsea  

Google announced plans to build a 12-fiber pair subsea cable linking North and South America via the Atlantic.The Firmina cable system, which will be designed, manufactured and installed by SubCom, will run from the East coast of the United States to Las Toninas, Argentina, with additional landings in Praia Grande, Brazil and Punta del Este, Uruguay. The Firmina system will use SubCom's 18kV power technology, which will enable Firmina to be...

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Google's Grace Hopper subsea cable to link US-UK-Spain

Tuesday, July 28, 2020  Google, Subsea  

Google unveiled plans for a new subsea cable — Grace Hopper — which will run between the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain. The cable is named for computer science pioneer Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (1906–1992), an admiral in the U.S. Navy best known for her work in developing the COBOL programming language. The Grace Hopper cable will be equipped with 16 fiber pairs (32 fibers). Subcom has been selected as the lead contractor. The project...

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