International Data Connectivity in Iceland A White Paper
1 DATA CONNECTIVITY WHITE PAPER REPORT 2016
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 Greenland, 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,
3 DATA CONNECTIVITY WHITE PAPER REPORT 2016
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
Reykjav k Lulea
Hamina
Copenhagen Hamburg London Poznan Amsterdam Berlin Frankfurt Paris Budapest
Halifax Milan Bucharest Marseille New York