International Data Connectivity in A White Paper

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Iceland as a prime location for data centers The data connectivity aspect

Since obtaining the first international data connec- This paper also focuses on backhaul quality, and shows tion in 1906, Iceland has come a long way as a prime data connectivity possibilities in Iceland. The paper location for data centers. Fast forward to 2015, and concludes with an overview of the different services connectivity coupled with a competitive environment and data connectivity solutions that providers offer for data center businesses are now important reasons the data center industry in Iceland. why Iceland is one of the highest ranked countries worldwide when it comes to digital competitiveness1. The Fiber Network Great connectivity is also a key reason that Cushman Some of the most important reasons why businesses & Wakefield ranked Iceland the safest location for choose Iceland for their data center needs is a globally data centers in their 2016 Data Center Risk Index2. competitive TCO, security of power supply and minimal data connectivity risk. One of the most important factors that characterizes favorable data center locations worldwide is the The fiber network consists of reliable backhaul in quality of onshore and offshore fiber infrastructure Iceland and a redundant submarine cable network and competitiveness of telecommunication service that delivers data securely and efficiently across the providers. These factors minimize risk for data center Atlantic, between the US, Europe, and Iceland. businesses and provide opportunities for companies to optimize operations and expand them into the future. Submarine Cables Data center connectivity from Iceland to the rest of the world is provided by undersea transatlantic cables, one Competitive Connectivity between Iceland and , which then links to in Iceland North America, another, called FARICE-1, that links Iceland to the U.K., and a third, DANICE, that runs • Redundant between Iceland and Denmark [Figure 1].

• Reliable The submarine cable connectivity into Iceland utilizes • Fast the most modern technology which ensures future-proof • Multiple service providers capacity and performance.

In 2014, new terminal equipment introduced coherent Iceland offers a solid fiber network in terms of 100G wavelength and flex grid technology bringing redundancy and reliability where a number of service the capacity of FARICE-1 to 11 Terabits/s and DANICE providers, such as Level 3, compete with services to 34.4 Terabits/s. to optimize operating conditions of data centers in Iceland. Top-tier international connectivity solu- The latter is the equivalent of 3.400 10G circuits which tions include WDM, SDH to Ethernet, and a suite of is vast capacity and has brought the total capacity on managed services. Iceland´s submarine network to 62 Terabits/s, securing Iceland´s capability to supply connectivity demand in This document serves the purpose of introducing the coming years [table 1]. Iceland´s data connectivity. It briefly describes the fiber network, information about redundancy and reliability of the submarine cable infrastructure and presents latency figures between Iceland and other international networks.

1 World Economic Forum: Competitiveness Index (GCI), http://reports.weforum.org/global- competitiveness-report-2014-2015/economies/#indexId=GCI&economy=ISL 2 http://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/research-and-insight/2016/data-centre-risk-index-2016/

2 Figure 1. Domestic fiber network and submarine cable landing sites

FARICE-1

POP POP POP POP

GREENLAND C.

DANICE

Table 1. Iceland submarine cables and respective capacities high performance computing, cloud services, content providers, and government services. Submarine cables Capacity 2016 A combination of factors have allowed network owners FARICE-1 11 Terabits/s in Iceland to reach 100% uptime for the submarine data network where network design and maintenance are DANICE 34.4 Terabits/s without compromise with the highest level of security and redundancy in mind, supported by a strong leg- Greenland C. 17.2 Terabits/s islative regime. The cable protection zone is 1 km and the submarine cables are monitored closer to land on A Reliable Network a continuous basis with radar and an automatic sur- Iceland submarine cable network is built to the strin- veillance system. gent quality requirements of international data centers,

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Proximity to Europe and US The Farice network Iceland is located between Europe and North America. The Farice network is the main data network that con- Iceland as a data center location offers competitive data nects Iceland with Europe. Farice is an Icelandic data connections to main hubs on each side of the Atlantic connectivity service provider. The submarine section provided by the telecommunication companies listed of the network consists of two cables: FARICE-1 and in Figure 1a. Figure 2 shows latency figures for selected DANICE [Figure 3]. pairs of cities. Here, latency is a one-way measurement; half of a round trip delay (RTT) using 64-byte frames.

Figure 1a. Telecommunication service providers in Iceland.

Figure 2. Iceland Network Latency

Reykjavk Lulea

Hamina

Copenhagen Hamburg London Poznan Amsterdam Berlin Frankfurt Paris Budapest

Halifax Milan Bucharest Marseille New York

lasgow 13.0 ms Frankfurt 17.5 ms urich 20.0 ms Milan 22.0 ms ucharest 33.0 ms GlasgowCopenhagen 13.0 ms 14.9 ms FrankfurtAmsterdam 17.5 ms 17.8 ms MunichZurich 20.0 20.5 ms ms MarseilleMilan 22.0 25.0 ms ms HalifaxBucharest 33.7 33.0 ms ms CopenhagenHamburg 14.9 15.1 msms AmsterdamLondon 18.9 17.8 ms ms WarsawMunich 20.5 21. ms ms PragMarseille 25.0 25.0 ms ms NewHalifax ork 33.7 40. ms ms Hamburgerlin 15.117.4 msms LondonPonan 18.9 19. ms ms ParisWarsaw 21.8 21.6 ms ms udapestPrag 25.0 ms2.0 ms New York 40.6 ms Berlin 17.4 ms Poznan 19.6 ms Paris 21.8 ms Budapest 26.0 ms Comparison Amsterdam London New York Halifax Comparison Amsterdam London New York Halifax Hamina 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms ms Hamina 14.8 ms 18.3 ms 51.3 ms 48.7 ms Lulea 1 ms 1 ms ms 1 ms Luleaeykavk 16.01 ms ms 118.7 msms 52.5 ms ms 49.1 ms ms Reykjavík 17.9 ms 18.9 ms 40.6 ms 33.7 ms

4 Figure 3. Connectivity from Iceland to Europe DANICE is a four fiber pair, 2,304 km cable in use since 2009. The cable connects Blaaberg in Denmark with Landeyjasandur in Iceland. The DANICE cable comes ashore on the south side of Iceland, through a purpose eykavk FAICE-1 built landing station whereas FARICE-1 connects Iceland Keflavík from the east side of the country.

DANICE Torshavn Farice offers, in collaboration with Tele Greenland, high capacity transatlantic network services between Scandinavia and Germany to the US (Boston) or Canada Copenhagen (Halifax and Montreal). Hamburg London Frankfurt Amsterdam Terrestrial routes The Greenland Connect submarine cable is operated by TELE Greenland and connects Canada, Greenland, and Iceland [Figure 4]. The cable contains two fiber pairs Submarine cables with a maximum lit capacity of 17,2 Tb/s. The cable FARICE-1 is a 1,205 km submarine cable that connects has landing points at Milton, Trinity Bay, Newfound- Dunnet Bay in Scotland with Seydisfjordur in the East land and Labrador, Canada, in Greenland, and of Iceland, with optional branching to Faroe Islands. Landeyjarsandur in the South of Iceland. The cable has been in operation since 2004.

Figure 4. Iceland’s International submarine cable connectivity

Seydisfjordur Landeyjasandur Nuuk Faroe Islands

Dunnet Bay

Blaaberg

Newfoundland and Labrador

FARICE-1 DANICE GREENLAND C.

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The Greenland Connect cable is co-located with the WDM is a technology that makes it possible to divide a DANICE cable in Iceland and the Trans Gulf submarine fiber pair into about 80 independent circuits that can cable in Newfoundland. Together these cables inter- each deliver up to 100 Gb/s and each wave is accessed connect the networks of major carriers in Europe and via a standard optical Ethernet or OUT interface. With North America. WDM, separation occurs of the data streams in a fiber by assigning data streams to specific wavelengths. By Connectivity services the means of WDM, executive waves in the fiber can Most existing data centers in Iceland are ON-Net, be allocated to clients, separate from other waves on meaning directly connected to the Farice network. the cable. From a security standpoint, data streams Extensions to new data centers and other locations can on individual carrier waves of light are virtually im- be provided by at least three different competing service possible to break into. providers in Iceland with WDM, SDH and Ethernet services as well as dark fiber solutions. Figure 5 shows an example of a data center customer located at a Keflavík Airport facility that has require- WDM ments for 20G services with a backup of 20G routes. The high-speed circuit of the Icelandic data fiber net- The delivery abroad is in Amsterdam (Telecity II) and work allows for access to WDM (wavelength-division London (Telehouse East). The figure then shows A & multiplexing) services for high capacity, high quality B services to London with diversity on the terrestrial and a high degree of security. part and B & C services to Amsterdam with diversity on the terrestrial part. The Keflavik Airport area in this case offers two diverse paths from the area.

Figure 5. Iceland – Europe network map showing service set-up from KEF POP

MULI LON REK

CS DB

BRE

KEF AMS Keflavík Airport CS BB

CS = cable station TC2 = Telecity II Route for service A Route for service C DB = Dunnet Bay Scotland BB = Baaberg DK BRE = Breiðholt TH-E = Telehouse East Route for service B Route for service D

6 The south coast route reaches the submarine cable ETHERNET in about 150 km. The route onwards to the FARICE-1 Carrier Ethernet forms the backbone of most of the submarine cable has a common 50 km route to BREI data products and solutions that service providers in branch where it branches out into the south route and Iceland have to offer. It is an elegant transport solution the north route in Iceland until it reaches the FARICE-1 for the IT and telecom industry, as it has a wide range of submarine cable. The service is transparent Ethernet benefits, including flexibility and customized solutions. (transparent to all protocols over Ethernet) and supports Carrier Ethernet allows for price and performance to Jumbo Frames of 9,100 bytes. be optimized to customer needs and data requirements.

In the network example illustrated in figure 5, the In the case illustrated in figure 6, a customer needs 3 customer in Iceland runs own network equipment and Gb/s over 10G interfaces where the services shall be controls the usage of the bandwidth provided concern- diverse all the way between London Telehouse and KEF ing re-routing and protection. The service chosen and Airport. Furthermore, the data connectivity can be preferred in this case is DWDM based 10G (LAN_PHY). upgraded to 5G with short notice. The service is totally transparent for all protocols transported over Ethernet SDH and all Ethernet extra tagging. Jumbo frames are also SDH or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy is a conven- supported. The service solution the figure shows is tional time slot-based transmission technology, mainly based on Ethernet over MPLS towards Telehouse West used by companies in the telecom industry for many and Ethernet over SDH towards Telehouse East. lower bandwith needs where ultimate assurance of bandwidth is needed.

Figure 6. Example of an Ethernet service from KEF with diversity

Iceland North – FARICE-1 submarine Dual terrestrial routes in UK

London SDH Ethernet over SDH SDH Telehouse EAST Coriander Ave.

Seperation Iceland South coast - DANICE submarine KEF Port 1 Dual terrestrial routes in EU London Keflavík MPLS MPLS Telehouse WEST Airport Port 2 Ethernet over MPLS Coriander Ave.

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For more information on connectivity About Landsvirkjun: services in Iceland contact: Landsvirkjun generates renewable energy at competi- tive prices. The company is owned by the Icelandic State Farice at [email protected] and has over 45 years of experience generating electricity Greenland Connect at [email protected]. from hydro and geothermal power sources. Landsvirkjun Level 3 at [email protected] is Iceland‘s largest generator of electricity, currently Colt at [email protected] operating 16 renewable hydro- and geothermal power Vodafone at [email protected] stations. Landsvirkjun´s mission is to maximize value Símafélagið at [email protected] creation from energy sources entrusted to the company in Síminn at [email protected] a sustainable and efficient manner. You are welcome to Tele Greenland at [email protected] contact us at [email protected] for more information.

Írafoss hydropower station in the lower part of the River Sog Iceland generates all of its electricity from renewable energy sources. Landsvirkjun generates three quarters of this energy exclusively from hydroelectric power and geothermal energy. 8 9 Landsvirkjun Háaleitisbraut 68 103 Reykjavík Iceland Tel: +354 515 90 00 landsvirkjun.com landsvirkjun.com/datacenter [email protected]