 60 n o v Voice 2011 of the ISSN 1948-3031 Industry

Subsea Technology Edition 10th In This Issue: Anniversary Edition Cable Landing Station Network Convergence Evolving New and Existing Submarine Networks into the Terabit Age Real-Time Marine Environmental Monitoring ISSN 1948-3031 Submarine Telecoms Forum is published bimonthly by WFN Strategies. The publication may not be reproduced or th transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, elcome to the 10 anniversary issue of Today, the twine may be gone, but we still keep without the permission of the publishers. WSubTel Forum! things on a small basis, just a few of us, and Submarine Telecoms Forum is an we like it that way. We believe we possess an independent com­mercial publication, When Ted and I established our little magazine intimacy with our readers and supporters that serving as a freely accessible forum for in 2001, our hope was to get enough interest to slick media can’t, yet we are regularly amazed professionals in industries connected with keep it going for a while. To say we started on by the quality of interest in what we do. submarine optical fibre technologies and a shoestring would be an over estimate; it was techniques. more like a few pieces of twine from the shed With 2012 beginning soon, our 11th year, we Liability: while every care is taken in preparation of this publication, the that we tied together. have a few enhancements to the SubTel Forum publishers cannot be held responsible for brand which we will be rolling out during the the accuracy of the information herein, or As you may know, tin is the traditional course of the year, and which we believe will any errors which may occur in advertising material for the 10th wedding anniversary, further enhance your utility and enjoyment. or editorial content, or any consequence and I guess, in a weird way, we have been arising from any errors or omissions. We will do so with two key founding principles wedded to this industry since 2001. A funny, always in mind, which annually I reaffirm to The publisher cannot be held responsible tangential thought came to me about how, as for any views expressed by contributors, you, our readers: and the editor reserves the right to edit any a kid, we would make a tin can phone to talk advertising or editorial material submitted to one another. We could talk, literally, from . That we will provide a wide range of ideas for publication. room-to-room, or even around a corner! and issues; Contributions are welcomed. Please th . forward to the Managing Editor: I suspect Robert Hooke’s 17 century device That we will seek to incite, entertain and has been lost to the newer generations, so for provoke in a positive manner. those more inventive the directions are: PUBLISHER So here’s to you, our readers and supporters. Wayne Nielsen Take two metal cans and cut off one end on Happy Anniversary and thank you as always Tel: +[1] 703 444 2527 each. Be sure not to leave any sharp edges! for honoring us with your interest. Email: [email protected] If there are some, you can cover the rim with electrical tape. Make a small hole in the bottom EDITOR of each can. Now take a long piece of string. Thread the string through the hole in each can, Kevin G. Summers and tie a knot in each end so it can’t pull back Tel: +[1] 703 468 0554 through the hole. Now get two kids to hold the Email: [email protected] cans so that the string is taut. As one speaks into a can, the other listens in the other can. 2 Copyright © 2011 WFN Strategies You’ll be surprised at how well this works. In This Issue...

Exordium Wayne Nielsen 2

News Now 5

Cable Landing Station Network Convergence Brian Lavallée 9

Evolving New and Existing Submarine Networks into the Terabit Age 17 Colin Anderson & Dr. Steve Grubb

Real-Time Marine Environmental Monitoring Using Cable Technology 25 Stephanie Ingle, Ken du Vall & Jeffrey Snider

Cloud Computing and the Network Martin Foster 32 Back Reflection Stewart Ash 37 10th Conferences 39 Anniversary Edition

Letter to a Friend Jean Devos 40

Advertiser Index 42

Coda Kevin G. Summers 43

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PUNTA ARENAS For reasons of clarity and scale, the following systems do not appear on this map ASEAN (BRUNEI - MALAYSIA - PHILIPPINES) DENMARK - NORWAY-6 HONTAI-2 SPAIN - MOROCCO ASEAN (MALAYSIA - THAILAND) DENMARK - POLAND-2 IBERIAN FESTOON (VIGO - PORTO) SWEDEN - FINLAND (Turku/Kista) (FINNET) ASEAN (SINGAPORE - BRUNEI) DENMARK - SWEDEN-1 IBERIAN FESTOON (FARO - HUELVA) SWEDEN - FINLAND (Umea/Vaasa) (FINNET) ASIA - AMERICA NETWORK (AAN) DENMARK - SWEDEN-15 ITALY - LIBYA TAINO - CARIB BAHAMAS-2 DENMARK - SWEDEN-16 ITALY - MALTA Tangerine - (UK - BELGIUM) BALTIC CABLE SYSTEM E-W (SWEDEN - LITHUANIA) DENMARK - SWEDEN-18 ITALY - TUNISIA-1 TASMAN-3 BALTIC CABLE SYSTEM North I (SWEDEN - FINLAND) EAST ASIA CROSSING (EAC) - PHASE 2 KATTEGAT-1 THAILAND - VIETNAM - HONG KONG (T-V-H) BERYTAR (BEIRUT - SAIDA) EAST ASIA CROSSING (EAC) - PHASE 1 MALAYSIA THAILAND EAST TRANS - CASPIAN LINK (TCL) Submarin e BERYTAR (LEBANON - SYRIA) ESAT I MALAYSIA THAILAND WEST TyCom Global Network - Baltic BERYTAR (TRIPOLI - BEIRUT) ESAT II MED Nautilus 1 (MN1) TyCom Global Network - Eastern Med BOTHNIA (SWEDEN - FINLAND) EUROTUNNEL North Asia Cable System TyCom Global Network - Northern Europe BRITISH TELECOM - TELECOM EIREANN-1 FCI -ONE NorSea Com-1 TyCom Global Network - Western Europe CELTIC FINLAND - ESTONIA (SF-ES 2) PANDAN - PULAU BUKOM TyCom Global Network - Western Med CIRCE - (LONDON-AMSTERDAM) FINLAND - SWEDEN (SF-S 4) PAN EUROPEAN CROSSING UAE - IRAN CIRCE - (LONDON-PARIS) FINLAND - SWEDEN (SF-S 5) PAN EUROPEAN CROSSING - IRISH RING UK - BELGIUM-5 Telecoms CONCERTO#1 GERMANY - SWEDEN-4 PANGEA-1 - Baltic Ring UK - BELGIUM-6 CROATIA - ITALY-1 GERMANY - SWEDEN-5 PANGEA-1 - North Sea (South) UK - FRANCE-3 CROATIA DOMESTIC (RIJEKA - ZADAR - SPLIT) GREECE - MONTENEGRO REMBRANDT UK - FRANCE-4 Danica North / South HERMES-1 (UK - BELGIUM) BALTIC CABLE SYSTEM North II (Finland - Russia) UK - FRANCE-5 DENMARK - GERMANY-1 (ESBJERG - DUNE) HERMES-2 (UK - NETHERLANDS) SEACN (South East Asia Cable Network) UK - GERMANY-5 T Soja & Associates, Inc. DENMARK - GERMANY-2 Hong Kong - Philippines - Taiwan Cable System (HPT) SEACN (South East Asia Cable Network) UK - NETHERLANDS-12 FORUM DENMARK - NORWAY-5 HONG KONG - JAPAN - KOREA (H-J-K) Sea-Van One UK - NETHERLANDS-14 The Leader in Global Telecom Market Analysis www.subtelforum.com NewsNow ? RSS Feed Launched

2004 2003 2005 2002 2006 2001 2007 2008 2009 2004 2010 2011 2012 SubmarineFORUM Telecoms

An international forum for the expression of ideas and opinions pertaining to the submarine telecom industry 4th Quarter 2001 Submarine Cable Cable Submarine Industry's 21495 Ridgetop Circle, Suite 201 | Sterling, VA 20166, USA submarine cable First Podcast

Compliments of ALMAnAC Released to 2011 edition Industry - Almanac iTunes Submarine Telecoms Industry Calendar Calendar Released edition 2011

In this issue: l The state of the worldwide market l Bandwith issues Issue #61 l PTC preview SubTel Forum l Cableship tracker Issue #1 Articles Due: 4 1 Published 6 January News Now  AP Telecom Appointed as Emerald Networks’ Pre-Sales  Google To Build Three Data Centers In Asia Manager for International Network Development  Gulf Bridge International Awards Xtera Communications  Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company submits IPO A Multi-Year Contract To Deploy 100G On Terrestrial And prospectus Undersea Network Upgrades

 China Telecom and Huawei to Build Submarine Cable  Imewe: Speeding Up Internet In Lebanon Between Australia and New Zealand  Kinmen-Xiamen Submarine Cables To Be Completed In  China Telecom: Fears Surface Over Chinese Cable March

 Columbus Selects Xtera’s Slte To Upgrade Cable System  Leighton Plans Singapore Cable

 Ctc Marine Projects Secures Contract On Anguille Project  Level 3 To Deploy Submarine Cable System In Colombia

 Five Oceans Services Changes Name To Siem Offshore  Lighthouse R & D Enterprises, Inc. To Commemorate Six Contractors Years Of Collaborative Work With The Ministry Of Fisheries Wealth, Sultanate Of Oman, On One Of The World's First  Globacom Connects Babcock University Cabled Ocean Observatories  Mexus Selling Cable!  Pacnet Speeds Digital Content Delivery Across Asia

 Mitsubishi Electric To Upgrade Transpacific Cable Network  PCCW Global and Cyta enhance their Ethernet services

 NCC Approves Submarine Cable Link Between Taiwan And  SAT3: No failure Says Telkom China  Sea Fibre Networks Steams Ahead with CeltixConnect “Go-  Nec Finishes Upgrade Of Asia Pacific Cable Live” Date Announced

 Neotel Wins Wacs Cable Deal  SEA-ME-WE 3 Cable Fault Causes "Unstable" Net: ISP

 Nexans Delivers Cable For Ireland-UK Submarine Link

 NTT Com’s PC-1 Transpacific Submarine Cable To Introduce Next-Generation Optical Transmission Technology

 NTT Communications Builds Its First Financial Data Centre In Hong Kong

 Pacific Crossing and Infinera Complete World's First Transpacific 100 Gigabit Subsea Trial

 Pacnet Expands Cloud Computing Offering With New Virtual Private Server Solution Congratulations...

Congratulations to Submarine For 10 years, SubTel Forum has For the 10th anniversary of Submarine Telecoms Forum on reaching its 10th provided the industry with a valuable Telecoms Forum, I would like express Anniversary. SubOptic has always sounding board for new ideas, old you all my thanks for the existence of been very happy with the support that reminiscences, and current events. I this magazine and the wishes for a long SubTel Forum has given us, acting continue to enjoy reading STF because and successful future life. In no other as one of our major media partners it consistently gives me pause for place I can find so much interesting for a number of our events. We were thought - a rare commodity in today's information related to the submarine especially pleased to be able to act as world of news flashes, talking heads, telecom activities and a clever column Guest Editor for an issue of SubTel and sound bites. like "Letter to a friend". Thank you. Forum before the SubOptic 2010 event, something we hope to repeat in the Best regards Best regards. future. Julian Rawle, Managing Partner, Fabrizio Garrone I know it is hard work and it certainly Pioneer Consulting was a risk when you started, but I think you have succeeded in keeping your magazine relevant and interesting, attested to by your increasing readership.

Keep up the good work for the next decade.

Best wishes 10 years John Horne, Secretary to the SubOptic Executive Committee 7 8 Cable Landing Station Network Convergence

Brian9 Lavallée lobal demand for bandwidth The main concern facing submarine is blurring this demarcation point and continues to increase unabated, and cable operators today and in the coming putting its physical existence into question. Gis forecasted to grow at a compound years is how to significantly reduce Maintaining an ongoing distinct network rate of nearly 50 percent annually for the operating costs of their networks. demarcation point only serves to make the foreseeable future. Although the Cable Landing Stations are now being network equipment redundant within increasing popularity of video-centric considered as a key area in the submarine the Cable Landing Station, leading to streaming content is the primary driver, an network where significant reductions in increased capital and operating expenses. increasing number of subscribers at ever- power consumption, space allocation, These costs can be significantly reduced multiplying per subscriber access rates management and equipment complexity, by leveraging the convergence of optical are also fueling this growth. Increases and operating costs can be achieved. networking technologies and exploiting in continental bandwidth growth network node consolidation. Successful inevitably affect the submarine networks In a Cable Landing Station, submarine global service providers must operate interconnecting the continents, as accessed networks interconnect to terrestrial efficient end-to-end optical networks, content can be located anywhere on networks, usually via a backhaul network managing their submarine and terrestrial planet earth – a situation that will only into the carrier’s inland Point of Presence networks assets as a single omnipresent be compounded with the advent of cloud (PoP). This distinct demarcation point entity and negating the need for a distinct services that centralize content at a few was created primarily due to business, demarcation point. select geographic locations. Unfortunately, political, geographic, and technological the steady increase in bandwidth demand factors. However, a steady convergence of Changing Submarine is also associated with steady price erosion optical networking technologies used in Networking Business Drivers for intercontinental submarine capacity. both submarine and terrestrial networks The submarine networking community traditionally chose technological paths different from their terrestrial networking brethren, leading to a distinct, and relatively inefficient, interconnection point between networks. Traditional builders of submarine networks were consortia composed of national incumbents operating as peers in the construction and ongoing maintenance of submarine cables. Differentiated service offerings were not a main priority due to the absence of competition. To ensure sovereignty between the services of each of the consortium members, Cable Landing Station demarcation points were constructed to be inflexible by design, 10 such that the shared submarine network was not integrated into a consortium member’s terrestrial network. This led to managing submarine networks as distinct and separate network entities. When services were primarily low-growth voice services, this network business model was indeed economically viable. However, as traffic shifts towards connectionless high- speed data services, coupled with steady increases in competition both nationally and internationally, this legacy business model and the associated demarcated network design become less economically viable. Both consortia and single-owner cable operators must find innovative ways to significantly reduce the costs of their network assets wherever possible. The Cable Landing Station is an excellent place to start – especially legacy stations that are manner. As a result, submarine network based topologies to improve network still being served by inefficient network assets are typically designed to operate survivability. PDH signal formats were configurations. for 25 years, and thus will continue to use replaced by 5 Gb/s proprietary signals technologies that are specifically tailored to to increase submarine cable-carrying Submarine Networking Technology harsh submarine operating environments. capacity. The adoption of SDH, DWDM Evolution And Convergence However, equipment located in land- techniques, and Optical Add/Drop based Cable Landing Stations can fully Multiplexer (OADM) technologies not Compared to terrestrial networks, leverage the more rapid technological only increased submarine network submarine networks face significant advances of terrestrial optical networks flexibility but, more importantly, challenges due to their unique operating and associated cost savings from higher converged with terrestrial networks for environment in which active electronic production volumes. simplified network interconnections. devices lie at the bottom of oceans, often As this steady convergence of optical spanning thousands of kilometers. The Significant technological advances in networking technology continues, location of the wet plant entails repairs that submarine networks have already redundant inefficiencies call the legacy are extremely costly and time-consuming, occurred. Single-channel fiber optic requirement for a distinct submarine-to- with the resulting loss of traffic often being submarine cables using electrical terrestrial network demarcation point into costlier than the repair operation itself. regenerators were replaced with multi- question. The submarine network’s mean time to wavelength DWDM fiber-optic-based repair pales in comparison to terrestrial submarine cables and Erbium-Doped networks because the latter is far easier to Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs). Point-to- 11 access in an expedient and cost-effective point networks were replaced with ring- Cable Landing Station Evolution required to interconnect numerous It should be noted that the adopted pieces of network equipment networking solutions were innovative at Figure 1 illustrates the traditional . Separate Network Management the time, producing effective and reliable configuration, where the Cable Landing Systems (NMS) for less effective solutions that served associated business Station served as the junction point network maintenance models quite well. However, today’s between the submarine wet plant and the market forces have rendered this legacy . Limited and unintelligent bandwidth network design inefficient and cost- terrestrial dry plant. The equipment facing management the terrestrial network was primarily prohibitive based on current competition- . based on SDH, with line rates ranging Significant equipment/cable sparing based business models. from 2.5 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s. The equipment complexities and associated costs facing the submarine side was proprietary, Terrestrial-Facing Equipment with line rates typically up to 5 Gb/s. And Network Protection Proprietary solutions facing the wet Equipment (Npe) Integration plant were necessary at the time, because each submarine link required maximum Due to telecom deregulation and the initial optimization given the distances and harsh localization of the Internet within the U.S., operating environments of the wet plant. terrestrial optical networks were the first This architecture is highly inefficient, and networks subjected to fierce competition. thus cost-ineffective, compared to the Fueled by investor capital and bandwidth optical networking technologies available growth, startup and traditional equipment today. There are numerous limitations and vendors developed innovative new inefficiencies with this legacy network solutions applicable to the terrestrial- demarcation architecture, summarized facing side of the landing station, as shown below: in Figure 2. Integration of duplicated network protection equipment allowed . Inefficient hand-off between the for improved protection schemes such as submarine and terrestrial networks Transoceanic Protocol Switching (TOPS), via back-to-back optical tributaries which is a modified implementation of terrestrial ring-based protection switching. . Substantial amount of network Terrestrial-facing DWDM optical interfaces equipment required, much of it also were integrated, along with pre/ redundant post optical amplifiers to further reduce . Significant physical space and power the complexity of the demarcation point. consumption requiring larger Cable Although networking equipment facing Landing Stations the wet plant is still clearly demarcated, . Translation to/from proprietary and the continual drive toward integration standards-based signal formats Figure 1. Legacy Submarine-Terrestrial yielded several additional advantages and efficiencies, some of which are listed . Network Demarcation Configuration 12 Complex cable management below: . Integrated DWDM optical This level of continued integration also negating the advantages of economies transceivers, eliminating inefficient demonstrates ongoing convergence of of scale enjoyed by terrestrial networks. client-side tributary hand-offs terrestrial and submarine equipment, New optical transmission technologies – . Integrated switch fabric, enabling resulting in savings in space, power, such as 40G and 100G coherent modems a broader range of agile service and cost, complemented by increased originally targeted toward ultra-long- offerings reliability, flexibility, and manageability. haul terrestrial networks – are equally Advances on the submarine side include applicable and compatible with existing . Reduced amount of networking faster line rates and higher channel counts and new wet plants. As a result, the equipment and associated optical for increased capacity. The Network final level of integration, namely the cables to manage and spare Protection Equipment (NPE), along with submarine-facing equipment, becomes . Increased integration, resulting in switching/grooming, can now be managed possible, thus maximizing the advantages reduced overall power and cooling as an integral part of the terrestrial NMS of complete integration while essentially requirements for improved operations, administration, erasing the terrestrial-submarine network . Reduced Cable Landing Station maintenance, and provisioning. For a demarcation point altogether, as shown rack and floor space requirements variety of political and technological in Figure 3. Although passive optical reasons, the networking equipment couplers are not typically integrated, they . Achieved substantial savings in facing the wet plant is likely to be the can be to facilitate real-time equipment overall capital and operational last portion of the network demarcation inventory. expenditures point to be integrated. However, with the advent of innovative optical transmission Integration facilitates the rapid adoption of Figure 2. technologies such as coherent modems, several other technologies, many of which Terrestrial- this last piece of networking equipment come from terrestrial networking yet are facing housed in a Cable Landing Stations equally applicable to submarine networks, equipment inevitably will be integrated, since the especially as network demarcation points and NPE benefits are simply too attractive to ignore. blur or are erased altogether. By managing integration submarine and terrestrial network assets The Fully Integrated as a single network entity using the same Cable Landing Station or similar technologies, seamless end-to- end networking is greatly facilitated and The complete integration of networking leads to more flexible and agile service equipment into a single unified network offerings. Emerging technologies that node will maximize realized benefits from will continue to influence Cable Landing both capital and operational viewpoints. Station network designs include the Wet plants were purposely designed following: and built to be highly proprietary so maximum reach and reliability could . 40G and 100G terrestrial-facing be achieved. This design required very and submarine-facing DWDM line expensive optical transponders that were optics 13 produced in relatively small volumes, . Gridless networking independent of fixed wavelength grids for improved spectral efficiencies . Multi-terabit switch fabrics that match capacities of multi-terabit submarine cable upgrades . Intelligent Control Plane-based mesh networks for improved flexibility, availability, and optimization . Migration from legacy SDH-based submarine networks to OTN-based terrestrial networks . Migration of terrestrial networks from circuit-switched services to packet-switched services

Figure 3. Figure 4. Seamless end-to-end global networking Fully integrated Cable Landing The Cable Landing Station Of Tomorrow question. Where possible, to further reduce Station network costs by increasing network integration, the As shown in Figure 3, Direct Wavelength equipment housed in the Cable Landing Access (DWA) allows wavelengths coming Station could be physically moved and from submarine wet plants to bypass integrated into the inland PoP. Equipment Cable Landing Station network equipment presently located in Cable Landing by feeding them directly into the terrestrial Stations, including Power Feed Equipment backhaul network to the inland PoP. DWA (PFE) that powers the submarine optical is not bound by limitations of the Cable repeaters, could be physically relocated Landing Station equipment, which may inland where possible. These items not yet be fully integrated. DWA also together enable the following advantages: facilitates intelligent switching, and the associated highly resilient and flexible . Elimination of the Cable Landing mesh networking, from within the inland Station building PoP where the intelligent Control Plane- . Elimination of the terrestrial based switches typically reside. In some backhaul equipment cases, the implementation of DWA brings the Cable Landing Station itself into . Significant reduction in overall 14 equipment . Faster mean time to repair and 4, means a single network element is their specific needs. Although different improved network availability managed. This allows submarine cable submarine cable operators will choose . Significant reduction in power operators to merge their terrestrial and different levels of integration, the same consumption for a greener network submarine networks over an electrical industry trends of increasing bandwidth solution backplane enabling value and flexibility demands, coupled with global price not possible using several pieces of network erosion, are common concerns for both . Significant reduction in capital and equipment solely to demarcate these two consortia and single-owner cable operators operational expenditures networks – simplified networking at a alike. Integration of network equipment reduced cost. allows submarine cable operators to A single unified network node integrating effectively address both of these concerns. the Submarine Line Terminating Future Outlook Equipment (SLTE) with the terrestrial Brian Lavallée is the Director backhaul network, as illustrated in Figure The physical isolation of traditional Cable responsible for Submarine Landing Stations and the terrestrial- Industry Marketing at Ciena submarine network demarcation they contain is mainly attributed to the traditional consortium business model. Neutral and physically separated Cable Landing Stations for interconnecting geographically separated continental networks was the traditionally accepted practice. However, continued price erosion and recent demands on global service providers to adopt new technologies faster, significantly increase submarine cable capacities, improve network availability, and broaden service offerings for competitive differentiation is forcing consortia and single-owner cable operators to question traditional business models and associated network configurations. Varying degrees of network integration are possible, from partially integrated submarine and terrestrial network equipment to complete elimination of the Cable Landing Station building itself, enabling submarine cable operators to decide how much integration best serves 15 16 Evolving New and Existing Submarine Networks into the Terabit Age: A look at disruptive technologies that are causing paradigm shifts in the submarine networks industry

Colin Anderson

&17 Dr. Steve Grubb he demand for global bandwidth has Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) impacted the submerged part of subsea forced continuous improvements networks. Tof the subsea networks with new The Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier and advanced technologies. But new (EDFA), was commercialized into subsea Some argue that the EDFA fueled the technology is often a double edged networks in the mid-1990’s, slightly ‘telecom bubble’ that burst in 2000 and sword, with some providing incremental ahead of commercialization in terrestrial 2001, but overall it was a powerful enabler improvements and others being disruptive. networks. Coupled with WDM, it offered for the industry, and the net result for both Yet it is the disruptive technologies that a ‘step-function’ improvement in network suppliers and purchasers was certainly offer the ‘step-function’ rewards. Without capacity which enabled upgrades from positive. disruptive technologies, we could still be 1.44 Gb/s per fiber pair (fp) to 200 x getting our news from the local paper boy, 10 Gb/s per fp – an increase of ~ 1400x, Forward Error Correction rather than a continuous stream on our within just 10 years or so. smartphones everywhere we go. Forward Error Correction (FEC) The EDFA is notable as one of the few schemes have been central to improving This article looks at optical technology, recent technology advances for optical performance, most notably reach, in both with a focus on those with a ‘step-function’ transmission which is not related to the terrestrial and subsea networks, and impact and a view of their impact on the advances in IC’s (integrated circuits), and have become ever more powerful. The subsea networks evolution. also because its introduction primarily ability to implement FEC into integrated

Looking Back Figure 1. Impact of Key technology advances have played Technology a major role in improving optical on Subsea network scale, costs and operations. The Transmission technology benefits are numerous, but Capacity. focus on providing more (capacity, reach, automation) for less (cost, operations, complexity)

Subsea networks have arguably benefitted even more than most industries, as the multiple enabling technologies have often created synergies that have a bigger impact that their terrestrial counterparts. Let's take a closer look at some of these:

18 circuits, or IC’s has enabled FEC evolution Figure 2. to follow “Moore’s Law” of continuous Growth of improvement in density, while reducing Capacity size and power. Demand in Various New Fiber Types Markets Reproduced Optical fiber manufacturers have courtesy of developed sophisticated fiber types for TeleGeography application in submarine networks, to reduce Chromatic Dispersion (CD), although the influence of fiber design on nonlinear effects was not fully understood at the time, and Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD), and to minimize attenuation (allowing longer inter-repeater spacing).

Subsea Laser Pumps

And the semiconductor manufacturers remaining in the market for subsea and potential trade-offs for any subsea boom of the late 1990’s would seem to pumping lasers have continued to develop project. predict the need for construction of many lasers with higher output power and new subsea telecom cables in the near increased reliability, enabling repeaters Yet demand for capacity continues, future. Instead, several inter-related new with higher traffic capacity and lower cost. seemingly independent of the world’s technologies are currently having a step- struggling economies, at compound function impact on our industry. And this Reaching A Plateau aggregate growth rates of 40% or higher. time the technologies are primarily related And although the market price per bit to the terminal equipment, rather than the Despite evolutionary improvements continues to decline, analysts conclude submerged plant. since the introduction of the EDFA, the that the growth in demand is high enough next hurdle of 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s that the overall revenue to carriers still Coherent Detection wavelengths presented new challenges for continues to increase. long-haul trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific Coherent detection, a technique used links. The high bit rate wavelengths Looking For The Next ‘Step-Function’ to increase radio receiver sensitivity, is are acutely sensitive to CD, PMD, and now being applied to optical fiber plants. non-linear optical degradations in the The combination of high growth rates and Implementation of coherent detection submerged plant, creating enormous risk aging cable systems deployed during the for optical networks take the form of 19 integrated circuits using Digital Signal Soft-Decision Forward Error Correction These enables higher overall throughput Processing (DSP) leverage multiple (SD FEC). The theory of such ultra-high on the wavelength while using a slower algorithms to reduce CD and PMD effects performance error correction techniques baud rate, suited to most deployed wet of the fiber over distance. Coherent have been around for many years, but plants. detection is implemented as an IC and only recently has it been feasible and offers practicality in terms of performance, economical to implement the techniques While enabling higher ultimate capacities space, cost, & power consumption and in real hardware. Soft-decision FEC for fiber, no one modulation scheme is ideal benefits from Moore’s law. Finally, complements coherent detection and for all networks. Software programmable coherent detection protects fiber plant advanced modulation schemes to provide modulation schemes become essential to investments by ensuring the latest 40 truly remarkable performance of 40 Gb/s allow operators to choose their trade-offs of Gb/s and 100 Gb/s wave operate over and 100 Gb/s systems, with spectral capacity vs. reach, or even accommodating fiber plant deployed over 15 years ago. efficiencies approaching the Shannon limit, legacy fiber network performance. Such if the optical signal to noise ratio(OSNR) is user selectable modulation schemes, on a Soft-Decision FEC high enough. per wavelength basis, ensure maximum fiber utilization. Yet another enabling technology which Powerful New Modulation Schemes owes its practical implementation to Photonic Integration advances in semiconductor integration is Powerful modulation schemes, such as Phase Photonic integration is the process of Figure 3. M o d u l a t i o n combining photonics with integrated Increase in (PSK, BPSK, circuits, by integrating hundreds of Semiconductor QPSK) and photonic components onto a single Density combined Phase microchip the size of your thumbnail. It is (Moore’s Law) & Amplitude the ultimate ‘step-function’ that combines m u l t i - l e v e l as many as 600 optical functions, and over coding (8QAM, a thousand discrete components onto a 1 6 Q A M , single chip. 64QAM, etc), which have Photonic IC’s are analogous to the been used electronic IC’s that most people are more in radio and familiar with, which gave us advanced satellite systems microprocessors, memory, Solid State for many years Drives (SSD), and similar devices which in have recently turn have made possible the multi-media become feasible personal computers, smart-phones, and for high-speed tablet computers which we now take for optical systems. granted. 20 Terabit Super-Channels equipment with full compatibility with wet plant systems deployed up to 15 years ago. Single channel Terabit transmission requires technology, A/D convertors As has been proven by multiple trials, and associated high speed processing notably by Pacific Crossing and Infinera, which make them prohibitive for mass the combination of technologies can be production for the foreseeable future. effectively used to evolve into the terabit Instead, the industry is driving towards an age while protecting past investment, with architecture built around super-channels. the added ability to protecting any future State of the art photonic integration utilizes The intent of super-channels is to improve deployment of new subsea networks with the Indium Phosphide (InP) semiconductor spectral efficiency of the optical fiber as ever higher ultimate capacities, again with technologies to combine hundreds of well as reduce the operational complexity lower cost per bit. optical components on the same substrate. of multi-terabit fiber plants. The Placing photonics onto IC’s brings the introduction of super-channels eliminates Example of a recent network upgrade: same manufacturing efficiencies enjoyed the necessity for guard bands on a per Recently Pacific Crossing (an NTT by the electronics industry to the optical wavelength basis, and enable much higher Communications Company) and Infinera industry, and will bring a new “Optical utilization of the available spectrum, while announced the world’s first transpacific Moore’s law” to WDM transport. It also also reducing the number of channels that 100 Gb/s subsea trial [1], on a segment of has been proven to deliver higher density, have to be managed on an optical system. PC-1 spanning 9,500 km which was first lower costs, lower power and extremely commissioned in 2001. high reliability optical networks while Protecting Your Investment massively reducing the complexity of the While Migrating To Terabits Potential Impact Of ‘Step Function’ network itself. Upgrades – Positive And Negative Key to optimizing return on investment Subsea networks benefit from the is the ability to synergize multiple The positive impact of such technological integration of both the optical on a technologies to address the market need advances is the reduction for new subsea single chip by vastly reducing the while also reducing total cost of ownership. builds, by extending the lifetime & number of mechanical optical junctions capacity of legacy networks far beyond the usually required to interconnect discrete Combining coherent detection soft- originally expected or contracted ultimate components, and the consequent reduction decision FEC and advanced modulation capacity. This is good news for many, as of optical interconnections by patch cords techniques is already proving to be as economic turmoil makes debt funding for and optical connectors. Such mechanical impactful to submarine telecom networks new capital-intensive projects challenging. junctions and cable connections are a as the introduction of the EDFA was, some major contributor to faults in optical 15 years ago, with the added protection of The secondary impact of such technologies transmission systems. the fiber plant investment. is that new subsea builds benefit from higher capacities, longer reach and lower Most importantly, all of these advances risks making them more attractive from a 21 are available in the submarine terminal technological standpoint. However, it may Figure 4. In summary, network, at a price equivalent to just a few Increase in the ability to percent of the initial cost of the network Photonic upgrade legacy - and requiring less space and power than Integrated networks to the initially equipped capacity. Circuit (PIC) many times Density their initially Summary & Conclusions (“Moore’s Law expected or for PIC’s”) c o n t r a c t e d The introduction of the EDFA around 15 u l t i m a t e years ago had a very major impact on capacity is an the subsea telecom cable industry. Now overall negative there are a number of key technology for turnkey breakthroughs, which are working in n e t w o r k synergy to enable huge increases in the suppliers. ultimate capacity of both legacy and new subsea networks. Why All Subsea Owners Should By chance these recent technologies Care? primary impact the terminal equipment of new or legacy subsea telecom networks. The impacts They represent a very positive opportunity take longer to actually fill such networks of new for cable owners, and for capacity upgrade to capacity, which impacts the business technologies, particularly those which suppliers. case for such new cables. have significant terrestrial and subsea Arguably, if legacy turnkey suppliers market share, is more revenue generating But they will likely slow the market for compete fiercely in the upgrade market, capacity, lower costs and higher return on new systems in the medium and longer they will do so at the expense of new investment. Further, typical subsea fiber term, because of the unexpected increase networks and their own longevity. The deployment risks are now lower, thanks to in capacity and the increased cost-effective upgrade market may generate revenue for mitigating technologies such as coherent lifetime of many legacy networks (even legacy turnkey suppliers, but does nothing detection, programmable modulation those already up to 15 years old), as well as to utilize their cable-ship resources, cable schemes and soft-decision FEC to extend the increase in ultimate capacity of future factories, or submerged repeater factories. fiber reach beyond 10000km. newly constructed networks. The wet plant suppliers not only need to bear the overhead costs of these facilities, By exploiting these new technologies for As a result, significant paradigm shift in they also need to keep the plant and staff upgrade terminal equipment, a cable the industry is expected over the coming ready for future new orders, so they are operator can often add upgrade-capacity few years. not forced to mothball or shutter them. equivalent to the ten times originally contracted design capacity of a legacy cable 22 Colin Anderson joined Infinera in January 2011 and is the Coming Soon Business Development Manager, Submarine Networks. He has been involved in the international To A Wall Near You: telecommunications networks industry for over 25 years. Colin has played a significant role in the design, bidding, award, and implementation of many international submarine cable projects, and was the Program Chairman for the SubOptic 2010 Conference & Convention, held in Yokohama Japan. He holds BSc and MBA degrees from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Communications Society (IEEE), and a member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES). The author expresses sincere thanks to Michael Guess, Dr Steve Grubb, Dr Benoit Kowalski, Deryck Robinson, and Geoff Bennett of Infinera, for their valuable contributions and assistance in preparing this article.

Dr. Grubb is currently a Fellow at Infinera. He has previously held positions at Corvis, SDL, and AT&T/Lucent Bell Laboratories. He led R&D that was responsible for the first commercial deployment of Raman amplification in a network, and developed several novel high power fiber lasers and amplifiers. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Cornell University. He has held the position of IEEE Distinguished Lecturer. Dr. Grubb has authored well over 100 publications and conference presentations and is an inventor on over 70 23 issued U.S. patents. Congratulations...

We really appreciate the effort STF has I am delighted to know that your bi-monthly magazine "SubTel Forum" has reached put into the Submarine Fibre Optical its 10th anniversary. Kindly accept my heartiest congratulation on this achievement. World! The information gathered, Your online publication has gathered tremendous popularity in just one decade and provided and distributed has been vital has garnered the favorability of the Submarine Cable Industry. I would also like to for the development of the industry. congratulate your team of editors, writers and journalists as their sheer hard work, perseverance and determination has helped the publication reach this milestone. Greetings from Sincere Wishes Nexans Norway, Submarine Fibre Solutions K.Takahashi, Executive Marketing Manager, Ragnar, Rannveig, Merethe and Rolf Submarine Network Division, NEC Corporation 2001-2011

24 Real-Time Marine Environmental Monitoring Using Cable Technology

Stephanie Ingle, Ken du Vall

&25 Jeffrey Snider arine monitoring systems observatory was installed in the northern unlimited bandwidth in cabled systems connected to land or offshore Sea of Oman and became operational in available for data acquisition and transfer Mstructures by fiber-optic cable August, 2005; this summer the system ensures data are received quickly and can provide real-time data to decision surpassed the milestone of 2100 days of reliably. makers from instruments integrated successful operation. A second, deepwater within an architecture designed to last 25 cabled observatory was installed where years or more. the Sea of Oman meets the Arabian Sea, in System Design Considerations January, 2010. Ocean Observing Has The ocean is a harsh environment and Become A Worldwide Priority Advantages Of Cabled Systems monitoring equipment must be able to

Sustained and operational ocean Fiber-optic cabled systems offer several 27°N Strait of observatories are part of the long-term advantages over traditional, surface- Hormuz strategies of national and global initiatives buoyed systems which depend on battery- 26°N Iran such as the National Science Foundation’s powered instruments that communicate 100 m

200 m Ocean Observatories Initiative, with the surface by acoustic modems and 500 m 25°N LORI I 1000 m National Oceanic and Atmospheric transmit data typically via iridium satellite. Sea of Oman 2000 m 3000 m Administration’s (NOAA) Integrated For cabled systems, power can be delivered 24°N

Ocean Observing System, and the World directly to instruments, eliminating the Makran Trench Muscat Meteorological Organization’s Global need for batteries thereby reducing the Murray 23°N Ridge Ocean Observing System. Monitoring the possibility of gassing, explosions and Oman LORI II Cape Ras al Hadd marine environment is important for a costly maintenance visits for period 22°N variety of governmental, commercial and replacement; nearly unlimited power Arabian Sea public reasons and to the global population to cabled systems permits any desired 21°N which is becoming increasingly dependent instrument configuration allowing for full 56°E 57°E 58°E 59°E 60°E 61°E 62°E 63°E on the ocean’s resources. Monitoring characterization of the water column; cable (m) systems transmit data in real time when provides virtually unlimited bandwidth 2000

they are connected to land or offshore for continuous data transmission whereas 1000

structures by fiber optic cable providing satellite communication is typically more LORI I STEWS data to decision makers enabling them to limited and intermittent; completely 4000 0 2000

take immediate action. subsurface, cabled equipment circumvents 0 -1000 the possibility of weather damage, vessel -2000 LORI II -4000 Murray Ridge 27 (Autonomous) -2000 In 2003 Lighthouse R & D Enterprises, collision, and theft and vandalism of 26 56 Inc. began developing an ocean observing the near surface and surface-exposed 57 25 58 -3000 24 oN o 59 system that would help manage fisheries equipment; the use of acoustic modems, E 60 23 61 22 wealth for the Sultanate of Oman. The which are slow and severely bandwidth 62 resulting cutting-edge, fiber-optic cabled limited, is eliminated; and the nearly 26 Locations of LORI I, STEWS, and LORI II withstand deployments lasting months a total of eight Aanderaa Data Instruments LORI II Shore Facility to years. Lighthouse R & D selected the recording Doppler current profilers at a Shore Terminal Equipment waters of Oman where several water frequency range of 600 Hz (RDCP600); the bodies converge off Cape Ras al Hadd and profilers read current velocities above the AC Duct UPS induce strong currents and eddies as an instruments to a distance of about 50 m. ideal location to test the robustness of the Each RDCP600 is fitted with additional system’s design. In addition to being a rich sensors to capture pressure, temperature, fisheries resource for Oman, this is also an conductivity, dissolved oxygen and important region for seaborne-traded oil – turbidity. nearly a third of which passes through the Sea of Oman. In 2007, another 20 km of cable was added Power Feed to the existing 65 km cable and a fifth node HVAC Equipment installed in 1350 m of water. A seismic Control Equipment Systems In Place Today tsunami early warning system (STEWS) Automatic Transfer Switch – developed in collaboration with Woods The Lighthouse Ocean Research Initiative Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) current velocities to ~50 m away from the (LORI) began with a prototype system: – was integrated via the fifth node. The instrument; as in the LORI I array there are a 2000-m-rated fiber optic cabled ocean successful installation of an additional additional sensors to measure other water observatory installed off the northern coast node and the incorporation of dramatically properties. At the top of each array is one of Oman in August, 2005. Four modified different instrumentation demonstrated RD Instruments Acoustic Doppler Current telecommunications nodes each serve an the expandability and upgradability of Profiler (ADCP) Workhorse Long Ranger array of sensors moored at depths ranging system architecture (i.e., plug and play). that measures the current velocities to 500 from ~67 m to ~1050 m; the moorings host m above the mooring string. LORI II is A second, deepwater observatory (LORI rated to 4000 m and a full ocean (6000 m) II) was accomplished by connecting three system is in the planning stage. Trunk Cable moorings with 345 km of fiber-optic cable in January, 2010. From 2005 through 2009, this system existed as three autonomous Data And Power Transmission Node mooring strings set along the 3000 m Wetmateable Connector & depth contour line off the coast of Cape Cable Tub Cable These real-time systems use a fiber-optic Lifting Ras al Hadd, Oman. The location for Points cable backbone for instantaneous data Sensor Transit this system was selected for its dynamic Position transmission and the information can circulation features, created by converging be delivered anywhere the customer waters from the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, desires via radio (UHF/VHF), internet, Seismometer (Buried in the Sea Floor) the Persian Gulf, and the Sea of Oman. local telecommunication lines or Each mooring consists of a 2500-m-long satellite. Lighthouse R & D’s systems array hosting seven RDCP600s measuring are designed with full duplex capability 27 STEWS: Seismic Tsunami Early Warning System which allows for monitoring sensor and Observations Are Complemented system health, modification of sampling By Modeling RDI 75 kHz rates, troubleshooting, or rebooting of ADCP components to be performed remotely Theoretical research – modeling of the from Lighthouse R & D offices in Houston, water bodies in the region of the LORI RDCP600 Texas. The fiber-optic cable is encased I and LORI II systems and tsunami in copper for electric power delivery inundation of the coastal region – extends that feeds a constant trickle charge to a the relevancy and applicability of the RDCP600 bank of capacitors for each instrument observational research. Numerical models whether sampling or at rest; while at rest, of the ocean in this region help fill in the capacitors store unused energy ensuring gaps between observations and predict continuous availability of power to the the timing and impact of major events sensor. The fiber-optic cable is connected such as offshore oil spills or tsunamis. to an unmanned shore facility which uses Likewise, the observational data can be RDCP600 local utility power, uninterrupted power used to test the model results and to fine ~ 2500 m supply, batteries, and backup diesel tune the model’s predictive capabilities so generators to ensure continuous delivery that they can be used in a forecast mode of electricity to the system, even with loss with higher rates of accuracy. Results from of local power. observations made with the LORI arrays, RDCP600 coupled with numerical modeling, will also allow for significant advancements in our knowledge of the behavior of 68 m regional water bodies. The implications 107 m 117 m RDCP600 of observations and modeling in the 200 207 m 240 m region include planning evacuation routes for potential tsunamis, water quality 400 422 m monitoring ensuring safe fish to target RDCP600 541 m and consume, and knowledge of current 600 velocities throughout the water column for deployment of oil spill contamination 800

Depth (m) assets. RDCP600 1000 1048 m Project Planning Challenges And Lessons Learned 1200 Distance from shore (nm) 1348 m The dynamic nature of the ocean in this 35 5 10 15 20 25 30 region presented many challenges to the 28 LORI I Configuration A LORI II Array design, construction, operation and laid prior to landing the moorings and maintenance of the system. The connecting them to the nodes. To mitigate architecture for a real-time, physical potential problematic points in the sensor oceanographic monitoring system had not array, mooring strings from base to the top been previously attempted. The regional floatation sphere were completely dry- oceanography was largely unknown mated. Each mooring string was installed thus assumptions were made on the prior to connecting the cable and turning variability of parameters seasonally and the power on; the mooring was emplaced inter-annually. A major source of concern within 10 meters of the node to ensure was the stratification of varying current efficient energy and data transfer. A single velocities; in general, surface water – ROV-friendly wet mate was used to connect driven largely by wind – tends to move the mooring to the pre-laid node. The more quickly than water at the bottom of wet mate allows for the ability to connect the ocean. System design had to account new or different types of instrumentation for these stronger currents higher in the should technology change or other types water column and prevent tipping of of sensors be desired, i.e., plug-and-play the Doppler profilers. In order to obtain capability. accurate and robust current velocity data, Doppler profilers must be oriented within 20 degrees of vertical. A conservative Maintenance Requirements design approach warranted using heavier cable which required larger supporting Initially, the required service intervals were floatation, which in turn increased the unknown as were some of the problems required weight of the mooring base encountered early on; thus, the arrays keeping it well anchored. The increasing were visited more frequently until things size of the framework led to increasing like cathodic and biofouling protection cost, thus a delicate balance had to be along with system performance could be achieved ensuring a hearty design but evaluated. The goal was to lengthen the life control over costs. of the system while working to reduce costs by minimizing the need for maintenance. Installation preparation and procedures Maintenance costs, especially vessel costs, also had to be developed from the ground are reduced significantly by the completely up. An international industry-standard subsea architecture which obviates most survey of the seafloor in the region was types of damage compared to exposed performed prior to installation; this systems utilizing buoys. The arrays are Cable lay for the LORI II site allowed for identification of the ideal serviced at least once every 48 months, but cable-lay route. The cable and nodes were generally more frequently for shallower 29 system components. An ROV inspects is clearly important to the modern world International to assist in the development of each mooring string and can disconnect as it will lead to improved public policies international operations. From 1991 to 2002 the mooring from the base by removal of ensuring the long-term health of the he was operations manager for Oceaneering a locking pin; the string can then be pulled oceans and the lives and ecosystems that International (OI). His background at OI aboard for where instruments can be depend on it. concentrated on international vessel and cleaned, serviced, upgraded or replaced project management with an emphasis on as needed. At this time, additional sensors Stephanie Ingle joined international project development and business or instruments can be added. Based on the Lighthouse R & D Enterprises, relations. From 1989 to 1991 he was a marine level of biofouling or corrosion present, Inc. as Science Manager in scientist / engineer at Texas A & M University preemptive measures may be taken such September 2009. Prior to in support of the Ocean Drilling Program, as adding additional cathodes. arriving at Lighthouse, she an international consortium of universities spent six years as an academic for ocean research. Prior to 1989 he worked Increasing Importance researcher at major oceanographic institutions for the National Marine Fisheries Service, Of Marine Monitoring around the world. From 2005 to 2007, she held NMFS, in Alaska and as a participant in the the prestigious School of Ocean and Earth National Oceanographic and Atmospheric As the global population grows and Science and Technology Young Investigator Administration, NOAA, Tropical Oceans becomes increasingly dependent on the Position at the University of Hawaii. She has Global Atmospheres (TOGA) project. He ocean’s resources, monitoring its physical extensive experience in oceanographic research graduated from the University of Washington and environmental conditions is more including participating on five oceanographic with a degree in Oceanography. critical than ever: port authorities may expeditions and on a dive aboard the Japanese wish to know tidal and current velocity three-man submarine SHINKAI 6500 to Jeff Snider joined Lighthouse information in order to schedule and almost 4 miles deep in the Pacific Ocean. R&D Enterprises, Inc. in July guide shipping traffic; offshore drilling At Lighthouse, she manages the scientific 2007, after a 24-year career in operators need real-time current velocities aspects of projects, acts as a liaison between the United States Navy, where to determine the safety of operations and the company and contracted scientists, and he was trained in electronics avoid costly and unnecessary delays; promotes the company’s scientific vision. and served in the submarine government ministries use knowledge She holds a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the force for 20 years. His technical background, of physical and biological conditions to Brussels Free University, a M.Sc. in Geology coupled with presentation experience and manage and monitor the health of their from the University of Florida, and a B.Sc. in his degrees from the University of Oklahoma fisheries resources and protect people that Geology from Indiana University. (Master of Human Relations) & Excelsior use the ocean for recreation and income; College (Bachelor of Science Management coastal communities can greatly benefit Ken Du Vall has served as Studies), make him the ideal liaison between from advance warning of approaching President and Chief Operating clients and the Lighthouse R & D Engineering tsunamis; and coastal developers are Officer of Lighthouse R &D Team. often required to assess the impact of their Enterprises, Inc. since 2004. developments on coastal water flow and He initially joined Lighthouse quality. Ocean environmental monitoring after serving at Cal Dive 30

Cloud Computing and the Network

Martin32 Foster loud computing has evolved to be one of the definitive trends in Ctechnology and with the host of benefits including cost, flexibility and scalability that it brings along, it comes as Evolution Evolution no surprise that it has attracted the interest of many businesses.

To meet this growing demand for cloud computing solutions, Pacnet launched

its latest addition to its portfolio of Business buys cloud Servers located at and Servers in data centre. services, no need to cloud computing services in September: managed from business Managed from business manage datacentre, premises premises Pacnet Virtual Private Server (VPS). The servers, storage, etc. new service delivers Infrastructure-as- a-Service (IaaS) by extending high-end The evolution of computing procurement models towards cloud computing computational, storage and networking assets to customers that require access to most of us use today. There are over 2 a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service scalable, advanced server infrastructure, billion people with an email address today, (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). without the need for huge, upfront capital yet most people and organizations do not investment, nor the need for users to run or manage their own e-mail system, as IaaS is the delivery of raw computing manage the physical equipment. they use what would today be deemed a infrastructure. This is supplying access to “cloud” provider and simply access their a computer system with a given amount To understand where Pacnet VPS fits into mail boxes over the Internet. of processing, memory, storage, network the cloud computing ecosystem, let us first capacity and usually an operating system. take a closer look at the various solutions Fundamental to any cloud computing The user does not have to concern within the cloud computing. solution is the need for network themselves with leasing data centre connectivity and data centre facilities. It is space, buying servers and storage, then Overview of Cloud Computing by building on top of such assets that Pacnet interconnecting and managing them VPS delivers high-performance and high- – the IaaS provider does this. While At its core, cloud computing is the delivery resiliency virtual servers that function dedicated server hosting businesses of a service to a user over a network. This just like physical servers. Hence, as the have been doing this for almost two contrasts with the traditional model of demand and adoption of cloud computing decades, what has changed is the advent having the end-user supply and manage grows, the demand for network capacity of virtualization software which allows all the components required to deliver this and data centre space will likewise rise in physical server resources to be subdivided service - such as data centre space, servers, tandem. into independent isolated lots, each storage systems, and application software. running separate operating systems and This concept is certainly not new, for we There are three segments to the cloud for the better part oblivious to each other’s 33 just need to look at email services that computing market: Infrastructure-as- presence. This allows providers to offer locality, or “where are the bits physically stored”, is also important as it will usually determine the laws that govern the data. Hence users will want to understand and be comfortable with the legal framework of the country where the data resides.

The relationship between Networks, Data Centres, IaaS, PaaS and SaaS A third barrier to cloud adoption is data interchange. This is a concern that users increments of computing capacity that simply use the application directly. Many will have if a cloud service provider closely meet the user’s needs, without the enterprises have already adopted SaaS supplies most of the functionality they user needing to pay for unused capacity. applications for functions like sales force need, but not all. To address this, there Pacnet VPS is an example of an IaaS automation, which are offered by vendors should be Application Programming solution. such as Salesforce.com. Interfaces (APIs) implemented by cloud service providers to not only allow users PaaS builds on IaaS. It delivers a The Challenges of Cloud Computing to get data in and out in bulk, but query it, computing platform above the operating modify it, so that any missing functionality While the benefits of cloud computing system that usually solves or facilitates may be sourced from a third party. what would otherwise be a difficult solutions are plentiful, there are some problem for the user. A simple example is barriers to adoption. The cloud market has responded well the well-established web hosting market, to this, to an extent. There are already A key concern has been over network which offers managed web servers as companies that leverage the principal data availability – and the fear that if the the platform to host one or more users’ store & authentication of their parent to network between the user and cloud websites. More recent entrants to the host third party applications that exploit service provider fails, the user will not PaaS market are programming platforms these APIs to integrate, embrace, and be able to access the data and services in such as Microsoft’s Azure, Google’s extend the original service’s functionality. the cloud. Today, network and Internet AppEngine, and Heroku which offer However, there is still much more to be connections are much more reliable and simple programmatic interfaces which done and cloud interchange standards are experience little unplanned down time, enable the end user programmer to code on being developed that will facilitate more and companies can simply deploy a these simpler interfaces to build software data sharing in the years to come. that can scale to service thousands of users redundant network connection to mitigate from hundreds of servers. this risk. The Future of Cloud Computing

SaaS builds on PaaS. This is the most Another area of concern is that of data Today even the largest cloud providers offer familiar face of cloud computing, an ownership and data locality. Few users services from relatively few data centres. application delivered over a web browser. will want to invest in a cloud service if it is Even the largest service provider of public SaaS users need not worry about any part difficult to get their information into or out IaaS and PaaS services currently locates its of the back-end infrastructure as they from their service provider’s systems. Data 34 data in 5 locations across 4 jurisdictions In standardising interfaces, the next challenge will be to properly describe and Cloud Service Provider 3 compare the capabilities of the resources Cloud Service Provider 2 Cloud Service Provider 1 that are being traded or purchased between providers. Today there are few means of describing what a unit of computing processing capacity is in an easily comparable way. Major service providers all have a different metric and likewise for storage systems.

In the coming years, the benefits of the cloud computing model will drive providers both to addressing user concerns with this new technology, and to formalize inter-system interoperability and trading. We need only to look back through the past 150 years of telecommunications innovation, where technology is first The future of cloud computing, where users will only need to establish a relationship with developed in a standalone context, one cloud service provider, who in turn will source all of the user’s needs adopted by users that see great benefits and inter-operate with other service providers. in improving the way they work, before interoperation is standardized so that all worldwide. Hence, it is unlikely that To enable this, cloud services providers users and providers can communicate any single cloud service provider will should be able to leverage the technologies with one another. have complete global coverage, yet users and concepts that their customers use are growing to demand services from today and extend them to facilitate Martin Foster is Practice locations that are either close to them, or inter-provider trading. All major cloud Manager , IT Solutions at in jurisdictions that are favourable to their providers already have APIs that can Pacnet. Mr Foster is responsible businesses. check for, request, and purchase available for the development of Pacnet’s capacity within their system. However, IaaS offerings. Martin holds a To address this, the cloud computing what needs to be developed are standards Masters of Computer Science, a industry could take the example from the for simple & common operations between Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering & Society subsea telecommunications industry to providers so that they can also allow and has worked in telecommunications since trade capacity from one another to reach service providers to trade or buy capacity 1998. areas where they do not have their own from one another. infrastructure. 35 36 Back Reflection by Stewart Ash A Girdle Round the Earth eventual conceded to these demands and, Indian Submarine Telegraph Company Ltd. between 1856-7, democratic constitutions were (formed in 1869). The Indian Government had illiam Shakespeare’s Puck claimed introduced to all the colonies of Australia. By installed a land telegraph between Bombay that, in A Midsummer’s Night 1859, Australia was exporting £40,000,000 of and Madras, so commercial services between WDream, “I’ll put a girdle round about wool to Britain and the 1861 Census showed London and Madras were already operational. the earth in forty minutes.” The circumference that the total population was just over 1 of the earth is 24,901.55 miles, and it took John million. Though small compared to India, In 1869, Pender formed a new company the Pender (1816 – 1896) the “Cable King,” around it quickly became apparent that this export British India Extension Telegraph Company 4 years to achieve somewhere in excess of trade required better communication with the Ltd., with capital of £460,000. This company was th half of this feat. On 15 November 1872, the UK than was provided by the mail bag service to build the cable from Madras to Penang and first telegraph service between Adelaide, the on the monthly P & O steamer. In order to then on to Singapore. The contract for supply capital of South Australia and London (over bring Australian telecommunications into was given to the Telegraph Construction and 12,500 miles) went into commercial operation. the nineteenth century, the governments of Maintenance Company (Telcon) and the cable Queensland and South Australia approached was manufactured at its factory in Greenwich If India was the source of cotton for the John Pender. They lobbied him with proposals (now Alcatel-Lucent). The ships transited to British Empire in the 1850s, Australia was for a lengthy period and, in 1868, Pender India via the newly opened Suez Canal. The undoubtedly its source of wool. Each of the finally chose to support the South Australian 1,408 nm of cable from Madras to Penang was Australian colonies was self-governing and, Government proposal. Within 6 months, laid by the Telcon ships CS Edinburgh and CS at that time, totally independent of each construction of a new submarine telegraph Scanderia. The 400 nm section from Penang other. There was no legal union except, of system was underway. to Singapore was laid by the CS Scanderia and course, with the Crown. The campaign for the CS William Cory. These installations were full independence was led by New South Submarine cable telegraph connectivity completed in December 1870 and the line Wales and, in its 1851 'Declaration, Protest already existed from London to Bombay opened for commercial traffic on 5th January and Remonstrance' it demanded an end to through three independent telegraph 1871. imperial control over taxation, land policy companies­--the Falmouth, Gibraltar and and revenues, a dilution of the Crown veto Malta Telegraph Company Ltd. (formed in To raise the capital for the last section of the and a constitution similar to that already 1869); the Anglo-Mediterranean Telegraph system, Pender had to float another company. agreed with Canada. The British Government Company Ltd. (formed in 1868) and the British The British Australian Telegraph Company 37 of Adelaide. This required the Australians Brazilian Tel. Co. Ltd. Finally, in 1873, the to build a 1,973 mile land telegraph between Globe Telegraph and Trust Co. Ltd. was Darwin and Port Augusta. This work was incorporated. The Globe Trust was formed in divided into north, south and central sections, order to further spread the risk of cable laying, each in the hands of different installation and shares in the Globe Trust were offered teams. The land line from Darwin to Adelaide, in exchange for shares in the Eastern and and from there to the other principles cities associated telegraph companies. to the south and east, was completed in June 1872. The first test messages were sent the John Pender continued to use this business 12,500 miles to from Adelaide to London on model for the rest of his life to bring 23rd June 1872. However, a cable fault in the submarine telegraphy to other parts of the submarine section between Darwin and world. By his death in 1896, the Eastern Banjoewangie interrupted commissioning and and Associated Telegraph Companies Group this was not repaired until 21st October 1872. possessed a virtual monopoly of worldwide This is general accepted as the completion date communication by telegraph cable, and the for the “All-sea” telegraph system between companies that he formed went on to be the Australia and the UK. basis of the modern day Cable & Wireless. Oberon, Ltd. was formed in January 1870 with capital It is often forgotten that John Pender was one Titania and of £660,000. Once again, the supply contract In parallel with the Australia project, Pender of the leading lights of the Atlantic Telegraph, Puck with was given to Telcon, and in November 1870 formed yet another company, the China a major investor and the first chairman of Fairies the CS Hibernia laid the 557 nm section from Submarine Telegraph Company Ltd. This Telcon. It was Pender’s business acumen Dancing. Singapore to Djakarta (then Batavia) on the company was formed, in 1869 to install a cable and influence, just as much as Cyrus Field’s From William island of Java. A Dutch owned and operated from Singapore to Hong Kong via Saigon. enthusiasm and tenacity that brought that Shakespeare's land telegraph provided the link between famous project to fruition. A Midsummer Batavia and Banjoewangie on the south east As can be seen, Pender’s strategy was to spread the significant, short term, risk Night's Dream corner of Java. The CS Hibernia returned If any one person can be said to have achieved by William to the UK, via the Cape of Good Hope, and of laying these cables over a number of independent companies. Once they were Puck’s boast of placing a girdle around the Blake loaded the final sections of submarine cable. earth, that man surely was John Pender. Once again, the cable was manufactured at established, he set about consolidation. In Telcon’s Greenwich factory. The CS Hibernia 1872, the Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta, the departed Greenwich on 3rd August 1871 and Anglo-Mediterranean and the British Indian transited via the Cape of Good Hope, then, Submarine Tel. Co. Ltd, were merged, along with the CS Edinburgh, installed the final 1,082 with the Marseilles, Algiers and Malta Tel. Co. nm submarine section from Banjoewangie to Ltd. to form the Eastern Telegraph Co. Ltd. Darwin in the Northern Territories. Then, in 1873, the British Indian Extension, the British Australian and the China Submarine Pender had agreed with the South Australia Tel. Co. Ltd. were merged to form the Eastern Government that he would terminate his Extension, Australasia and China Tel. Co. Ltd. submarine cable system, which then stretched Not content with this, in the same year Pender from Porthcurno in Cornwall to Darwin, at Port formed two further companies, the Brazilian Augusta at the head of the Spencer Gulf north Submarine Tel. Co. Ltd and the Western & 38 Pacific Telecommunications Council 15-18 January 2012 Honolulu, Hawaii Conferences Website

Global Submarine Cable Forum 26-28 March 2012 London, UK Website

ENTELEC 15-17 May 2012 Houston, Texas USA Website

Submarine Networks World Africa 2012 21-24 May 2012 Johannesburg, South Africa Website

Submarine Networks World 2012 5-7 September 2012 Singapore Website

39 to give us a vision, an itinerary and a Letter to a direction. Where do we all want to go together? Friend What do each of us need to be prepared for?

My friend, to be frank, I have the same feelings concerning our submarine cable community. Our leaders seem to keep their eyes only on their bottom line. I stay tuned in, but I cannot hear any message at all.

Therefore, I am suggesting that the ASN organizers of SubOptic 2013 consider changing the venue of the conference. We have many great and prestigious monasteries in France. Jean Devos

My dear friend, the people of this planet would have to return the confidence in their leaders that Jean Devos I am writing this letter on the opening day has been lost as of late. of the G20 summit in Cannes, which is taking place in the “palais des festivals,” The Greeks, Italians, French and others a building known for hosting the annual might make more efforts to accept the Cannes movie festival. proposed cost cutting plans, drastic though they might be. The Americans and Perhaps this is some kind of message? the Europeans might recover their morale It seems to me that these leaders would and creativity. The Arab world might see have done better gathering in a Cathedral, a little better what they are fighting for. such as the famous one in Chartres. The And the emerging countries might have image of World Heads of State on their a clearer perception of the landscape into knees, burning a candle, singing a psalm which they are progressing. or praying to God to bring them some We do not need to be told frightening light would have been such a shock that 40 figures every hour. We need our leaders Through The Looking Glass: The "Perceived" Future of the Submarine Cable

PTC'12

Moderator: Kevin Summers, Editor, Submarine Telecoms Forum,

Panelists: • Kent Bressie, Partner, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP • Mike Constable, Director, Business Development, Pacific Fibre • Ian Douglas, Managing Director, Telecom Business, Global Marine Systems Ltd • John Pennewell, Director, International Network, AT&T • Michael Ruddy, Managing Director, Terabit Consulting

41 Advertisers Index ISSN 1948-3031 Ciena www.ciena.com 8

Issue Themes: Huawei Marine Networks www.huaweimarine.com 16 January: Global Outlook Nexans www.nexans.com 31 March: Finance & Legal OFS www.ofsoptics.com 5 May: Subsea Capacity July: Regional Systems WFN Strategies www.wfnstrategies.com 36 September: Offshore Energy November: Subsea Technology Letter to the editor...

Advertising enquiries: Dear Sir, Sales Manager Kristian Nielsen I have received the copy of submarine almanac that was sent to me. Tel: +1 (703) 444-0845 I can not express my joy when it was delivered to my manager. Email: [email protected] With all the details, it’s awesome. Submarine Cable Cable Submarine Sales Representative, 21495 Ridgetop Circle, Suite 201 | Sterling, VA 20166, USA Europe, AFRICA, Middle east Keep it up. submarine cable Wilhelm Sicking Compliments of ALMAnAC Tel: + 49 (0) 201-779861 2011 edition

Anthony Nnaji - Almanac Email: [email protected] 2011 edition 2011

Copyright © 2011 WFN Strategies 42 by Kevin G. Summers

s you've surely heard by now, of modern entrepeneurs whose names are or J.K. Rowling. But their ideas alone, Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, internationally famous. Bill Gates. Donald incomplete, are completely without value. Apassed away on 5 October. At Trump. Steve Jobs. the time of his death, he was among the It is, of course, extremly difficult to execute richest Americans and one of the most The thing about Jobs that was special, the an idea. Many creative people suffer from recognizable business leaders in the world. reason why were talking about him at a lack of discipline. It is the discipline all, is because he was able to harness his that allows them to turn their ideas into I don't want to go into a long history of creativity and make something, actually iPhones. Without discipline, Steve Jobs Jobs' life here, nor do I intend to write yet many somethings, that people wanted to would have been just another dreamer, another eulogy for the man. I know little buy. The Macintosh computer, the iPod, but because of his work ethic, he was able about him on a personal level, but as a user the iPad, even the MacBook Pro upon to throw a hammer through the TV screen of his techologies for more than a decade, which I'm writing this article... all of these of obscurity and set the bar for the rest of I would like to say a few things that have are tangible items that have changed us "creative types." come to mind since his death. the world. Every one of them, from its function to its asthetics, began as an idea There was a time when the leaders of in the mind of Mr. Jobs. industry were the most famous men (and occasionally women) in the world. When Ideas are worthless. The only thing that the Titanic sank, nearly 100 years ago, matters is the execution of an idea. these were the celebrities whose names were passed from mouth to mouth on I talk to aspiring writers all the time, and both sides of the Atlantic. Isidor Straus many of them are filled to the brim with and John Jacob Astor were the rock stars ideas that, if executed properly, could of their day. I can only think of a handful turn them into the next Stephen King

43 What do you think? Click on the Letter To The Editor icon and drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.