67 J a n Voice 2013 of the ISSN 1948-3031 Industry
Global Outlook Edition In This Issue: Global Outlook: 2013
Thoughts From The Industry
Is This The Next New Major Cable? Statistics
Issue Issue #64 #4 Released Released Issue Issue #65 #66 Released Released
Issue #3 Released
2 ISSN No. 1948-3031
PUBLISHER: Wayne Nielsen MANAGING EDITOR: Kevin G. Summers elcome to our annual Global work well and look good enough. But
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Stewart Ash, Outlook edition of Submarine then, that’s just me. Brodynt, Stephen Drew, John Hibbard, Stephen Telecoms Forum! Jarvis, Jorn Jespersen, Zhao Ling, and Fan W Whether you require the latest and Xiaoyan. I tend to go a little crazy for the Christmas greatest, or are happy with making what you already have work a little better, 2013 Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine is and New Year seasons. I spend a lot of time published bimonthly by Submarine Telecoms decorating my long house with thousands looks to be another very interesting year, Forum, Inc., and is an independent commercial of little bright lights that collectively and we hope this issue helps illuminate publication, serving as a freely accessible forum for professionals in industries connected illuminate also the drive and pathway . the industry path before us. But don’t just with submarine optical fiber technologies and I have been noticing that even lights are listen to me – a boatload of very bright techniques. Submarine Telecoms Forum may evolving quite quickly these days. I used people have offered their thoughts in not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the permission of to use the old larger multi-colored house these pages for the months ahead. And as the publishers. lights a few years ago that would pop a always, should you be attending PTC 2013, number of circuit breakers until I worked please come by our booth to say hello; and Liability: while every care is taken in preparation of this publication, the publishers out the kinks. Then I moved on to the of course, save me a seat at the Mai Tai Bar. cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of smaller, white cascades of lights that were the information herein, or any errors which may occur in advertising or editorial content, supposed to resemble icicles hanging from or any consequence arising from any errors the roof. or omissions, and the editor reserves the right to edit any advertising or editorial material A couple of years ago these evolved to an submitted for publication. LED version, which allowed me to string Contributions are welcomed. Please forward to more strands together before “popping” the Managing Editor at [email protected]. the breaker inside. I bought a few strands Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. of the latest and greatest this year, which 21495 Ridgetop Circle, Suite 201 were these small blue-ish strands, but I Sterling, Virginia 20166, USA soon removed them because they were subtelforum.com boring and looked nothing like icicles. 3 Copyright © 2013 Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. So I went back to the white lights, which In This Issue...
Exordium 3 PTC'13 Update 37 Conferences 62 Wayne Nielsen Protection Of Submarine Cable 40 Advertiser Index 63 News Now 5 Landfall In Arctic Waters Jorn Jespersen Coda 64 Global Outlook: 2013 8 Kevin G. Summers Stephen Jarvis Is This The Next New Major 50 Cable? Thoughts From The Industry 15 John Hibbard
Simulating for Success: A study 22 Risk of Internet Disconnection 55 on Long-Distance, High- Through Internationally Capacity Optical Cable Systems Oriented Telecom Diversity Fan Xiaoyan & Zhao Ling Brodynt
External Aggression: Global 31 Back Reflection 58 Risks, Local Solutions Stewart Ash Stephen Drew
4 News Now French Government To Bid For Submarine Cable Unit Of France Telecom Set To Launch Fibre Optic In December Struggling Alcatel-Lucent Geo Networks Announces the Completion of its East-West Ace Submarine Cable Now Live Ring
Alcatel-Lucent Gets A $2.1-Billion Reprieve ICPC: Call For Papers
Alcatel-Lucent Increases Capacity Of MAYA-1 Submarine Infinera Number One in Global Long-Haul 100G Market Data Link Between Florida And Colombia Share
Angola-Brazil Fibre Optic Cable Starts Operations LITC and Huawei Marine announce commercial launch of Silphium cable system Broken Sea Cable Cuts Phone Lines In Eastern Libya Malaita Looks Forward To New Submarine Cable Cable Crews On Alert In Cook Strait New Submarine Cable System For Caribbean Nigeria’s Fibre Optic Cables Still Under-Utilised Southern Cross Price Drop
NTT Com Positioned As Leaders In Gartner NTT SubOptic 2013 Early Bird Registration Now Available Communications Connects Asia Submarine-Cable Express to Hong Kong SubOptic 2013 Preliminary Programme - Now Issued!
Palapa Ring To Connect Papua Next Year SubTel Forum Announces Record Readership in 2012
PCCS Operators To Boost Fast Broadband Access In The WFN Strategies to Support BLAST Submarine Cable Caribbean, Central And South America
Protecting the Cook Strait cable
Reliance Globalcom has selected Ciena to Upgrade FLAG Europe-Asia
Reliance Globalcom Upgrades FNAL Terrestrial Backhaul Network to Support OTN, Using Ciena SAEx Submarine Cable To Bring Broadband To Coastal Cities
Seaborn Networks Show Cause Notice Keeps Undersea Cable Ship Off India Coast 7 Global Outlook: 2013
8 Stephen Jarvis 2012 has ended and the time has come to this last year. It’s in this region that many “If you design a cable with a life span of 25 look to the state of the submarine telecoms see the most business for 2013. years and it’s only 10 to 15 years in,” said industry in the New Year. Times have been Lavallee, “why would you replace it?” He difficult in recent years with economic issues Brian Lavallee, director of Global Network said that being able to defer replacement on an international scale, new technologies Solutions at Ciena, a company specializing by upgrading a 10 or 40 gigabyte system to redefining the industry and political shifts in upgrades, believes that upgrades have a 100 gigs is the major draw in the upgrade generally muddling the waters. and will continue to dramatically change market. the industry landscape. However, progress is still being made. As Eric Handa, co-founder of APTelecom, of this past year, 14 new systems have been “It’s basically turned the industry on however, believes that this will eventually completed: five in the Pacific, four in the its heels,” said Lavallee. He went on to become a problem. While he agrees that Atlantic, three in the Indian Ocean and two comment that you see less cables being the last two years have been dominated by in the Mediterranean. There was roughly laid because of the improved upgrades upgrades, they are only “a short to medium 56,200 kilometers added. As has been technology, which saves time and money, term fix.” mentioned in previous articles, even more as well as improving the investment in a has been done with upgrade technology in cable system. “We’re seeing fiber assets, both subsea (wet) and terrestrial (dry), largely neglected,”
It’s no secret that the submarine fiber industry has been feeling sluggish lately. While the factors for the downturn are numerous, including FCC regulation, economic instability and regional instability, there is no doubt that the number of systems ready for service has been almost halved each year since 2011. This time last year, the number of systems RFS was double what it is now, indicating a serious concern for planned systems and their viability in the new market climate.
9 said Handa. Mainly, assets in the Atlantic Systems have traditionally been designed the center of London.” Lavallee believes are aging: the youngest of which is 11 years. beach-to-beach, where, at each end of the this technology will begin gaining real subsea optical cable is an electrical switch popularity in new 2013 systems. He comments that the time will soon come that routes the feed. Instead there is now when cables reach the point of “diminishing the Reconfigurable Optical Add Drop “The next trend you’ll see is the cable marginal returns;” the point where even Multiplexer (ROADM) as an option, doing will be put in an intelligent mesh,” said with the improved upgrades technology away with the bulky electrical switch and Lavallee. This is a technology of particular won’t make up for the age of the system. keeping the signal optical. value since it applies to issues of economics As Handa put it: “Do you really want to or signal quality, but reaches beyond into put a brand-new engine in a car that’s 15 “You can run a terabit from a two inch issues of societal safety. years old?” rack box,” said Lavallee. He went on to explain that the new technology for a While it may not be the first thing that Still, upgrades aren’t the only new cable’s landing site would allow the signal comes to mind, telecoms systems are technology gaining momentum, according to be routed to where it needs to go, while equally at risk in a natural disaster as to Lavallee. Along with the ever improving staying optical. “You could have an optical anything else. Particularly when dealing coherent detection upgrades are the signal from the center of New York to with something on the scale of the 2011 “ROADM” and “Intelligent Mesh”. Japanese earthquake. According to
The number of systems ready for service isn’t the only metric available to estimate market health. Evaluating the volume of fiber laid in the last five years shows a global down turn in the total length of cable needed worldwide.
10 Lavallee, there were a number of cables There are a few areas that may have new For cables connecting to offshore that were cut by not only the quake but the systems built this year, in his estimation: developments, it is still expected that they aftershocks that continued to shift the areas. will use fiber over other options (radio »» Singapore to Perth solutions like microwave or satellite), Despite this, the signal was never truly cut »» Singapore to Africa/Middle-east according to Antoine Lecroart, area off. This, said Lavallee, is the best example »» Angola to Brazil marketing director for Alcatel-Lucent. of an intelligent mesh at work. As the cable »» Brazil to Florida is cut, the system reroutes to another cable »» New Zealand to Los Angeles “Generally, there is a trend to try to use to carry it. The implementation of such a fiber for telecom in all future big offshore system requires areas with many cables, Interest in branching out from Africa can developments,” said Lecroart, “because but Lavallee believes it will be a growing only be expected to get around Egypt, fiber provides more bandwidth, less latency technology. where recent political upheaval has created and better signal availability than radio a chokepoint for the areas telecoms, when solutions.” However, installation is complex New technology is nothing, however, traffic has occasionally been shut off due and therefore more expensive to install. without new systems on which to implement to internal issues. Brazil will be looking to How many new offshore installations are them. According to Handa, growth in this add a system to meet capacity demand for planned for is unknown. area isn’t necessarily something we’ll see the 2016 Olympics, since existing systems this upcoming year. “I think we’re going are too old to upgrade. And, according to While there is still a great deal of uncertainty to see a limited number of builds,” said Handa, a new cable between the U.S. and in the subsea telecoms industry for this Handa; specifically, four to five major ones. New Zealand is simply long overdue. upcoming year, there are still signs of continuing growth in different regions, both large and small. The continuing popularity of upgrades and the integration of other new technologies to increase the effectiveness of cables are just some of the aspects that will support the industry in 2013. Stephen Jarvis is a freelance writer in the Washington D.C. area. He has published articles and done editorial work with several publications including Submarine Telecoms Forum. Also, he has been a speaker for the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association National Conference.
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For more information visit www.terabitconsulting.com or email us at [email protected] or call +1 617 444 8605 his Spring, SubTel Forum will release its second annual Submarine Advertising Inquiries: Telecoms Industry Report. The Kristian Nielsen magazineT bound report will serve as the final Sales Manager chapter in a trilogy of products beginning [email protected] with the Submarine Cable Map. Featuring Tel: +1 (703) 444-0845 in-depth analysis and speculation on the submarine cable industry, the Report will serve as an excellent resource for anyone interested in the health of the market.
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15 Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks All our new-build contracts are designed Bingham McCutchen for 100G from day one. In parallel, there is Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent also the need for developing solutions that Andy Lipman, Senior Partner, Bingham Submarine Networks allow to add capacity quickly, and easily. McCutchen Today’s appetite of businesses and Upgrades can be a cost effective means I predict that 2013 turns out to be a consumers for new applications and of adding high-speed capacity but they particularly lucky year for submarine services continue to drive cable initiatives require a unique mix of skills and features cable construction and financing. After a to expand connectivity and capacity in including a very accurate analysis of system several year drought, worldwide demand, support of the worldwide internet and the design, flexible and powerful SLTE, and an especially in Latin America, Middle East, cloud. A key aspect remains technology experienced commissioning team. Last but Africa and South Asia, is reviving the innovation. 100G has become the unique not least, marine maintenance has further submarine cable industry, as content and channel capacity of the new systems raised its critical profile in operators' mind IP enabled communications are inexorably being proposed today and operators are to contribute strengthening the reliability moving away from the US to multiple expecting 100 Gbps on a single wavelength. of their systems. foreign locations. Recent reports suggest that over $3 Billion (US) will be spent on submarine cables over the next two years. Moreover, deep pocket content and search providers are enthusiastically joining the ranks of cable system owners. To facilitate this development, funding is becoming increasingly available for new cable systems and expansions and upgrades of existing networks. On the Equity side, vendor financing, Private Equity funds are returning to the industry. Multiple sources and levels of debt, including Project Financing is becoming more available, including from Multilateral Organizations. At the same time, managing exogenous risks, such as regulatory, environmental and national security considerations both complicate and make specialized legal- financial planning increasing critical.
16 CRU International
Richard Mack, Director of Research, CRU International
It’s becoming a wireless world, which means more traffic on undersea cables.
In CRU International’s work to assess and forecast the demand for optical cables – all types, not only undersea – we often find that mobile communication is the major driver for fixed-line traffic growth in many markets. This in turn is driving the installation of new cable systems for mobile-network infrastructure and for long-haul transport. It is also spurring some carriers to upgrade their transmission technology to 40 Gbps or more recently to100 Gbps. This response to mobile traffic is affecting both terrestrial and undersea cable system markets.
Ciena to gain traction allowing forward-looking In Africa, for example, the number of network operators to design end-to- fixed line telephone subscribers increased Brian Lavallée, Director, Global Network end networks by keeping traffic in the Solutions, Ciena with a CAGR of 4% from 20 million in optical domain from PoP-to-PoP, which 2000 to 30 million in 2011. The number The global submarine market experienced significantly reduces network complexity, of mobile telephone subscribers increased significant capacity increases in 2012, cost, and latency while increasing overall with a CAGR of 40% from 16 million which was accomplished primarily by network reliability. As part of this, in 2000 to 646 million in 2011. And the 10G to 40G channel rate increases over intelligent mesh networks linking global number of broadband-mobile subscribers existing wet plants, rather than new PoPs will gain in popularity to improve (3G or higher) in Africa increased with a submarine cable builds. In 2013, this will overall network reliability and resilience, CAGR of 1056% from 40,000 in 2008 to 61 shift towards 100G channel rate increases, which is critical as the world’s dependence million in 2011. The number of undersea as technology supporting longer reaches on constant connectivity increases. cable systems with landing sites in Africa is commercialized. An important element increased from 8 in 2000 to 31 in 2011, and of this will be the Optical Bypass, which the number of landing terminals in service implements all-optical ROADMs in the on these cable systems increased from 11 17 Cable Landing Station, and will continue to 93 – a CAGR of 21%. Considering the rapid growth in the Huawei Marine Networks Co., Ltd. points on the coast to population centres use of wireless Internet services, it’s not in the interior. unexpected to find rising demand for Nigel Bayliff, CEO, Huawei Marine Networks Asia--With the massive growth in demand international circuits among Africa’s Co., Ltd. for data capacity in Asia, the carriers are mobile operators – the same trend is “Although many of the world economies looking closely at the submarine links both occurring worldwide. To emphasize this are still working hard maintain to achieve within the region and to the rest of the point, we note that the world’s largest growth, in this specific industry segment we world. In 2013 the focus is shaping to be customer for telecom cable is China see a stable future for 2013 and the coming on strengthening the intra-Asia networks, Mobile, a wireless operator with more years. The upgrade market continues to with a number of cable systems already in the pipeline. The proposed Southeast Asia than 700 million subscribers. The amount develop, with some cables going through Japan Cable System (SJC) will ultimately of optical cable installed worldwide from a third or fourth iteration, however there 2007 through 2012 (six years of network see landing stations in Japan, China, Hong is still strong demand for new cables both Kong, the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, construction) contained 1.1 billion km of overlaying traditional routes & connecting optical fibre, and 17% or 0.2 billion fibre- Thailand and Singapore. Another system new regions and markets as well as new set to be built is the Asia Pacific Gateway km was installed by China Mobile. The growth areas such as the provision of cable (APG) cable network which is planned company’s cap-ex budgets for those six to oil assets. Huawei Marine continues to to link Singapore, Taiwan, China, South years totaled more than US$100 billion. invest strongly in R&D of both wet and Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, And in the past two years, China Mobile dry plant, enabling the tailoring of systems Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. In the also has begun participating in new to Customer’s specific requirements and meantime other development effort in 2013 undersea cable system consortia. we look forward to announcing such will see the SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system take shape, providing yet another inter- developments in the coming year.” regional link between Asia and Europe via the Middle East. With a number of Chinese operators already heavily involved in this Paul Budde Communications new SEA-ME-WE 5 cable consortium it is tipped that we will see some changes in Paul Budde, CEO, Paul Budde Communications the building and administration of this system. There are also rumours of a second Africa--Submarine fibre capacity in sub- Asia-Europe link in the same timescale to Saharan Africa has increased more than compete head to head with SEA-ME-WE 100-fold in just the past four years, from 5. 250Gb/s to more than 25Tb/s, which has driven wholesale bandwidth prices down by 90%. The propsed SAex cable between South Africa, Angola and Brazil will almost double this bandwidth again by 2014. The bottlenecks are now in the terrestrial fibre backbone infrastructure to take internet bandwidth from landing 18 Pioneer Consulting
Julian Rawle, Managing Partner, Pioneer Consulting
2013 will be critical for installation projects that have been in the “development” stage for perhaps too long. We will start to get clarity on which new systems are going to succeed in the Americas corridor; whether a viable connection can be established between Africa and South America and between Western Australia and Singapore; whether low latency offers sufficient commercial advantage to justify transarctic and new transatlantic cables; and whether multilateral institutions and governments are willing to bear the risk of funding high bandwidth connections to remote island communities. Terabit Consulting especially where end-user demand has yet Installation and upgrade markets depend to materialize. Michael Ruddy, Managing Director, Terabit on continued growth in demand for Consulting The upgrade market will be the biggest bandwidth. China and the US will muddle source of growth, but there will still be through their economic woes and continue The difficult financing environment for strong opportunities for new builds. to provide impetus for our market. Days investor-led projects that claimed Pacific Geopolitical pressures will drive in Europe, however, will be darker. Fibre in 2012 won’t show any sign of investment in routes that offer alternatives BRICS countries will grow but not at the easing. to global pinch-points. spectacular rates that have been touted in the media. Africa is making great strides On the long-haul routes that have been The market positioning of submarine to bring its new submarine connectivity the historic domain of consortia, private suppliers will be up in the air as a to the interior. There will therefore be investors might still be able to extract well-established supplier explores the sufficient growth to support these markets short-term profits when telecom operators possibility of new ownership and a newer but availability of capital will necessarily are caught dragging their feet, but entrant seeks to gain a solid footing. remain a constraint. competing head-to-head against carrier- owned infrastructure will be challenging And finally, the posts of a certain Dale over the long-term. Investors should Carnegie-inspired blogger will continue focus their attention on routes and markets to be exceedingly diplomatic. 19 that have been historically underserved, Xtera Communications, Inc.
Herve Fevrier, COO of Xtera Communications, Inc.
Xtera has been part of the subsea cable system industry since 2004, and is excited to have developed the submarine applications of its products over the years.
The subsea cable system industry is likely to experience the following discussions and evolutions in 2013: • From a technology perspective, 100G will generalize for new builds and upgrades with the goal to maximize the capacity per fiber pair. Other technologies will emerge over time like OTN switching. • From a cable system operator’s side, the content providers will continue to increase their share.
• Will operators be ready to purchase WFN Strategies markets, a lot of cash while available is still the wet plant separate from the dry sitting on the sidelines. The good news is equipment? If a way to guarantee Wayne Nielsen, Managing Director, WFN that the significant elections in the first system performance and capacity can Strategies world are largely complete; the bad news be found, such a scheme may happen may be that little positive change may be sooner than expected. Last year was tough on a number of fronts, and several systems expected to move forthcoming. 2013 will be an improvement forward did not. If 2012 was the year of the from the prior year, but to what extent may upgrade, is 2013 the year of new systems? still be in question. Maybe. 2013 is looking to be a year that on one hand is considerably improved from before, but on the other, poses a number of challenges that may still negatively impact the industry. World economics and governmental deficits may still leave a 20 demonstrative mark. Across the financial submarine cable RESERVE ISSUE 5 AVAILABLE YOUR ADVERT ALMANAC TODAY FEBRUARY 2013
Advertising Inquiries: Kristian Nielsen Sales Manager [email protected] Tel: +1 (703) 444-0845 21 Simulating for Success: A study on Long-Distance, High-Capacity Optical Cable Systems
Fan Xiaoyan
22 & Zhao Ling Demand continues to increase and America or the regional submarine trend for subsea cable systems and makes cable systems in Europe，Asia-Pacific, business sense. It is well documented and widely Middle-East / North Africa regions have understood that international traffic been upgraded to a higher capability Operational simplification growth is closely correlated with new in capacity terms during past years, telecommunications infrastructure that, compared to its original design. For a submarine cable system project that combined with the new bandwidth involves new deployment not only are the hungry applications, continues to place Pushing the boundaries of technology technical parameters of the building blocks ever increasing demands upon subsea or wet plant important but in today’s ever telecommunication networks. With The capacity per wavelength, for example, increasing drive from faster ‘turn-up’ of the recent push for greater data storage has been greatly increased to 40Gbps, capacity , operational improvements and capability, video content sharing and even 100Gbps. It is clear that the level system reliability form critical factors. cloud computing, there have been some of upgrade depends upon the technical Quite often sub-sea cable systems are new drivers for regional and transoceanic specifications of the wet plant, specifically submarine cable system deployment to the optical repeater and the installed service such needs. For sure, the subsea fibre base type. These represent costly cable system upgrade(s) still offer viable elements of the subsea network that It is well known cable alternatives to new build (where existing during such upgrades can form a limiting system tend suffer from infrastructure exists) although often the factor, so all energy and technological anchor and fishing level of upgrade depends strongly upon advancement that place in Submarine the wet plant technology and system age. Terminal equipment can be lost. In short, activities that pose a The maximum capacities for the existing there are ways to ‘sweat’ this ‘wet plant’ threat to wet plant and deployed system, such as transatlantic and therefore provide improved return on represents a costly and submarine cable systems linking Europe investment (ROI). This is an established timely process to recover and repair during fault There has been interesting focus for low latency conditions. Addressing networks, pointing towards a more niche ‘financial’ these concerns provides market application and highlighting how subsea improvement in system technology is being ‘tuned’ for specific customer availability during the demands beyond the simple capacity equation 25 year design life. 23 deployed in high shipping / fishing or In normal traditional systems, size other risk zones in which the possibility of of the repeater plays a critical part in Given, the sub-sea external factors causing potential damage determining the burial depth together during the life span can be higher than with seabed conditions forming another Industry is built desired. parameter. Thus one way to gain enhanced solely upon reliability, system reliability is to re-engineer the bringing into play a As the ability to bury the wet plant has basic building block used in submarine a direct correlation to system protection cable systems, specifically the optical new approach naturally (from external threats) its only natural repeater to make it more slim line. Why has some barriers to to consider how such technology can be is this important? Well during system overcome, after all in enhanced to drive improvements in this installation a traditional marine plough space. But as most Marine installers know, is used to bury the repeater and with all most aspects of life burial is not a simple process and greatly things being equal a slimmer repeater challenging the status- depends upon the sea bed conditions, so will achieve improved burial compared to quo is bound to meet many difference approaches are required more traditional ‘legacy’ repeaters. to provide improved wet plant protection, some resistance during its 25 year life span. Put simply, improved burial means less risk from external damages, lower The combination of mechanical and Optimization of the mechanical design operational headaches for System owners optical design may hold the answer may help and improvement in overall system reliability. If one can achieve a product that In this paper, the combinations of both Throughout the telecommunication is engineered to work better with the tools advancements in mechanical and optical industry with advancements in electro- used for installation, then clearly this drives designs are described as to present a optics there has been an increasing trend to to simplification and faster deployment different perspective in subsea technology drive more compact designs, build smaller therefore has the potential also to reduce and highlight some of the results that are chip sets and improve reliability. We have overall cost. Let’s be clear here; Marine achievable. witness over the years how SLTE plant operations are the most complex and a has reduced in footprint, power and offer costly element of the system solution. A The building blocks of a submarine system operational advantages to Operations. short hiccup during operations can result are illustrated below. A submarine cable However, until more recently such a trend in standby cost running into several tens system generally includes two parts: the has not been transferred into the wet plant of thousands of dollars, so simplifying the ‘dry’ plant and the ‘wet’ plant, as shown used for subsea cable systems, well at least delivery and implementation must surely in figure 1. until now. make sense. 24 transmission. Meanwhile, FEC has been gradually evolving from the classical hard decision scheme to its counterpart; soft decision.
Leveraging new t e c h n o l o g i c a l advancements is central to massive R&D investment and product engineering that firmly remains at the heart of Fig1 submarine cable system solutions to dispersion uncompensated Product engineering. transmission schemes. By using single type The dry plant is mainly composed of of fiber in the cable, with large effective submarine line terminal equipment area, low attenuation and large positive The wet plant is mainly composed of (SLTE), submarine line monitor system dispersion (G654B), uncompensated link optical repeaters, optical power equalizers (SLM), power feeding equipment (PFE) can drastically change the key features of (OEQs), branching units (BUs, see figure and network management system (NMS). signal propagation and thus reduce non- 2) and the system cable. By using erbium- At present, the modulation format of SLTE linearity penalty and achieve transmission doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), repeaters has improved from the traditional non- distances. can boost the optical signal power to coherent pattern to the coherent pattern compensate for each span loss to make combined with DSP technology. The In addition, it makes the cable manufacture a long-haul optical signal transmission. application of DSP technology can improve and maintenance simpler. Simplification OEQs can equalize the spectral power to the sensitivity of the receiver, eliminate here also means integration is a more maintain the flatness of all channels in the or reduce the performance degradation controlled process and one that aid the whole bandwidth. Branching units are caused by CD, PMD and nonlinear delivery timescales. In a long-haul or used in submarine cable systems where effects in long-haul optical transmission ultra-long-haul submarine system, PDM- multiple landing points are required, or to systems. Link transmission has changed BPSK/QPSK modulation format has add in flexible access points for future new from conventional dispersion-managed been widely used for 40G/100G coherent 25 landings. To meet various add and drop services, two (2) Ensure simple integration process (3) Enhanced reliability types of branching units can be used: fiber through proven jointing technology; pair BU (FP-BU) which provides fiber add- Universal Jointing™ The repeater, with its proven reliable and-drop connectivity, and optical add pressure housing and seal, is capable of and drop multiplexing BU (OADM-BU) The repeater shown in the figure 3 adopts withstanding the hydrostatic pressures of which provides a wavelength or multiple the erbium-doped fiber amplification a deep-sea deployment of up to 8000m. wavelengths add-and-drop connectivity. (EDFA) technology, operating in deep To ensure a 25-year service lifetime, saturation regime with a maximum redundancy design has been used both output power of 18dBm, spanning over in the optical parts (in the figure 4) and a 33nm bandwidth and supporting in main electrical circuits. Especially, a maximum span length of the 4*4 (in figure 5) pumps redundancy 120km. It can be used in structure is provided to meet the fiber pair various scenarios independent requirements. And the 2*2 (in ranging from 1000km figure 6) pumps redundancy structure is regional route to provided to enhance the pump reliability. 12000km trans-pacific The overall failure rate of a 6-fiber-pair route, providing R2 repeater is lower than 35FITs, which m u l t i - s c e n a r i o shows its reliability is higher than some delivery capability. similar products. Particularly, for Fig2 Branching unit with remote earth applications of special scanarios, the design, (with UJTM technology) repeater’s gain and output power can be customized to provide system flexibility To meet the requirement of large capacity and ultra-long haul (ULH) transmission, broad bandwidth, high output power and enhanced system reliability some key factors have to be considered during the design cycle. Fig3 V1R2 Repeater (with UJTM technology) (1) Provide large-capacity and multi- scenario delivery capability by customizing designs 26 (4) Slim Line design same NMS used by SLTE and all other transmission equipment. With a slim line housing that fits comfortably Erbium under the plough depressor arm during Input A 1 fiber isolator isolator isolator ploughing operations, this design does not 10dB Tap WDM GFF 10dB Tap have any traditional limitations, as such the burial profile follows that of the cable Pump 1 and represents a significant improvement 2×2 TFF Filter TFF Filter over more traditional repeater designs. coupler Pump 2 Erbium This means less post lay burial work and isolator isolator isolator fiber marine cost as burial is achieved in a single 10dB Tap GFF WDM 10dB Tap pass operation . Input A 2
Furthermore, the repeater provides optical loopback paths for supervisory signals Fig4 Repeater optical diagram EDFA FP1 via the SLM 1630 to determine cable fault EDFA
locations. Based on COTDR, SLM 1630 Pump 1 Pump 2 provides in-service status monitoring, and Pump 3 Pump 4 out-of-service fault location by U2000, the EDFA
FP2 EDFA
Single platform network management in today’s Fig5 4 pumps redundancy complex meshed networks leads to lower management complexity and whole life cost. As Terrestrial networks EDFA
merge with submarine networks a single NMS makes FP1 Pump 1 Pump 2 sense at many levels for an Operator, as such the U200 EDFA is engineered at addressing Operator needs. It’s even EDFA
possible to set up a SMS message should a fibre degrade FP2 Pump 1 Pump 2 be detected, thus so keeping Network Operations staff EDFA in touch 24 x 7 27 Fig6 2 pumps redundancy Case 1: transatlantic submarine cable figure 7. On the premise of meeting 80 x Gain vs. Repeater Number system 100Gb/s capacity per fiber over 6552km 110 Number of RPT in distance, figure 8 shows that the repeater 17dBm different Gain 105 In the existing transatlantic submarine number reduces with the increasing 100 of repeater gain, and the system using cable system from around 10 years ago we 17dBm repeaters which have 13dB gain uses the 95 can see how more advanced technology 17dBm can be used. Such a legacy system would lowest repeater number. 90 have typical parameters; for example (128 Number repeaterof 85 x 10Gb/s), the average span length of So the customized repeater parameters 80 11 12 13 about 45km and the total distance around are identified as below: the gain is 13dB, Repeater 's gain(dB) 6,500km. In additional the system would output power is 17dBm; and only 89 have typical around 150 repeaters in total repeaters are used. Fig8 gain vs. repeater count link whose output power is in the region of + 13dBm used in this example case. Dispersion Map 160000 With the application of Raman and 140000 intelligent monitoring capability within With the application of these HMN R2 120000 repeater, the product can be designed repeaters; 100000 to have higher output power, broader 80000 bandwidth and support longer span
CD(ps/nm) 60000 length. These key parameters tend to • 100G SLTEs technology at the cable 40000 landing stations 20000 offer flexibility and form a key factor for 0 the overall system performance and, let’s 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 not forget, whole life-time cost. • Single type of system fiber with large Distance (km) effective area and low attenuation 1530nm 1550nm 1560nm profile Fig7 6552km transatlantic system dispersion map We find in this the case the following is possible: By using R2 repeater, it can be concluded from the The optimum repeater parameters can be obtained based on the simulation simulation results that a submarine cable system result aiming at a project of 80 x 100 G could achieve a larger transmission capacity, higher wavelengths over 6552km distance. The reliability and greater operational efficiency. simulation dispersion map is shown in 28 Closing remarks engineering concepts presented in this degree in Optics Engineering from Nanjing paper are all built upon 25 years’ service University of Science and Technology. Mechanical design is just as critical as the life span as the baseline. Taking this optical elements that for years have been baseline further into a new enhanced Elva (Zhao Ling) has 6 widely promoted within the submarine standard as the focus, demonstrated years’ experience within the industry without much focus on the with some innovative designs and new Terrestrial and Submarine housing technology and optimization products. Some interesting developments Telecommunication & with installation tools. Leveraging new will emerge during the journey ahead Service Provider sectors, technological advancements is central to offering something new and exciting currently serving as massive R&D investment and product within the undersea telecommunications System simulation Engineer for Huawei engineering. Coupled with Global Marine cable industry. After all, this is just the Marine Networks (HMN) in China. She ‘know-how’, a marine installer with over beginning! has gained experience in large scale 150 years’ experience to help engineer the telecommunications project simulation of optical terrestrial and submarine systems. product bringing extensive operational Christina (Fan Xiaoyan) has 8 She was employed by Huawei Technologies experience, adds credibility and helps years’ experience within the co., ltd since year 2007 and then joined delivers a robust ‘rounded’ solution. Terrestrial and Submarine HMN in year 2008. She was involved in Telecommunication & transponders software development and a Cable burial by ploughing has been Service Provider sectors, large number of transatlantic/transpacific a standard method used to protect currently serving as Senior system simulations. She holds a Master’s undersea cables from hazards in that System simulation Engineer for Huawei degree from Harbin Engineering variable environment. By optimizing Marine Networks (HMN) in China. She University in 2007. the mechanical design a neat solution to has gained experience in large scale enhance overall system reliability can be telecommunications project simulation implemented. Flexibility in pump design of optical terrestrial and submarine and configuration does offer Operators systems. She was employed by Huawei and Purchasers a way to further improve Technologies co., ltd since year 2005 and the optical aspects within the repeater. then joined HMN in year 2008. She was This forms a further critical element of involved in transponders development the repeater design and underpins the and a large number of transatlantic/ reliability. transpacific system simulations. Christina has published paper on Suboptic’10 In an industry, where reliability this is of and output several patents in optical paramount importance the design and transmission field. She holds a Master’s 29 The Power of Submarine Information Transmission
There’s a new power under ocean uniting the world in a whole new way. With unparalleled development expertise and outstanding technology, Huawei Marine is revolutionizing trans-ocean communications with a new generation of repeaters and highly reliable submarine cable systems that offer greater 30 transmission capacity, longer transmission distances and faster response to customer needs. Huawei Marine: connecting the world one ocean at a time. External Aggression: Global Risks, Local Solutions
31 Stephen Drew n a global scale, subsea cables are What is AIS? damaged on the order of 150-200 Otimes per year. A repair may cost a A cable operator can use few hundred thousand to a few million US AIS to track ship locations dollars, depending on cableship proximity and activities relative to and other factors. Damage can also cause cables in real time to help service degradation and interruption. prevent faults, as well Most cable faults are caused by external as in the past to identify aggression, including ship anchors, responsible parties. AIS fishing and other human activities, as was introduced in part to well as natural hazards such as undersea reduce the risk of collision at sediment movement. The good news sea. Since 2003, oceangoing is that cable companies are starting to vessels over 299 gross tons mitigate risks in ways not possible before, Figure 1: Global Overview of Fault are required to broadcast AIS signals via using new technologies including the Causes (From Kordahi et al 20101 courtesy VHF radio at intervals ranging up to a few Automatic Identification System (AIS) SubOptic, TE SubCom, Alcatel-Lucent minutes. Each broadcast includes ship and satellite tracking of fishing vessels. Submarine Networks, & Submarine Cable name, identification numbers, position, However, different areas are often prone to different fault causes. In order to use technologies cost effectively, it is essential to determine which risks prevail in an area, and which tools address those risks. Organizations such as the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) and a number of national groups are also taking measures to deal with evolving risks.
Figure 2: Global pattern of external aggression faults (From Carter et al 20092, 32 courtesy ICPC/UNEP/TE SubCom) speed, heading, length, destination and other data. The requirement is global, but there are exceptions such as military vessels, and limitations on the distance reached by the VHF signal. In practice this distance is often 15-50 miles, depending on height of antenna, weather and other factors. Depending on antenna placement, this can cover many areas near shore where cables are most vulnerable to ship anchors. The use of satellites to relay AIS data from broader areas is also becoming more widespread. Shore-based antennae can receive AIS signals and convert them to data streams fed into computers or sent via internet. Software can show ship locations and movements relative to cables, generate alerts, and archive the information. Real time AIS ship locations for many areas can be viewed on free internet sites. For more comprehensive and reliable ship data presented relative to cable routes, with the capacity to query Figure 3: AIS often shows ships anchored beyond designated anchorages historic information, several commercial solutions are available. to ship managers can also serve as a problem areas identified with AIS. If partial remedy for the delay between faults occur in spite of these measures, AIS cable installation and presentation on can sometimes provide evidence enabling AIS can be valuable from the early navigational charts. In heavy traffic areas, the cable operator to recover damages. stages of project planning and routing, ongoing AIS monitoring and notification to identify traffic patterns and uncharted can be very effective to warn ships of anchorage areas. Before cable installation, What is VMS? their potential to damage cables, and management companies of ships thereby prevent such damage. Authorities frequenting an area can be notified (it is Many fishing vessels are smaller than sometimes provide support by monitoring easier to build a working relationship 299 gross tons. In most areas they do not and/or regulating vessel movement in 33 before problems arise). Proactive notices broadcast AIS, but some do so for safety or other reasons. Several countries are in aggregate or on request. Such data can frequently, relayed by satellite to achieve considering AIS requirements for fishing help identify areas fished by different types virtually global range, and safeguarded by vessels. However, many governments of gear (which have different potential agencies with different policies regarding already require their fishing vessels to impacts on cables), determine which ports confidentiality. In one country it has been broadcast confidential messages relayed are bases for boats fishing in a cable area, used as evidence to show which vessel by satellites to agencies that monitor or in some cases identify which vessel may was present when a fault occurred. fishing activities. These are often referred have damaged a cable. A major difference to as Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) or between AIS and VMS is confidentiality. Uncertainties in fault data Vessel Tracking Systems (VTS). In some Whereas AIS data can be gathered cases government policy dictates that VMS continuously by anyone with a nearby Sometimes a fault cause is clearly revealed data is strictly confidential. In others, it is antenna and appropriate equipment, VMS by the “smoking gun” of a ship anchor or publicly available, or it may be provided signals are confidential, broadcast less fishing gear found tangled in damaged cable, with intensive fishing or shipping Figure 4: observed nearby. In other cases the repair External ship finds a section of cable damaged or aggression parted, apparently by contact with an faults come object or objects that could involve fishing, in all sizes shipping or other activity impossible to and shapes confirm. (From Carter et al 2009, One revelation from AIS is that several courtesy faults which would probably have been ICPC/ attributed ten years ago to fishing were UNEP/TE actually caused by ships inadvertently SubCom3) dragging anchors on the seabed while steaming. This was documented by Mick Green and Keith Brooks in their 2011 article “The Threat of Damage to Submarine Cables by the Anchors of Ships Underway”4. It has caused multiple faults around the U.K., Mediterranean, Red Sea, and northeastern USA. Many mariners and cable operators find it hard 34 to accept that a ship may drag an anchor explored, and some exploited beyond interest or indifference to appreciation and along the seabed at cruising speed, their apparent sustainability. It is likely strong cooperation. However, overfishing, apparently unbeknownst to officers and that some expansion and shifting will overcapitalization, and increased crew. However, AIS evidence of a ship continue, but maximum fishing depths for regulation have led to declines in numbers crossing at the precise time and location of many species and areas can be identified of vessels and fishing days. It’s my a fault plus other evidence have confirmed with some confidence. observation that where such pressures this on several occasions (and enabled exist, the surviving vessel owners must be cable operators to recover substantial Another important question is how competent managers to remain profitable. settlements). deeply into the seabed cables should be This trend sometimes provides a more buried. Again, the answer depends on receptive audience for cable awareness Analysis of fault trends is complicated local conditions. Different burial depths – and the abovementioned reduction in by the confidentiality with which cable may be appropriate for areas subject to, for fishing activity is another factor that may operators generally treat their data. There example, frequent ship anchorage, bottom make cables safer. is no central global fault database. A trawling, scallop dredging that scrapes few cableship providers have extensive the surface of the seabed, more invasive Many countries have institutions to databases, but these are also likely to clam dredging, or large anchors of fishing educate fishermen. Requirements for contain gaps and uncertainties. The ICPC nets. Since fishermen normally target training and certification in topics such recently increased its efforts to compile species living on or above the seabed, as safety are increasing. Instructors are and analyze global fault information. most gear does not penetrate the bottom sometimes uninformed about cables, but The degree to which cable operators and very deeply. Considering fuel costs and when approached they are almost always maintenance agreements will provide data environmental concerns, developments interested in including them in their remains to be seen. in trawl technology often focus on curricula. achieving lighter seabed contact and less Trends in fishing environmental impact. When planning Hydrographic charts and software a new cable system, or determining The expansion of fishing into deeper fault causes on an existing system, it is It is essential to ensure that cables appear water has concerned the cable industry important to understand which gear is on hydrographic charts and software, but for many years, and it illustrates why it is used in which areas, as well as its seabed sole reliance on these to achieve awareness essential to understand local conditions. penetration and potential cable impacts. is a dangerous strategy. Hydrographic Although many coastal resources have Recent advances in cable burial equipment offices with limited resources must process been exploited to declining levels, much of are very valuable where needed, but in a constant deluge of information that the deep ocean does not appear to produce other areas deeper burial may add time impacts the safety of life at sea, and present large quantities of commercially valuable and cost to an installation, and increase the it with precision. Different countries also fish. Moreover, deepwater bottom difficulty of maintenance, without adding have different practices regarding cable fishing is challenging and expensive. substantially to security. presentation and chart updates. For It is profitable only where substantial example, some have applied a policy of quantities of marketable fish can be caught. Fishermen who receive cable information presenting cables only out to water depths 35 Many deepwater fishing areas have been show responses ranging from anger, self- ranging from 40-200 m, considering that most seabed activities occur in such local issues. They also facilitate sharing of includes service as a Fishery Industry depths. At the mariner’s end, there is resources and outreach materials. Officer for the United Nations Food and no guarantee that fishermen and ships’ Agriculture Organization, and commercial officers will promptly update their charts As is true for many issues, it is far more fishing. He holds a B.Sc. in Natural or plot route position lists from Notices to cost effective to address problems Resources and MMA in Marine Affairs Mariners. Electronic route positions that involving external aggression earlier from the University of Rhode Island. He can be uploaded to navigation software rather than later. Driving factors to reduce recently founded Sea Risk Solutions, can be an effective adjunct. faults include intense pressure to cut LLC, with the mission of identifying and costs, and awareness of cables as critical addressing risks for subsea cables, fisheries Expanding maritime activities and the infrastructure. Opportunities arise from and other sectors. He can be reached at role of cable organizations the increasing availability of maritime [email protected]. information and new technologies such We are seeing rapid offshore expansion of as AIS. From the early stages of a cable References: petroleum exploration, renewable energy, project it is possible to identify areas of dredging, seabed mining, research, out- risk from shipping, fishing, and other 1. Kordahi, M., Shapiro, S., and Lucas, G., 2010. Global Trends in Submarine Cable System Faults. of-service cable recovery, and marine activities. For each area, decisions must be First published at SubOptic 2010 on behalf of the spatial planning. It cannot be assumed made about routing, burial, monitoring, Submarine Cable Improvement Group (www.scig. net) by Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications that practitioners will be aware of the and engagement with other sectors. LLC and Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks. Reproduced with Permission of Tyco Electronics locations and importance of cables. There Similar risk mitigation technologies can Subsea Communications LLC (TE SubCom). © 2012 are many compelling reasons for the be applied to existing cables in dangerous TE SubCom. All Rights Reserved. cable industry to engage these sectors areas. With this convergence of factors, proactively. One such reason is to limit cable companies are better positioned than 2. Carter L., Burnett D., Drew S., Marle G., Hagadorn L., Bartlett-McNeil D., and Irvine N., 2009. cable damage to manageable levels. The ever before to understand and reduce the Submarine Cables and the Oceans – Connecting the World. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series No. 31. ICPC has increased its engagement and risks - and costs - of cable damage. ICPC/UNEP/UNEP-WCMC. developed information materials such as recommendations, publications and Stephen Drew has spent 3. Carter L., Burnett D., Drew S., Marle G., Hagadorn presentations. It is well positioned to eighteen years studying L., Bartlett-McNeil D., and Irvine N., 2009. Submarine Cables and the Oceans - Connecting the develop further, but currently may not external aggression risks World. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series No. 31. have the resources to engage to the degree to cables on a global scale ICPC/UNEP/UNEP-WCMC. warranted. and developing mitigation 4. Green, M. and Brooks, K., 2011. The Threat of measures. His experience Damage to Submarine Cables by the Anchors of Regional and national cable associations includes fieldwork in more than 30 Ships Underway. In: Robert Beckman and Douglas Burnett, “Co-Chairs’ Provisional Report for the such as Subsea Cables UK, the North countries, five years on the Executive Workshop on the Protection of Submarine Cables,” American Submarine Cable Association, 20 April 2011, online: Centre for International Committee of the ICPC, and proficiency Law Website
It is all making for a very exciting few days. Where better to enjoy interesting topics and do business than Hawaii in January.
38 subtelforum.com/stftoday Coming Soon
To A Wall Near You 39 Protection Of Submarine Cable Landfall In Arctic Waters
40 Jorn Jespersen Part 1
Part 1 of this article addresses the project on Horizontal Directional drilling of tunnels to install conduits from the beach man hole out to 200 meters of water depth and make new landfalls to the Greenland Connect Submarine cable beneath the bedrock.
In 2006 Tele Greenland’s management team presented the “Greenland Connect” prospect to the management board. Greenland Connect is a submarine cable project connecting Greenland to Europe and North America. The solution is based on 20 year long backhaul agreements providing Tele Greenland backhaul traffic from landing sites in Iceland and Newfoundland to London and Halifax, where interconnect and IP peering can be traded at market conditions. The submerged cable system was planned up from a satellite based backhaul with the Godthåb fjord. All 4 encounters have as an amplified dual fiber link with the long latency and low speed to modern caused damage close to the shore in capacity of 2 times 128 wavelengths of telecommunications quality similar to shallow water. During the desk survey 10Gb/s. Landing stations are established in Europe and USA. Hence traffic volume and wet survey, several candidates for Landeyersandur near Vest Manna Islands has been growing with the same market landing of all segments shore ends, were in Iceland, Qaqortoq, Nuuk in Greenland trend as the business experience in all analysed thoroughly and conclusion was and Milton in Newfoundland. Landing other modern societies. that the two Nuuk landings were the best sites accommodates high voltage power alternative. However reality shows that the supply systems for the submerged optical The system has been performing as expected landfalls near the coast has been damaged amplifiers and transmission equipment and very few errors have occurred in the 4 times due to external aggression from for the DWDM- system. Tele Greenland’s land based equipment. The system has not glacial Ice. First incident was in the winter financial position is strong and allowed suffered any errors in the wet segment, 2009 and had no customer impact since it for 100% company ownership and the besides the 4 occasions addressed in this happened before system was taken into business case has positive NPV in a less article. Greenland Connect has since its active services. 3 other incidents happened than 20 year time span. Commissioning installation on 4 occasions been damaged in the winter 2010 – 2011. On all occasions of Greenland Connect in March 2009 has by glacial ice stranding on top of the the repair procedure has been replacement brought Greenland’s technology status cable during its natural passage through of the entire shore end to approximately 41 In the beginning of 2011 it was evident Geological Institute GEUS was contracted that an unstable landing in Nuuk was to deliver a desk survey of the geological unacceptable both due to expensive repairs features in the target area. In the early but also to support carrier sales it was spring of 2011 a tender was formed and important to eliminate all weak spots in submitted as a public bid according to the cable system. The management team Greenlandic legislation. 4 bids were decided to pursue an efficient protection received and one bid rejected at time of of the cable system. As a first step Tele opening. 3 bids were feasible and roughly Greenland ordered a report on the various even, but the reservations in the bids options from the Canadian company placed Tele Greenland in an unpredictable C-Core. Report from C-core concluded situation and the budget could potentially that Glacial Ice in the fjord could have exceed the pain threshold. depths of 200 meters and consequently 1000 meters from the beach. The systems the landfall had to be protected to that After rejection of the public tender an 100% logical protection of all national depth corresponding to 1000 meters from ice protection program was put in place services and automatic rerouting has the coastline. The report analysed an where local vessel Mads Alex was set on secured effective contingency. Transatlantic option of covering the cable with a thick standby to push dangerous ice away from carrier customers have unfortunately had layer of stones boxed in a steel grid box the position of the cable landing. Video inconvenience during the winter 2010 – to prevent erosion of the material in the surveillance with night vision sight was 2011 since their traffic was interrupted heavy tidal currents. Conclusion was that put in place and these protective actions during the cable damage. All damages this solution is easy to implement, but have worked in a sense that no ice damage has been repaired under the maintenance do not give efficient protection.The ridge has happened even though Greenland agreement with Alcatel Submarine system created on the seabed from this protective have had rough winters with massive and the repair process has been exercised cover might even catch icebergs and make glacial ice in the fjord. professionally as described in the service everything worse. Fencing of the water It was clear that a bid with more narrow level agreement. Mobilization and spare surface to guide icebergs away was also financial predictability called for a more part logistics was managed by the book abandoned at an early stage due to the detailed specification. A contract was made and repair time could not be optimized large mass of the icebergs combined with with Scottish company Caley Survey that given the long vessel transit time and arctic the rough weather conditions and large at the time undertook advanced seismic winter conditions. 3 different vessels were tidal differences at the site. surveys for the oil industry in the waters involved in the work with the opportunity west of Greenland. Caley Survey had an for the Tele Greenland staff to learn the The only efficient solution at hand was equipped ship, Kommandor Stuart with working routine and atmosphere on board Horizontal Directional drilling of both very advanced seismic equipment. First the different vessels; Peter Faber, Fladbed landfalls in two tunnels to keep physical and foremost the permit to undertake vessel with mobile spread Mariner Sea, separation and redundancy. Tele Greenland seismic surveys in these waters that are and IC Interceptor. Local vessel Mads Alex started a cooperation with consultancy habitat for a wide range of maritime Viking has assisted all cable ships involved company Sound and Sea Technology (SST) mammals had to be obtained. The 42 in the repair operations. to scope and tender the work. Danish authorities played this application very open tender was limited the legislation thickness of 22mm. Conduits must meet accommodating and the possibility to opened for an invited tender and material quality standards and have no shoulders study the impact of seismic survey impact was send out to three contractors in the or edges at the inner wall. The conduits on maritime mammals was utilized, beginning of January 2012. A pre tender will be pushed from land through the Tele Greenland hired a professional seminar was hosted by SST with an aim tunnel equipped with a so called “bull Maritime mammal observer and invited to cater for the tenderers’ comments in nose” at the far end. Bull nose is a rounded the authorities and biologists from The the tender documents. All three invited piece of conduit, with multiple nozzles Greenland Nature and Environmental contractors submitted thorough bids and at the end, to flush small obstacles away Institute on board the Kommandor Stuart SST scored all qualifications and prices during installation. When conduit reaches during the entire survey. in a comprehensive matrix. Negotiations the exit, the bull nose will be removed by were exercised during the Spring and a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and SST Geologist planed the route and was a letter of acceptance was granted 20. replaced with a so called “bell mouth”. A Tele Greenland’s representative on board. February to the Dutch company Visser & bell mouth is a funnel shaped devise that The exit holes of the tunnels had to be Smidt Hanab(VSH). VSH has extensive is tailored to a 5,25” conduit and shall decided on the fly since the environmental Horizontal directional Drilling experience, guide the cable into the conduit when permit required photo documentation and a good track record .The construction installed from the sea end. The plan is to of the seabed before the drilling and also site has been mobilized through April and bore between 40 and 60 meters per day several samples of the seabed. Samples drilling commences in the beginning of during a 12 hour working day. should be kept sealed and frozen and June. hence compared with samples after The marine operation is contracted as a drilling to document no pollution due to Two tunnels at 12” diameter will be drilled separate operation and the scope is to spill of drilling mud. from the launch site to a water depth of 200 install the new landfall from the sea end metres. The tunnels will be +1100 meters through the bell mouth and conduit to be Based on the seismic survey, Caley Survey long. The tunnel trajectory will follow connected to the land cable at the vault. submitted the geological report in October a vertical position more than 7 meters Hence the new landfall cable piece is 2011 and the new and more precise scope beneath the seafloor. The exit is carefully and tender document was prepared by planned to be at a suitable position where Tele Greenland and SST in December 2011. the otherwise steep sloping seafloor is The major change in the scope compared relatively flat, at a plateau from the little to the public tender was, that same launch ice age. This position secures that cable site would be used for both landfalls, does not suffer any sharp downward bend to cut mobilization cost. In previous at the exit. tender launch site was at the original cable positions. Moreover the geological A 5,25” steel pipe conduit will be installed information was of a much better quality, from the beach man’s hole vault to the which is obvious as a wet survey with a tunnel exit. Conduits are heavy pipes with scientific vessel is cumbersome compared threads connections at each ends. The to a desk survey. Since the response to the inner diameter of 4 inches gives a wall 43 connected to the old wet segment. The land HDD Operation the first drilling days where the drill eat cable is connected in the same planned more than 60 meters of Greenlandic rock outage slot to give minimal impact to the Visser & Smidt Hanab (VSH) started the per day which was even better than the transatlantic carrier customers. mobilization of the site in April 2012. A big budget had planned for. After only two HDD operation site takes up 50 by 50 meter successful drilling days did the progress space and the foundation as well as access suffer a setback due to problems with the road must be stable. The area sloping gyro navigation system. Gyro is powered down towards the beach had the 4 meter by 48Volt DC feed into the Gyro unit by of overburden soil removed and filled up a single 6mm^2 wire. The entire string with gravels. Two heavy 600 mm diameter was tripped out and the Gyro retrofitted by 16 meter long pipes was blasted down and drilling commenced again. After two in the bedrock and adjusted to the exactly more days Gyro failed again. The now right starting azimuth and vertical angle even longer string had to be tripped out to have a stable entering interface for the again and Gyro and wire line had to be drilling aperture. replaced once more. Problems with Gyro VSH erected the main elements; Diesel and wire line continued unfortunately generator pack, 50 bar water pump, filter throughout the project. VSH developed unit, drilling rig equipped with 5” drilling some solutions using more robust wire string terminated in a Gyro navigation line and enforced the joints between each unit and finally a 7 meter long mud motor section of line but reality was that we had with 12” drilling head. All machinery to accept to drill several days blindfolded is operated in a control room staffed without navigation other than continue the with drilling navigation engineer and direction the string had when navigation a drilling control supervisor. The entire was lost. At tunnel one which is the most shift is staffed with 5 persons; Supervisor, southbound one the drilling continued for Navigation engineer, Drilling control four days without navigation to wear out supervisor, Mechanical engineer, Mud a drill motor without tripping out again control engineer. to undertake wire line repair work. After navigation was reestablished we learned Part 2 The drilling work started 1. June 2012 and that one does not drive blindfolded Part 2 of this article addresses the project on set off very successfully. The entering angle without being hurt somehow. Even Horizontal Directional drilling of tunnels to was changed late in the planning since though the experienced drillers tried to install conduits from the beach man hole out VSH wanted to enter in a lower angle to compensate for the known ofset lile a to 200 meters of water depth and make new reach solid rock as fast as possible and later sailor hold his ship op against the wind landfalls to the Greenland Connect Submarine change the vertical angle in a soft radius drift the drill have had a more negative cable beneath the bedrock. The project was and eventually punch out in a 3 degree vertical angle and the azimuth had drifted successfully completed 22 November 2012. negative angle- We were very excited right. It was clear that we would never 44 make the planned exit position and had the drill string and by a external double to accept that a new punch out position hose system the crew can fill the packer 20 meter deeper than planned had to be with high pressurized water till it expand found as deskwork. Fortunately the water and make a perfect seal between drill in Greenland is deep and the slope towards string and tunnel wall. The packer and the bottom continued long enough to host hose system was ordered from Holland. a deeper punch out position. One can regret the big cost to the survey company The only way to make some useful to find the ideal punch out spot which progress while waiting for the packer was originally was a flat terrace from the little to start drilling tunnel 2 which is the north ice age. The most central learning for the tunnel carrying cable to Canada. Tunnel 2 next project is that a drill always naturally started up like tunnel 1 with good 60 meter drifts downwards and to the right. One progress the first days. Already at day 3 advice is to start a HDD drilling less steep of hard crystals sized a bit bigger than the mood was grave singe we suffered the and keep left. rice. Deployed into water the diamond first mud loss. Leak to the ocean was in the seal absorbs the water and expand and water, but only about 50 meters from the As the drill string eats its way through take form as hardened silicon. The good shore. A big cloud of betonite was making the Greenlandic massive rock consisting feature diamond seal has is that it can be the crystal clear arctic water impossible to mainly of hard dark Gneiss the drilling deployed through the drill motor and drill penetrate with the human eye. speed slowed down and the progress on head which means that it can be utilized Diamond seal was deployed as a routine a good day was 30 meter and often only without tripping the string out. It is a long and seemed to hold in the second attempt. 20. The tine schedule was revised several procedure to trip out from 900 meters. times and the budget equally increased as Hereafter drilling continued like the the contract scheme partly was time and After waiting one day for the diamond experience in tunnel one and since we material based. seal to harden and close the leak drill rig learned thet the rock was harder than was started again still no returns of mud originally expected it was decided to Reaching 900 meters the scenario all and chippings and we understood that reduce drill diameter from 12” to 9.5” involved had feared for; Mud pressure the leak to the ocean still was open. Crew inches. was lost in the drill string and no cuttings deployed diamond seal once more and Unfortunately the experience from tunnel or drilling mud returned to the pool at the still no solution to the leaking problem. ground site. It appeared that fed mud was 1 came alive reaching 900 meters. Mud lust to the ocean or a huge cavity in the New plan was to seal leak by grout pressure was lost and we understood that rock. Being more than 70 meters under the consisting of 97% pure cement and 3% a big crack was following the coastline seabed and more than 150 meters to punch bentonite to make the grout more flexible. 900 meters from shore since it reached out we were surprised. VSH deployed the The procedure to inject the grout into the good 200 meters from tunnel 1 to tunnel2 standard measure diamond seal into the leak was to install a socalled packer at and most likely extending even further. drill string and into the leak. Diamond the end of the drill string. The packer is a Diamond seal deployed as a standard two seal is a white chip compound consisting rubber device like a car tire surrounding times – no result. 45 Tunnel 2 string was tripped back and a by applying as little force as necessary. and not could be taken. A lost drill pipe couple of days was used to undertake The bullnose is a one meter long peace of and bit have the consequence that entire necessary rig maintenance waiting for the pipe closed in the far end and rigged with tunnel is lost and work have to start over. packer to arrive. nozzles to inject high pressured water for Just with less than 100 meters to punch flushing obstacles away. out a new shipment of bentonite arrived Packer system was rigged up and inserted to Greenland and the crew managed to in Tunnel2. The grout compound was Conduit was left in position with a safe retrieve all piled up chippings by turning injected and crew waited 12 hours for over length to be finally adjusted during a the pipe and flushing with max flow. hardening. Unpressured the packer and later planned ROV operation. Bntonite have fantastic features to fill tripped back. Rigged the drill motor, small cracks and by changing the viscosity drill head and gyro up again and started of the fluid it can carry heavy clippings to drilling – waiting without breathing the an elevation above 200 meters from where excitement was great seeing mudflow chippings were cut. and chippings returning to ground level. Equally big was the disappointment when Successful punch out were met 20 the pressure was lost again after drilling September and crew as well as Tele less than 10 meters. It was clear that there Greenland management were relieved. was multiple cracks down there and they Two day spend on conduit installation were not necessarily interconnected. with no problems. Procedure gain with diamond seal was still not working and crew rigged it all up The specialists for ROV inspection had to inject grout again. arrived to the site and the ROV was Going back to tunnel one at the end of deployed and the exit was located with After having injected grout in for the august and run the packer and grout some problems at the ROV organized by second time some returns was coming operation once more. Grout did not seal the VSH had very limited navigation features. to the ground site and it was decided leak completely and we experienced the Basically ROV could only move and see to continue and accept some 30% lost well-known result that some flow returned having no idea of position or heading. bentonite leaking into the environment. but still 30% loss. After some days the And we had punch out for tunnel 2 at 20 crew ran out of bentonite. Having round It was clear that both conduits had huge august. Conduit was installed without any 150 meters to punch out it was decided over length and the now randomly chosen problems a few days after. The crew did to drill with water as a driving force for exit points were far from ideal. Only not even have to turn conduit during the the drillmotor. Using water instead of action taken was to ajust the over length to insertion. The pipe slides down the tunnel bentonite have more wear and tear on the 5 meters beyond the seabed for both exits towards the exit hole more or less by its drill motor and even more serious water by pulling conduits back with the drill rig. own weight meeting no obstacles to flush does not have the bentonite feature that VSH dig a good job by securing the or push away. The bullnose at the end of it can flush cuttings the long way back to conduits at the ground site by welding the conduit was only tightened by hand the ground site. We had to accept the risk them to the 600mm pipe with two prepared enabling the ROV hence to dismount it that drill pipe could get stuck in the tunnel 46 shells fitting the components. As a final action for VSH the crew flushed Greenland management. ASN took no coming out of a wall with a big boulder a endless pice of mule tape down to the responsibility for the success since this at one side. Consequently the ROV had to end of the bullnose. Purpose of mule tape operation never had been undertaken swim during the operation which is not is to have a messenger wire that the ROV before at this depth. The contract was easy tn the high tide current. can catch and bring to the surface when under the regime of the maintenance that operation shall be exercised. Mule agreement and daily rates set up front. The very experienced operator tried to fit tape is a ¾”vide flat rope with a breaking However lots of special costs appeared the tool to unscrew the bullnose multiple force of 2,8 tonnes. during the detailed planning and all in all times and eventually he concluded that were the budget revised in many loops. The the tool did not fit. ROV docked at the A few days after VSH had demobilized the insurance company called for a special ice ship again and a measurement of the entire site and chartered a boat to take all management program – recommended by tool revealed the classical error that tool gear out of Greenland to the next job. IMO, but not mandatory in these waters. is produced to the exact measure and not with some tolerance. A new tool was Marine Operation Lots of special toots one may require, but never came into play. Lots of specialists designed on board by good craftsmen The scope of the marine operation is and representatives involved made the and the Bullnose unscrewed by the ROV to dismount the bulnose by means of a budget hard to manage. successfully. Hence the ROV mounted the ROV. Mount a bellmouth at the end of the bell mouth at the end of the conduit. The conduit. Pull a prepared Single Armored The ship available Il d Àix arrived after a bell mouth act as a fairlead for the pulling cable through the conduit and finally splice tough transit in the north Atlantic winter and will make a perfect dock for the bend new cable landing to existing segments on alongside Nuuk Harbor 10 November. restrictor. the sea bed and on land. Ship loaded provisions and spare cable in Nuuk and was ready to commence the Beach team flushed the mule tape out by Alcatel Lucent Submarine Networks operation at 12. November as planned. help from the local Fire brigade to the ASN was contracted to deliver cable ship The Ice management regime had set a time ocean and the ROV caught it and brought to undertake the operation under Tele window ending 1.december and after that it to the ship. The ship crew attached a deadline ship had to leave do to ice risk. 12mm messenger wire to the mule tape and the beach team pulled mule tape and 12. November a lot of measurements 12 mm messenger wire successfully to the was taken to prepare the work and ROV shore. was launched just to experience some problems with hydraulics and some time On shore the Beach Team had erected a big was spend to do repair work at a very 30 tones winch equipped with 2400 meter cold deck. Finally the ROV seems to be 24 mm torsion free wire. operational and launched for a second Ship pulled messenger wire and 24mm time. One exit was located and the crew pulling wire back to the ship and connected noted that conditions were not good as the prepared mini block to the end of the we knew already from first inspection. pulling cable. A mini block consist of the Pipe was exiting 4 meters above the floor 47 SAL cable and a piece of double armored of over length is coiled up into the heavy summer time. You really do not need a 30 concrete vault. tonnes winch. Make sure the equipment is tested and operational when you start. Having completed the pulling operation the beach team and ship crew prepared Jorn Jespersen, Chief splicing to existing segments witch are Technology Officer of standard operations well known in the Tele Greenland, has long business. experience from various South landing was handled with the same senior managerial positions procedure and commenced 17.November. in the telecoms industry. TDC, Ben/T Mobile, Mobilix, Orange, Overall learning and evaluation cable that will fit the existing segment Telia Sonera. Currently managing a major coming to the splicing operation. Money spends at survey and geologist did refurbishment of the entire Grenlandic not bring a lot of value since exit position teleinfrastructure pertaining; Microwave The beach team started to pull the sal cable ended up in random positions. Cracks and through the conduit and the transition backbone swap, IMS implementation, features of the rock were not discovered between wire and cable slides smoothly Comprehensive Mobile optimization up front. into the bell mouth. Coming to the length programme, submarine cable project and where the sal sable finally installed will It is a good idea to prepare a good launch many others. meet the end of the conduit the ship crew site with stable surface. mounted a prepared bend restrictor to the SAL cable. The bend restrictor is 7 meter Think how big tunnels you really have long and 25 cm in diameter, made of to drill. Advisors recommended 12” but massive nylon with slots to absorb force at 9.5 Inches was sufficient when the rock the critical exit point. appeared to be hard.
The bend restrictor went into the water You cannot make more progress than max like a big fish and met the bell mouth in a 30 meters per day in hard rock. When ideal angle and the ROV did not have to you reach a crack you will lose time and intervene in anyway but did only observe. it will be expensive. A HDD drill always The pulling force was never near the max drifts down and to the right. Do not force of the winch – actually never more underestimate failures on Gyro navigation than one tonnes. systems. Be sure you have enough bentonite to cover a mud loss. At the beach team the crew had designed a brilliant tightening device to keep the It is an advantage to charter a right sized cable tight with a force of 1 tones to keep ship. Il D`Aix was very big for the job. 48 the bend restrictor safe in place. 20 meter Preferable do sutch an operation during where it’s never been done before
49 Is This The Next New Major Cable?
50 John Hibbard hank heavens 2012 is over. We have survived the ‘end of the world’ Tscheduled for 21st December. And we have avoided (or deferred) another Luzon Strait cable bust. The first big one was in 2006 and the second in 2009. Being an engineer with a mathematical bent, I understand arithmetical progression and therefore felt there was the strong potential for another in 2012. Fortunately it did not happen but that does not mean that there won’t be another one in the coming years.
The Luzon Strait is one on the areas of the globe with the greatest concentration of submarine cables in a single narrow corridor (maybe the Red Sea is the only Fig 1 Concentration of Cables through the Luzon Strait [Map courtesy of Equinix and rival). There are over a dozen cables Telegeography] through this 300 km wide strait currently carrying in excess of 3 Tbit/s of active the south side is safe. To me that sounds optic cables are scarce or do not yet exist. traffic. The Luzon Strait is the gateway like wishful thinking. Given the submarine Building, or rather over-building on major to the Pacific for traffic from Hong Kong, topography and the geological formations routes has proven really difficult to justify South East Asia, India and Indonesia. in the region, the next big bust need not with the steadily reducing price and Despite the concentration of cables, occur on the north side. increased capacity of upgrade technology. further cables are being laid through this So the new cables have generally been on narrow corridor. When project developers So is it realistic to believe that if you have the east and west coast of Africa, in/out are challenged about the risk, the common capacity in several of the cables through of the Middle East and around the Pacific answer is “we have found a route which the Luzon Strait, and there is a big bust, Islands. We are seeing interest in cables will be immune from earthquakes and you will have enough surviving capacity to South America where the economies of landslides”. Almost universally this is to serve your needs. In the last decade, Brazil and the other LATAM countries are embellished with the comment that “we there have been few new cables built driving demand beyond what is currently are on the south side of the channel”. The on the major arteries. Most of the new available. On the other hand, we have not 2006 and 2009 interruptions by and large cables have been constructed where fibre for instance seen a new cable implemented 51 occurred on the northern side suggesting across the North Atlantic since Apollo. So where are the next major high capacity runs south of the Philippines through the in the diagram below. There are clearly intercontinental arterial cables likely to be? strait below Mindanao. It is one corridor two principal demands for such a cable – I have mentioned South America earlier. from South East Asia to the Pacific which capacity to service the growing needs of For Australia, there is a demand for new has yet to carry a cable. And it on the Indonesia and diversity from the Luzon cable capacity to Singapore from the west shortest route from Indonesia to the USA. Strait. coast and another direct to the USA from It is therefore rather puzzling why such a the east coast. While there is adequate cable has not been built. One was planned Indonesia has some 250 million people and capacity on the traditional route from Asia as part of the SEACN cable in 2001 but a resource rich economy. It is currently the to USA, the single most obvious large did not proceed when the internet bubble 16th largest economy in the world and is capacity route around the globe would burst. forecast to be the 13th by 2017 and 9th by seem to be one which provides diversity 2050. No wonder you see increasingly the to cables through the Luzon Strait. There is The business case for such a cable is quite extension of the BRIC group of emerging an obvious business case for a cable which persuasive. Consider the configuration economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to BRIIC to include Indonesia. Fig2: Here is an economy ready to step into Potential the top group. Yet broadband penetration new cable is only 2.2% (2011). Imagine what will system[Map happen to capacity demands when it rises courtesy to more normal levels around the globe. of Google Currently with the exclusion of modest Earth and the capacity to Australia, all of Indonesia’s author] cable routes traverse the shallow Java Sea landing at and passing close to Singapore. Access to the wider world is via either the Strait of Malacca or the South China Sea/ Luzon Strait corridor. This clearly presents some significant risks to Indonesia and its economy, as communications and hence global connectivity are so essential to the future development of the country. One obvious route to obtain to essential diversity and security is via the Mindanao Strait and onto Guam and then potentially 52 the USA. At Guam, there are connections to Japan, China, Australia and of course Borneo and Mindanao then through development plan. It will be interesting to the USA. And for Indonesia, the route is the Celebes Sea and onto Guam, and see how the cable is ultimately structured not circuitous. From Java, this is lowest onto the USA. Originally intended to as it is truly a cable needed for the region, latency route to the USA. Furthermore, provide added security and greater carrier rather than one solely for Malaysian as part of the internal development of the diversity for Malaysian traffic, this cable operators. Indonesia, Manado in North Sulawesi is clearly has the potential to provide security being established as their eastern gateway, for all traffic through the Luzon Strait. It The second initiative is that being taken right on the southern side of the Mindanao positions Malaysia to provide diversity to by Telkom Indonesia International (Telin). Strait. If Indonesia was to route one Singapore reducing the concern about the Indonesia has been progressively building third of its exploding international traffic cables in the waters around the hub that a labyrinth of cables linking their many demand via this new route, it would seem is Singapore. The Serantau cable is being islands. Often known as the Palapa rings, to justify a cable in its own right. developed by a consortium of 24 Malaysian these cables are designed to direct traffic operators known as KRS (Konsortium to the various regional gateways, one of Now add to this the demand that should Rangkaian Serantau) and promoted as part which is Manado as mentioned earlier. arise from carriers looking to build added of the Malaysian Government’s national So it was really pleasing to see the plan security for the traffic normally routed through the Luzon Strait and South China Sea. As mentioned this traffic is around 3 Tbps and growing at greater 50% per year. Much of this traffic emanates from India via Singapore and Malaysia. If only 10% of the demand into the Pacific is put on the diverse route, then that alone should justify a cable. In combination with the Indonesian demand there is an enormously persuasive business case, I believe.
Developments
So I have been delighted to hear of recent initiatives to fill this apparent void. Firstly there is the proposed Serantau cable, a system from Malaysia routed between 53 Fig 3: The Serantau Cable System [Ref: www.serantau.net/cablesystem ] Fig 4: Telin John has worked in the functional areas plan for of engineering, technical and business cable from operations, technical and network Manado to planning, business planning and the Pacific development, sales and marketing before [Telin at his elevation to general management, and Capacity Asia as such has a comprehensive knowledge conference, of the international telecom industry. Bangkok, Nov 2012] John is now CEO of his own consulting business Hibbard Consulting Pty Ltd specializing in international telecommunications leveraging off his experience as MD Global Wholesale where he led a team which grew presented by Telin at a recent conference It is for these reasons that I consider this Telstra´s international business to over $1 for a cable from Manado to Guam. to be potentially the most prospective new Billion. John specializes in international high capacity route around the globe. No connectivity and carrier commercial At last there is some real impetus to wonder suppliers are showing serious arrangements including. submarine getting an alternative route from SEA interest. I expect that the major global cables utilizing his experience as founding to the Pacific. I consider it long overdue. carriers will be seeking to be more engaged Chairman of the Australia Japan Cable. One concern is that currently the two with the promoters to get their access to initiatives on the table are not integrated. this all important capacity. Not only does it make it harder for each to individually justify their cable, but also John Hibbard holds a that advantages of the economies of scale Bachelor of Engineering achievable with increased capacities (both degree from Sydney extra fibre pairs and extra wavelengths) University and a Master are not realised. One can certainly hope of Electronic Engineering that the two systems are brought together from the Netherlands. to provide cost effective capacity for the For over 40 years, he has been in the region. telecommunications industry with more than 30 years in the international side. 54 Risk of Internet Disconnection Through Internationally Oriented Telecom Diversity
55 s the level of Internet diversity at a possibly affecting on international traffic country from the Internet? This would country’s international frontier a good latencies. obviously relay on different factors like Imeasure for internet disconnection 1) the number of operators in the country risk? Renesys believes it is as published on As Renesys points out we have to use having direct links with other operators November 2012. As a metric this makes a the words ‘fairly objective’ as a Network through the national frontiers and 2) how lot of sense as it is an easy to compute and Service Provider (NSP) could have a much control is exercised by governments. fairly objective measurement. foreign transit provider not visible in the routing tables which would end up not Renesys classifies a country as being We didn’t have access to the complete list being computed. Of course we should take at severe risk of Internet disconnection of countries until now. We can now also see into account that population, geographic if it has only 1 or 2 companies at the these categories as a level of international and real bandwidth demand are also international frontier. Significant risk if telecommunication openness to the world variables on this equation. less than 10 operators. Low risk when a which would decongest international country has from 10 to traffic coming in and out of the country But is it really easy to disconnect a whole 40 companies. Finally, if a country has more than 40 companies it is then likely to be extremely resistant to Internet disconnection. But how many countries would we find under each classification category? This information was not available until very recently and we were able to now list it and build a visual graph.
61 countries at severe disconnection risk. This means there is a very low internationally oriented Telecom diversity of only 1 or 2 companies at the international frontier:
Andorra, Anguila, Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Åland Islands, Barbados, Bonaire, Bhutan, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Cook Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominia, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, 56 Grenada, French Guiana, Greenland, Gambia, Guinea, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Democratic Republic, Sri Lanka, Liberia, 30 countries are extremely resistant to British Indian Ocean Territory, Jersey, Morocco, Montenegro, Madagascar, Internet disconnection. This means there Comoros, Saint Kitts and Nevis, North Mongolia, Macao, Martinique, Malta, is a very high internationally oriented Korea, Lesotho, Libya, Monaco, Saint Mauritius, Maldives, Malawi, Namibia, Telecom diversity of more than 40 Martin (French part), Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Niger, Oman, Papua companies at the international frontier: Mali, Myanmar, Mauritania, Norfolk New Guinea, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Island, Nauru, French Polynesia, Saint Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sudan, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Pierre and Miquelon, Palau, Réunion, Sierra Leone, San Marino, El Salvador, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Czech Solomon Islands, Somalia, Suriname, Togo, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, South Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe, Uganda, Uruguay, British Virgin Islands , Findland, France, United Kingdom, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Syrian Arab U.S. Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa. Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Republic, Swaziland, Turks and Caicos Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Islands, Chad, Tokelau, Timor-Leste, 60 countries at a low disconnection risk. Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Tonga, Uzbekistan, This means there is a high internationally Federation, Sweden, Singapore, Ukraine, Holy See (Vatican City State), Wallis and oriented Telecom diversity of 10 to 40 United States. Futuna, Yemen. companies at the international frontier:
72 countries at a significant Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Bosnia disconnection risk. This means there is and Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, a low internationally oriented Telecom Bahrain, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa diversity of 2 to 10 companies at the Rica, Cyprus, Djibouti, Ecuador, Estonia, international frontier: Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Croatia, Hungary, Israel, India, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Antigua and Iceland, Kenya, Cambodia, Republic of Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Burkina Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Faso, Burundi, Benin, Bermuda, Brunei Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Darussalam, Bolivia, Bahamas, Botswana, Latvia, Moldova, Macedonia, Mexico, Belarus, Belize, Democratic Republic of Mozambique, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Nepal, the Congo, Congo, Cameroon, Curaçao, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Puerto Do you think this is a good metric for Dominican Republic, Egypt, Fiji, Rico, Palestina, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, measuring disconnection resistance? Micronesia, Gabon, Georgia, Guernsey, Slovakia, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan, Gibraltar, Equatorial Guinea, Guam, Tanzania, Venezuela, Viet Nam, South Haiti, Isle of Man, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe 57 Kyrgyzstan, Cayman Islands, Lao People's Back Reflection by Stewart Ash The Gisborne Identity to establish and take a leading role in reason for this was that news carried by the British North American Telegraph ships from Europe, docking in Halifax, One hundred and fifty years ago, the Association. The objective of this group could be telegraphed to cities in the USA Newfoundland Electrical Company, was to extend telegraphic communications and published quicker than could be founded by Frederick Newton Gisborne from Montreal to the east coast of Canada. achieved by ships sailing to New York. (1824-1892), was declared insolvent. This While head of this association Gisborne failure was the catalyst for the start of the supervised the installation of 112 mile line The idea of early delivery of European news Atlantic Telegraph story, but it was just between Quebec and Rivière du Loup. resonated with Gisborne and he began one of many hiatuses in the career of a to hatch a plan to extend the telegraph remarkable man. Gisborne moved to New Brunswick where network to St John’s Newfoundland, he tried to convince the Government to which was North America’s most easterly Frederick Gisborne was an Englishman, build a telegraph system to connect with port. Although, at that time, transatlantic born in Broughton, Lancashire, where he the Quebec network. His representations vessels did not regularly stop in St John’s, was educated by the town vicar. As a young fell on deaf ears as the Government was Gisborne believe it could be made a man he travelled extensively to Australia, much more interested in a telegraph to hub for European news, because, once Guatemala, Mexico, New Zealand and Maine in the USA. By 1849, Gisborne had connected to the North American network Tahiti. In 1845, he went to Canada and moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia and there he European news could be distributed 24-48 took a job on a farm in St Eustache, took up the post of General Superintendent hours ahead of news via vessels arriving Quebec, here he became interested in and of the Nova Scotia Telegraph Company. at Halifax or New York. began studying, electricity and telegraphy. His first task was to supervise the In 1846, he gave up farming and took a construction of a line between Halifax and Gisborne began detailed plans for his St job with the Montreal Telegraph, where Amherst, Massachusetts. The completion John’s telegraph, while still working in he trained as an operator. Thanks to of this link, connect Halifax to the North Halifax. He petitioned the Newfoundland the experience gained, his expertise American telegraph network, which was Government to grant him the right to build in electrical telegraph grew to such an extremely important to Halifax businesses, two telegraph systems. The first was to extent that, by 1847, he was in a position construct lines from St John’s to Carbonear 58 particularly the newspaper industry. The and Trepassey. Gisborne believed these The Newfoundland Electric Telegraph would be beneficial to the local business Company was incorporated in the spring of community as well as being profitable to 1852, with the right to construct a telegraph the operators and thus gain local support line between St Johns and Cape Ray, for his grand plan. The second petition was with exclusive rights for thirty years. The to build a line from St John’s to Cape Ray authorised capital was £100,000, consisting on the south-west coast of Newfoundland, of 1,000 x £100 shares. The company was where it would connect to a submarine headquartered in New York at 19 Trinity cable to the mainland, and the telegraph Buildings, with New York business men system in Nova Scotia. Horace B. Tebbets and Darius B. Holbrook being its majority shareholders. In 1851, Gisborne resigned from the Nova Scotia Telegraph Company and sailed, with In New York, Gisborne learned of the his 15 year old wife, to Newfoundland to Brett Brother’s successful cross channel begin work. By September 1851, the St cable and so he set sail for England to find Johns and Carbonear Electric Telegraph out more about the project. He met with Company had begun construction. John & Jacob Brett and, while in England, Gisborne had been granted £500 by the purchased a supply of submarine cable Government to survey the 400 mile route from R.S. Newall & Company. After his from St Johns to Cape Ray and this Cape Ray cable. He applied to the Nova failure to obtain landing rights in Nova commenced at the same time. Despite Scotia Government for permission to Scotia, this cable was laid across the extreme weather conditions and the land a submarine cable on Cape Breton Northumberland Straits, between Cape deaths of a six man survey team, the work Island, at Cape North and thence overland Tormentine, New Brunswick and Carleton was completed by the end of the year. to Sydney. However, the Nova Scotia Head, Prince Edward Island. It was laid in Construction of the St Johns to Carbonear Government were aware of his plans to 1852, by the Ellen Gisborne and was North route was completed in December 1851 make St John’s a news hub and they were America’s first successful, commercial but, due to the lack of trained operators, concerned that this would detract from submarine cable. th it did not go into service until 6 March the business interests of the residents of Gisborne and John Brett continued to 1852. The line was a commercial success Halifax. They; therefore, turned his request correspond and discuss the idea of a and was heavily used; however, after a few down. Undaunted, Gisborne looked at transatlantic cable, between Ireland and weeks service ceased due to vandalism. It alternative routes to achieve his object and Newfoundland. Brett estimated a capital was found that the lines had been brought concluded that a submarine cable from of £750,000 would be necessary, he advised down by boys throwing rocks at the ceramic Cape Ray to Prince Edward Island and Gisborne that he could raise half of this in insulators on the poles. The Newfoundland then on to New Brunswick would be a England if Gisborne could raise the rest in Government awarded the company £100 to viable alternative. Although the lengths North America. Raising this kind of capital make the necessary repairs. of marine cable involved would be greater, was well beyond Gisbornes capability so the overall distance from St John’s to New Gisborne next turned his attention to the the idea was dropped. 59 York would be shorter. In the summer of 1853, Gisborne began cable between New York and St John’s from London to Bombay via the Red Sea. construction of the Cape Ray cable, was interesting but how much better a While in London, Gisborne apparently employing a gang of 350 men, he initially cable between New York and London. discovered that, his partners were about decided to bury the cable to protect it Field sort expert opinions from Professor to cheat him over the transatlantic cable. from the weather and little boys throwing Samuel B Morse and Lieutenant Matthew Filled with disgust, he abandoned the rocks! However, he quickly discovered Maury, and, satisfied with the responses, Bombay scheme, resigned from the the difficulties of digging trenches in the he quickly brought investors together to New York, Newfoundland and London rocky terrain and reverted to lines on launch the New York, Newfoundland Telegraph Company, and quit the poles. After just 40 miles of the route had and London Telegraph Company, which telegraphy business altogether. been constructed, Gisborne’s backers in was incorporated on 10th March 1854. New York failed to honour his bills. The Field then set about purchasing the rights Gisborne returned to St John’s in May project came to a standstill, Newfoundland owned by the Newfoundland Electric 1857, where he engaged in the discovery Electric Telegraph became insolvent and Telegraph Company and negotiating his and development of mineral deposits Gisborne was declared bankrupt. own rights of way from the Newfoundland in Newfoundland and the Maritime Government. provinces. He explored the Newfoundland In order to try and rescue his project, in coast, from Cape Ray to the Strait of early 1854, Gisborne travelled to New Gisborne was named as Chief Engineer of Belle Isle, raised capital in England, and York to see Horace Tebbets; however, New York, Newfoundland and London Tebbets had lost interest in the project and Telegraph but, for reasons unknown, Gisborne was forced to look elsewhere for resigned his position within the first finance. He wrote John Brett, to ask him if month. Gisborne spent the rest of 1854 he would be interested in investing. Before travelling around the USA while the Brett could respond, fate intervened when, company wasted vast sums of money in by chance, Gisborne was introduced to a attempting to complete the Cape Ray cable civil engineer named Matthew Field, at under the supervision of Matthew Field. Astor House in New York. Field was not In the summer of 1855, an attempt to lay a personally interested in his project but cable from Cape Ray to Cape Breton failed offered to introduce him to his brother and the company faced ruin. They offered Cyrus W Field, who he thought might Gisborne the Chief Engineer’s job again consider investing. which he accepted. He had immediate success, laying the Cape Ray to Cape The two men met in February 1854, at Breton cable in July 1856 and completing Cyrus Field’s home; 1 Lexington Drive, the line from Cape Ray to St John’s in the Gramery Park, New York. Although October. Field’s initial response to Gisborne’s project was not enthusiastic, later that evening In late 1856, Gisborne travelled to London he was sitting in his library looking at with Cyrus Field and Edward Mortimer his globe, when he had an epiphany: a Archibald to promote a cable system 60 developed at least two sites for the St offer him the new post of Superintendent Gisborne’s principal accomplishment John’s United Copper and Lead Mining of the Dominion Telegraph and Signal while superintendent of the telegraph Company. In 1861 a severe gunshot Service. Gisborne accepted and the service was planning and building a cable wound, put an end to his prospecting. He appointment became effective on 1st May line that connecting stations along the Gulf returned to England where he undertook 1879. His first task was to reorganize the of St Lawrence, to be used for transmitting research into telegraph, signal, and expensive and problem-riddled telegraph information on fisheries, weather, and navigation equipment, patenting a wide system in British Columbia. Gisborne marine disasters as well as the normal variety of inventions. In 1865 he became supervised the repairing of the broken telegraph traffic. While in this post he London agent for mines and minerals of lines and, by the end of the year the system continued to lecture and write newspaper the Nova Scotia Government. Gisborne was beginning to produce some regular articles on a variety of subjects. He died exhibited regularly at the Royal Society revenue. quietly, at home in Ottawa, Ontario, after and won several medals for his inventions, returning from an inspection tour of the but in 1867 he lost many of his British In 1882, Frederick Gisborne was made a gulf cable system. At the time of his death patents in a corporate swindle. founding fellow of the Royal Society of on 30th August 1892, he was busy planning Canada. a transpacific cable. In 1869 he visited Nova Scotia to gather information as the province’s agent for Frederick Newton Gisborne played a key mines and minerals, Gisborne became role in engineering and promotion of the enthusiastic about the potential of the transatlantic telegraph and many other Cape Breton coal deposits, found a group telegraph systems. He also discovered of English investors willing to put up and developing the Cape Breton coalfields, money and by the end of the year was chief but despite these achievements he died in engineer of a company operating on the obscurity. Throughout his life, his partners island. He supervised the development had repeatedly attempted to steal his of four collieries, the building of several innovations, enterprises, and his destroy associated railway branch lines, and the his reputation, and some succeeded. upgrading of port facilities at Sydney and However, described as “the indomitable Louisbourg. However, the depression Electrician,” by his friends, he was a key of the 1870s and the subsequent collapse figure in the history of submarine cables, of coal prices wrecked the enterprise. and was the epitome of the Victorian Gisborne tried to bail out his personal scientist-adventurer. finances by diversifying into gold mining in Nova Scotia, but this project also failed. By 1879, Gisborne aged 55, was once again financially destitute.
The Canadian Government took the opportunity of Gisborne’s misfortune to 61 PTC'13 20-23 January 2013 Honolulu, USA Conferences Website
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63 Copyright © 2013 Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. submit your article ideas to [email protected] by Kevin G. Summers
've been building a barn since October. Normally, I spend a good deal of time in It's not a huge barn, the outside footprint front of my Mac, but all of the time I've Iis 20 feet x 36 feet, but it is going to make spent with a power drill and pocket full of life here on the farm quite a bit easier once screws has reminded me that there can be everything is in place. great joy in working with your hands.
As I spent weeks and weeks watching a I hope that all of our readers have a Visit Us at PTC barren patch of ground turn into a useable wonderful new year. And if you get the structure, I was struck with just how much opportunity, turn off your computer, go In Booths 2 and 3 effort goes into building something. It's not outside and swing a hammer. I promise, like you can just snap your fingers and see a you won't regret it. Contact: building appear out of thin air. The ground has to be graded, the forms set, the concrete Kristian Nielsen poured, the framing built, etc. I'm still in [email protected] Tel: +1 (703) 444-0845 the process of framing the interior rooms, and my wife has assured me that we are not anywhere near done until the doors have been installed.
Still, it's quite a thing to build something with your own hands (and some help from our kindly friends and neighbors).
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