Issue 11 - Submarine Telecoms Forum

Transcription

An international forum for
the expression of ideas and
opinions pertaining to the
submarine telecoms industry
Issue 11
November 2003
1
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Contents
Editor’s Exordium
3
Tracking the Cableships
38
Emails to the Editor
4
Letter to a Friend
Jean Devos
41
Upcoming Conferences
42
NewsNow
A brief synopsis of current news items
5
Maintenance News
8
SubOptic goes from strength to strength
John Horne
11
Advertisers
C&W GOES
New life discovered in the Caribbean
Julian Rawle
Reliability by design
In practice and in the field
Dr Barbara Dean and Dr Jeff Gardner
OFS
14
20
A unique event
The PTC 2004: New Times - New Strategies
Richard Nickelson
27
Those other submarine utilities
Bill Wall
It’s not all a bed of roses
Scott Griffith
2
31
35
Global Marine
5,6,40
7
8,9,10
SubOptic 2004
13
Great Eastern
19
Tyco Telecommunications
24
STF Reprints
25
PTC 2004
26
Fugro
29
CTC
30
Lloyds Register
30
Caldwell Marine
32
STF Marketplace
34
Nexans
37
WFN Strategies
40
Submarine Telecoms Forum is published quarterly by WFN
Strategies, L.L.C. The publication may not be reproduced
or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the
permission of the publishers. Liability: while every care is
taken in preparation of this publication, the publishers
cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the
information herein, or any errors which may occur in
advertising or editorial content, or any consequence arising
from any errors or omissions.
Submarine Telecoms Forum is an independent
commercial publication, serving as a freely accessible forum
for professionals in industries connected with submarine
optical fibre technologies and techniques. The publisher
cannot be held responsible for any views expressed by
contributors, and the editor reserves the right to edit any
advertising or editorial material submitted for publication.
© WFN Strategies L.L.C., 2003
Contributions are welcomed. Please forward to the
Managing Editor: Wayne F. Nielsen, WFN Strategies,
19471 Youngs Cliff Road, Suite 100, Potomac Falls,
Virginia 20165, USA.
Tel: +[1] 703 444-2527, Fax:+[1] 703 444-3047.
Email: [email protected]
General Advertising
Tel: +[1] 703 444 2527
Advertising - Europe/ME/Africa - Hildegard Peltier
Tel: +[33] 1 47 82 61 74
Exordium
November’s issue marks the second anniversary of Submarine Telecoms Forum, and
what a ride it has been, not only for us your humble editors, but the industry
as a whole.
In our first issue, we set out a few principles, which we have tried to hold
firm.
Submarine Telecoms Forum was dedicated to providing an international medium
for the communication of ideas and opinions pertaining to the dynamics and
technologies of the submarine telecom industry. We envisioned Submarine Telecoms
Forum as being a platform for discourse on submarine telecom cable and network
operations where industry professionals can provide guest commentary and
information on system and service provision.
We promised then, and continue to promise you, our readers:
· That we will provide a wide range of ideas and issues;
· That we will seek to incite, entertain and provoke in a positive manner.
It’s not a perfect medium, and we have surely made our share of mistakes, but
we hope in the long run that we have supported our industry in a small way
through some rather troubling times. We do appreciate that such times are not
entirely behind us, and that we must continue to fight the good fight.
And in a year from now when we are all sitting around fat and
happy, we can look back at these times with some amusement, and
congratulate ourselves for our prowess and fortitude - at least
let’s hope we can.
Bon appetit
Wayne
Designed and produced by Ted Breeze
BJ Marketing Communications, Colchester, UK..
3
Emails to the Editor
Thanks and great issue!
stuff.
Good
Sara L. Pratt
Tyco Telecommunications
....................................
I just saw, yet again, another
great issue.
Elaine Stafford
The David Ross Group
....................................
Excellent magazine, which I have
used a lot to research something
I am doing at present.
Coming back into the industry
after a long break, it surprises
me that one area that you and the
rest of the industry have covered
in parts but not as a whole is
business continuity. Whilst it
is a well-developed tool for on
land networks, it seems relatively
new to sub cables, although it
should not be as we roughly used
the principles years ago. I have
only found one reference to it
and wonder if you should run an
article on it sometime in the
future, as it fits with some recent
articles you have done about
getting better use and availability
from existing assets.
This seems particularly relevant
to your readers when large
organisations such as ACMA seem
to be moving towards just
penalising suppliers for failure,
instead of running a balanced
scorecard, which can reward or
penalise in direct relationship
to the way in which they improve
or worsen the fortunes of their
customers.
I guess the other area of concern
I have found in the example I have
been looking at is that, whilst
planners may do an availability
and contingency management study
prior to implementation, these may
not be monitored regularly to
assess whether in practice changes
and upgrades need to be made.
John Pockett
Pockettbook Associates Ltd
4
Thank you for producing yet another
interesting and thought provoking
issue of Submarine Telecoms Forum.
It is a crucial link in keeping
information flowing in a highly
disrupted environment.
My attention was drawn particularly
by the list of round table subjects
listed in the SubOptic survey,
which showed cable-laying analysis
at the head of the list. This has
long been a subject of interest
to me, and one in which I have
participated and attempted to
improve over a number of years.
If you have any further information
from the survey regarding the
nature and level of the interest
in this subject it would be useful
to me in considering future ways
to address the issues to assist
in meeting industry performance
objectives.
Alan Jordan
Spectral Solutions Limited
[While we don’t have further
industry survey details about the
subject, one can make direct
contact with the secretary to the
SubOptic Executive Committee, John
Horne, at [email protected], who
would welcome all good ideas.]
A brief synopsis of current news items
from NewsNow, the weekly news feed
available on the Submarine Telecoms
Forum website.
Asia Netcom Migrates Indonesian ISPs
Traffic
Demand for submarine cable rising in
Caribbean and Latin American countries
Asia Netcom has announced that PT Dyviacom
Intrabumi has completed migration of its Internet
connection to Asia Netcom’s global IP network.
There is already a requirement for new submarine
capacity within the Caribbean region and a lack of
capacity designed to handle intra-regional Latin
American traffic, say Pioneer Consulting.
www.subtelforum.com/NewsNow/
21_september_2003.htm
Carrier Survey Indicates Spending
Upswing
Telecom carrier responses to KMI’s 2003 Optical
Networking Equipment Survey indicate that carriers plan on increasing their optical-networking
equipment spending in 2004 and beyond.
26_october_2003.htm
Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia Units
to Collaborate
FLAG Telecom Sold to Indian Company
FLAG Telecom Group Limited has entered into an
Agreement with Reliance Gateway Net Private Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Infocomm Limited.
Reliance Gateway will acquire 100% of the company’s common shares on a fully diluted basis for an
aggregate purchase price of $207 million.
19_october_2003.htm
France Telecom Expands in Pacific
International Carrier Sales and Solutions, and
Telecom Italia Sparkle SpA, a subsidiary of Telecom
Italia SpA, have agreed to collaborate.
France Telecom has opened a point of presence at
Equinix’s Singapore Internet Business Exchange to
improve connectivity for carriers and ISPs in AsiaPacific and for customers on its global network.
12_october_2003.htm
From business case to operation, from satellite networks to submarine, from Alaska to Bahrain to New Zealand
5
Sri Lanka allows SEA-ME-WE-3 purchase
Pursuant to the investigation by the Telecoms Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka all operators permitted their own international transmission infrastructure could now purchase IRUs in the cable capacity of the SEA-ME-WE-3.
Global Crossing Announces First TransEuropean 10 GigE Connection
North American Telecom Market
Showed Continued Stability
2_november_2003.htm
Global Crossing is supporting the first trans-European 10 Gigabit Ethernet connection between the
Dutch national research network (SURFnet) in and
the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
According to RHK, the North American telecom market continued to show stability in the third quarter of
2003, with revenue 2% over the second quarter.
SWIFT Picks Sprint for IPLs
2_november_2003.htm
9_november_2003.htm
Level 3 Announces New Services
Singapore Technologies, Global Crossing
Deal Approved by FCC
Level 3 Communications, Inc. has announced that
it has leveraged its award-winning ONTAP(SM)
system to launch a new wholesale private line service in the U.S. and Europe.
Global Crossing and Singapore Technologies
Telemedia have announced that the Federal Communications Commission has approved Global‘s
application for transfer of control to ST Telemedia.
9_november_2003.htm
19_october_2003.htm
Not everyone has our depth of experience or breadth of capability - but now everyone can profit from it
Realise your business vision with Cable & Wireless www.cw.com/uk/nss/
6
Sprint has renewed its 10-year relationship with
SWIFT, the cooperative providing secure messaging
services for 7,500 financial institutions worldwide.
Trans-Tasman IP VPN Service Launched
Telstra and TelstraClear have launched a joint Internet
Protocol Virtual Private Network service, TransTasman IP, between Australia and New Zealand.
OFS innovates today’s major submarine
networks with fibers that support longer
distances and higher capacities than ever
before. The results? Lower system costs
and unrivaled performance.
OFS has the optical fiber to support all
your emerging system design needs –
z Lower dispersion management cost
z Higher reliability
z Greater capacity and bandwidth
To unleash your system’s full
capabilities while keeping your
costs competitive, choose OFS
fiber for your next submarine
cable project.
For more information on OFS’ complete
family of fibers for the submarine market,
please visit the OFS Fiber website at
www.ofsoptics.com
or call Tom Davis at (973) 655-1502
7
MAINTENANCE NEWS
Alcatel Adds DWDM Platforms for LongHaul, Unrepeatered Network
Alcatel has reinforced its family of dense wavelength
division multiplexing (DWDM) products with the introduction of the Alcatel 1626 Light Manager, a new
core DWDM platform.
5_october_2003.htm
Alcatel Completes Portugal Domestic
System
Alcatel and PT Comunicações — a subsidiary of
the Portugal Telecom Group, the largest telecommunications and multimedia business organization
in Portugal – have announced that a new optical
undersea cable network, named CAM Ring, has
entered service.
5_october_2003.htm
ALSTOM Sells ROV Unit
First Cable for East Africa Announced
ALSTOM has sold its Robotics business located in
Davis, California in a management buyout.
A consortium of Southern and East Africa carriers
plan to build a system from South Africa to Djibouti.
19_october_2003.htm
Dutch Sea Cable in Wind Farm Project
FOG Cable Repaired
Twelve km off the east coast of Ireland, Dutch Sea
Cable is taking part in the construction of a pilot
wind farm on the Arklow Bank.
The damaged FOG cable that has slowed Bahrain
Internet browsing speeds for the past few weeks
has been fixed, announced Batelco head of corporate affairs, Ahmed Al Janahi.
2_november_2003.htm
2_november_2003.htm
East African Leaders Support EASCS
East African leaders are touting the recently proposed East African Submarine Cable System as a
key to economic development in the region.
9_november_2003.htm
8
Global Marine Launches JADE
Global Marine has announced a revolutionary technology to improve the quality of cable jointing.
12_october_2003.htm
MAINTENANCE NEWS
More Cable Ships Use Makai Ocean
Engineering’s Monitoring Software
Nexans Straps Cable to Pipeline for
Innovative Placement Solution
Pirelli To Supply Submarine Fiber-Optic
Cable To Link Kuwait And Iran
Makai Ocean Engineering Inc. reports that a number
of cable ships have now added the company’s
MakaiLay At-Sea Cable Lay Monitoring System
software.
Nexans of Norway recently supplied a URC-1 DA2
cable with 96 cores G655 to the Dutch installer Jan
de Nul, now Boskalis, for one of the segments for
the PGN project in Indonesia.
12_october_2003.htm
19_october_2003.htm
Emirates Telecommunications & Marine Services
FZE (e-marine) in the United Arab Emirates has
awarded Pirelli the contract for supplying submarine and land fiber-optic cables, terminal transmission equipment, and accessories for a prestigious
project which will link Kuwait City with Ganeveh in
the Iran.
NAZ Picks Tyco to Survey Cables in
California Waters
Parkburn Precision Handling Receives
Major Cable Handling Order From EMarine
The North America Zone (NAZ) Maintenance
Agreement has recently announced that it has selected Tyco Telecommunications to conduct undersea survey and inspections of two submarine telecommunications cable systems off the California
coast.
Parkburn PHS recently announced the award of a
Contract from Emirates Telecommunications &
Marine Services FZE (e-marine) of the United Arab
Emirates for an 18 Wheel pair AC Drive Linear
Cable Engine (LCE) and Emergency Cable Brake.
9_november_2003.htm
9
Polar Network Moves Forward
Polarnet is an ambitious submarine cable project
that will link Europe, the United States and the Pacific Rim with a cable running along Russia’s Arctic
Coast.
9_november_2003.htm
MAINTENANCE NEWS
RPS GROUP Acquires Hydrosearch
RPS, Europe’s leading environmental consultancy, announced the acquisition of Hydrosearch
Associates Ltd, a significant provider of geological and other environmental services to the energy sector.
SEA-ME-WE-3 BU to Be Repaired in
October
SMD Set To Acquire Ongoing Business Of
Hydrovision
In a joint press release issued recently by Soil
Machine Dynamics and Hydrovision it was confirmed that Heads of Agreement have been
signed for SMD to acquire the ongoing
Hydrovision business subject to the usual diligence and contract.
12_october_2003.htm
Tyco to Sell TGN
Tyco International Ltd. intends to sell the Tyco Global Network (TGN), its undersea fiber optic telecommunications network, as well as to exit more than
50 other businesses.
9_november_2003.htm
WFN Strategies Establishes Strategic
Alliance With KW Tunnell Federal
Services Group
Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd.
(PTCL) reports that submarine cable SEA-MEWE-3 will be out of service from 05-15th October
2003 due to the replacement and repair of faulty
branching unit (BU) on Segment 5 in the Indian
Ocean.
SMD Completes The Acquisition Of
Hydrovision’s Ongoing Business
In a recent press release, John Reece, MD of SMD,
confirmed that SMD has completed the acquisition
of the ongoing business of Hydrovision.
WFN Strategies recently announced the establishment of a strategic alliance with the K.W. Tunnell
Federal Services Group of Springfield, Virginia for
the joint marketing of submarine cable management
services to the US government.
5_october_2003.htm
9_november_2003.htm
26_october_2003.htm
10
Why so?
I can already hear the cynical ones amongst you
say this man is clearly on something?
Well what is the evidence?
SUBOPTIC 2004 goes from
strength to strength
by John Horne
With the launch of the Preliminary
Programme for SubOptic 2004, the planning
for this event, the principle International
Convention for the Subsea Communications
industry goes from - Strength to Strength.
SubOptic 2004, which will be held in
Monaco, from 29 March to 1 April 2004, will
clearly be the “must attend” Convention of our
industry.
Despite the dramatic downturn the
industry has experienced since Kyoto in 2001, it
is becoming clear that Monaco will be a success.
This will help to give the industry the launchpad
occasion it so clearly has been looking for.
11
At the end of August the SubOptic Programme
Committee were inundated with well over 200
abstracts for papers to be submitted at Monaco.
This number was almost identical with the
number submitted for Kyoto, which attracted an
audience of nearly 1200 attendees.
These abstracts covered a diverse range of
topics and came from well over 60 organisations.
So there is an industry out there who have
survived or are new entrants and are interested
in telling their message to others in the
community.
The Programme Committee after reviewing
these abstracts, a task supported by over 60
referees - another sign of the strength of our
community - have decided upon a programme
of 60 oral presentations in 12 sessions and one
longer sessionof 100 poster presentations.
These sessions will cover topic areas such
as Market Place, Business and Commercial,
Network Architecture and Design, Equipment
and Component Technologies, Cable Design and
Marine Operation, and Network Operation and
Service Level.
Our aim at the start was to try to strengthen
the programme in the Market and Business/
Commercial areas and I am pleased to say that
John Horne has been involved with the development, planning, and
implementation of Submarine Communications
Systems since 1969. In
the 1980’s he was responsible for the development activity, which supported the introduction of BT’s first optical fibre submarine systems. He later took responsibility for Project
Managing the major International Transmission
Centres at the heart of BT’s Digital Transmission Network. He left BT in 1996 and has since
worked as a Consultant. At SubOptic 2001, he
was one of the Vice-Chairmen of the Papers
Committee and took on the role of Secretary
to the SubOptic Executive Committee, the body
that provides strategic management to the
SubOptic series of International Conventions.
our target of achieving about 1/3 of the
presentations in these areas has been achieved.
In support of these presentations the PC
have also prepared a range of Tutorial and Short
Course presentations. These cover 12 areas as
diverse as Financing and Business Case
preparation at one end to Fibre Non-linearity at
the other. So all requirements will be catered for.
What about the Keynote Speakers and
Roundtable Sessions? Well these have not been
overlooked. We have invited an impressive range
of Keynote Speakers who will give the audience
something to think and talk about. These include
Serge Tchuruk, Chairman and CEO of Alcatel and
Phil Metcalf CEO of Global Marine who have
already accepted. We will keep you updated as
we receive the acceptances from the others.
Two Roundtable Sessions have been
organised and in another first for SubOptic,
individuals still working in the heart of our
industry will moderate these. The first to discuss
the “Future Shape and Size of the Industry” with
an operator/carrier/financial perspective will be
chaired by Leigh Frame (Alcatel). We have invited
Brian Rousell (WCI) to chair the second to discuss
“How to ensure competitive supply” from a
manufacturing/services perspective.
So that’s the outline of the formal
programme. The opportunities to socialise,
network and discuss what has been presented
have not however been overlooked.
The Convention will be supported by an
Exhibition, which has already attracted, at the
time of writing, nearly 50 booths and by a wide
range of sponsors. Another sign of the strength
of the industry, supporting SubOptic 2004.
As another innovative feature, SubOptic is
also launching a Market Corner initiative. This
is aimed at small organisations or new entrants
to the industry who want to promote themselves
in the Exhibition Hall, but without the expense
of taking a conventional booth.
12
So there you have it, at this stage SubOptic
2004 has already attracted:
z As many abstracts as Kyoto, which had
1200 attendees
z A programme that is as rich and more
varied than Kyoto and will be supported
by Keynote Speakers and Roundtables
you will not wish to miss.
z An attendance base which is larger at
this time than at a similar time for Kyoto
z An Exhibition Hall representative of our
industry.
z Unparalleled networking opportunities
provided by our sponsorship and social
programme.
So that’s the evidence that makes me say
that SubOptic 2004 will be a success in achieving
our objective, which quoting from our
Constitution is: “To promote the interests of the
Submarine Telecommunications Cable
community by exchanging ideas and
information, educating within the Community
and fostering debate.”
Our website http://www.suboptic.biz
provides all the information you need about
SubOptic 2004, so it only leaves me to say:
“IF YOU WANT YOUR
ORGANISATION TO PARTICIPATE
IN SHAPING THE FUTURE
STRENGTH OF OUR INDUSTRY,
JOIN US IN MONACO”
13
New life discovered
under water in the
Caribbean Basin
A friend of mine recently said to me, “You
know, when the telecom market picks up, it
won’t be a ‘turnaround’, it will be an entirely
new and different market.”
Nowhere is this truer than in the
Caribbean. For, while the submarine cable
market itself went into a coma, other drivers
in the commercial environment, such as free
trade agreements, privatisation, de-regulation,
market liberalisation, and broadband
penetration have continued to operate.
So what is the demand forecast for the
Caribbean?
Where are the growth opportunities and
how attractive are they?
The Caribbean Market
The Caribbean submarine cable market is
fragmented.
With the exception of concerted action by
the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
(OECS) to end the monopolies of Cable &
Wireless, each Caribbean state generally follows
its own telecom development strategy.
As a result, there is a broad range of growth
rates for the 21 Caribbean nations included in a
recent study by Pioneer Consulting.
Demand for submarine capacity on each
island is forecast to grow at anywhere between
12% and 34% per year.
Most of this growth is coming from
Internet demand.
by J
ulian R
awle
Julian
Ra
wle,, Pioneer Consulting
14
Of the 21 Caribbean states studied:
z 15 have privatised PTT’s (with Bahamas
going through the process now).
z 5 have totally open telecom markets.
z 3 maintain state monopolies.
z 13 are in the process of liberalising their
telecom market.
z 14 retain monopolies on ILD (10 of
which are controlled by C&W).
Segmenting The Market
Exhibit 1 throws up some interesting
anomalies :
All countries with a relatively low GDP
but relatively high Internet penetration
are served by C&W. Could it be that
monopolies have a beneficial role to
play in helping people get online ?
z GDP’s in Bahamas and Netherlands
Antilles are inflated by banking and oil
revenues respectively.
z Countries in the “Low/Low” category
represent 82% of the Caribbean
population. Of these, 89% live in Cuba,
Haiti, or the Dominican Republic. For
a variety of reasons, Internet markets in
z
Exhibit 1 : Caribbean Internet Market Segmentation
H ig h
A n tig u a an d B arb u d a
D o m in ica
S ain t K itts an d N ev is
S ain t L u cia
T rin id ad an d T o b ag o
A ru b a
B erm u d a
C aym an Islan d s
M artin iq u e
P u erto R ico
U S V irg in Islan d s
In tern et
P en etra tio n
L ow
B arb ad o s
C ub a
D o m in ican R ep .
G ren ad a
G u ad elo u p e
H aiti
Jam aica
S t. V in cen t an d th e
G ren ad in es
L ow
these three countries have not
developed as fast as elsewhere.
End of C&W’s monopoly
Cable & Wireless remains the dominant player
in the Caribbean region, especially in terms of
international traffic and submarine connectivity.
However, the drive towards free markets has
exposed C&W businesses, traditionally regarded
as “cash-cows”, to new competition.
Given the disastrous forays into the global
IP market and cable TV in the UK, Cable &
Wireless needs to continue to generate cash from
its Caribbean assets. C&W still holds monopolies
on ILD service in a number of Caribbean islands.
These monopolies will gradually be broken down
but C&W will maintain a strong presence and
offer stiff competition to any new entrants.
Success in competing with C&W in the ILD
market will depend mainly on price. This means
that next generation network infrastructure will
be required to provide a cost advantage over
C&W’s existing cable assets.
Development of Broadband
B ah am as
N eth erlan d s A n tilles
G D P p er
H ea d
H ig h
15
The rate at which Internet users transition from
dial-up to broadband is key to providing
opportunities to install new submarine fibre
optic capacity. Broadband take-up in the
Caribbean has so far been relatively slow.
However, some governments are recognizing the
importance of this technology for the
Exhibit 2 : Forecast Caribbean Average Access Speed and Bandwidth per User 2003-2013
300,000
250,000
bps
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Average Access Speed
development of the economy and a number of
“e-initiatives” have been taken. Pioneer forecasts
that 13% of Caribbean Internet users will have a
broadband connection by 2013.
Bandwidth Usage and Access Speeds
How much bandwidth each Internet user
requires to drive their favourite applications and
the amount of bandwidth available in the access
loop are both critical factors in estimating
satisfiable Internet demand.
Average Bandwidth per User
Caribbean access infrastructure is clearly
inadequate to support demand for Internet
connectivity (see Exhibit 2). The access
bottleneck is constraining demand growth,
limiting it to an average of 30% per year across
the region.
This restricts the size of attachments which
can be sent via e-mail, it sends dynamic web
pages into slow motion, and multi-media
applications, such as games and music
downloads, become an exercise in futility.
16
Obsolete cables
There are six relatively modern ultra-long haul
cable systems serving the rim of the Caribbean
Basin (see Exhibit 3) but “Americas-2” is the only
ultra-long haul connection available from a
point inside the Caribbean region. Within the
Caribbean Basin itself, there are only two
regional submarine cable systems with multiple
landing points.
The Eastern Caribbean Fibre System (ECFS)
was commissioned by Cable & Wireless in 1995
and has a design capacity which is less than half
of the total estimated demand for Caribbean
regional connectivity today. TCS-1, which
connects Puerto Rico with the Dominican
Republic, Martinique, and Colombia, was built
in 1990 and has a capacity of only 100 Mbps.
Together with “Cayman-Jamaica” (CJFS), these
regional systems are regarded as a composite
backbone connecting the Western Caribbean to
the Eastern Caribbean via Puerto Rico. None of
these systems has the technology to meet future
demand either in terms of quality or capacity.
Opportunities in the Caribbean
Demand forecasts indicate that new submarine
cable systems will be required in Antigua &
Barbuda, Barbados, and Guadeloupe over the
next ten years. High demand growth rates have
also been forecast for Cayman, Netherlands
Antilles, Puerto Rico and USVI. Internet traffic
in the Caribbean is driven mainly by demand
Exhibit 3 : West Caribbean Submarine Cable Systems
To Florida, USA
for North American content and yet there is no
direct North American submarine cable
connection to Barbados, Dominica, Grenada,
Guadeloupe, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia,
and St. Vincent & Grenadines (see Exhibit 4).
To Miami, USA
ARCOS
(960 Gbps)
ARCOS
(960 Gbps)
Emergia
(1.92 Tbps)
To Puerto
Rico
CJFS
(10 Gbps)
Antillas-1
(3.7 Gbps)
TCS-1
(140 Mbps)
To USVI
PAC (40 Gbps)
To USVI &
Venezuela
ARCOS
(960 Gbps)
Maya-1
(20 Gbps)
To Mexico &
California, USA
Alonso de Ojeda
(15 Gbps)
Panamerican
(20 Gbps)
PAC
(40 Gbps)
To Ecuador
SAC
(80 Gbps)
To Peru
To Puerto
Rico
Privatisation & Market Liberalisation create
opportunities
The sale of TeleBermuda International, resulting
from Brasil Telecom’s acquisition of the
“360americas” cable system, has caused
questions to be raised about the island’s
dependence on a single cable system. A debate
is currently raging in the Netherlands Antilles
over the privatisation of incumbent Antelecom.
A Free Trade Agreement between the United
States & Dominican Republic is expected in 2004.
Cuba has no submarine cable connectivity
to the outside world but it has attracted foreign
investment in its telecom sector from Italy and
Canada. If either the Castro regime collapses or
the U.S. government lifts its economic embargo,
the significant Cuban population would
certainly have an impact on the regional demand
profile.
Similarly, if the political situation in Haiti
ever stabilizes, there is significant pent up
demand from the large population for basic
Internet connectivity which cannot currently be
satisfied by the existing international satellite
links.
Source : Pioneer Consulting, LLC
17
Exhibit 4 : Estimated Current Market Share of Demand for North American
Connectivity in Leading Caribbean Countries
31%
40%
2%
8%
6%
13%
P u e rto R ico
H a iti
D o m in ica n R e p .
New Systems Proposed
Already a number of new systems have been
proposed to meet growing demand within the
Caribbean. Island Fibre are proposing to build
“East Caribbean-1” (EC-1) a repeaterless 6-fibre
pair SDH ring connecting Puerto Rico with
Trinidad via most of the other East Caribbean
islands. West Indies Network – I, LLC has
proposed an almost identical route for “WIN-1”,
a repeaterless 16-fibre SDH ring. Telkom Caribe
has proposed a two-phase project for “Calypso1”, initially connecting Barbados and Trinidad
to the South American continent and then
Ja m a ica
C a ym a n Isla n d s
O th e r
extending north into the East Caribbean
archipelago. All of these Caribbean networks are
designed to carry at least 1 terabit of capacity.
The common link between these three
projects is that none has been able to secure
funding. Pioneer’s research suggests that there is
indeed a need for new capacity along the
proposed routes of these systems but insufficient
demand to support all three.
Bottom Line
The Caribbean region offers a number of
opportunities for investment in telecom
18
Since joining Pioneer
Consulting, Julian
Rawle has brought his
broad international
industry experience
and his knowledge of
the market to bear on
issues facing the
submarine fibre optic industry today. He has
completed a number of ground-breaking
market reports, most recently focusing on Asia
Pacific, the Caribbean, Latin America, and
Eastern Mediterranean regions. He has also
led several projects for major corporate clients
such as JP Morgan, C2C, Intelsat, and
General Dynamics.
Julian has a first degree from
Manchester University, U.K. in Russian
Studies and a MBA from Cranfield.
After initially pursuing a 10-year career
in the oil industry, Julian spent 4 years as
Cable & Wireless Representative Director in
Moscow, building up a profitable business,
based on aggregation of international PSTN
traffic and provision of managed data services
to multi-nationals. He then accepted a post
with Global Marine as International Marketing
Director, Japan. He assisted Global Marine’s
Japanese joint venture partner, NTTWEM, to
implement a new international marketing
strategy.
infrastructure. However, in keeping with a
worldwide trend, the scale of these opportunities
is far smaller than the global initiatives which
have dominated the market in the recent past.
The business models used to take advantage of
these opportunities will therefore be different.
Private investors are already making a play
in the region but the major constraint is funding.
Capital availability has been undermined by a
loss of confidence in the telecom sector although
there are signs that financiers are becoming
uncomfortable with the lack of telecom
investment in their portfolios. System Suppliers
continue to fight shy of vendor financing while
they struggle to realign their balance sheets.
It seems likely that the first source of capital
to come available will be from the major telco’s.
C&W has a strong incentive to maintain its cash
flow from the region and AT&T has a strong
position, particularly in Puerto Rico, a key
regional hub. America Movil is also
implementing a major expansion and
acquisition strategy which may encompass the
Spanish-speaking part of the Caribbean.
We may therefore see a model similar to
the one used for the “ARCOS” project, consisting
of private investors taking the upfront risk
backed by guarantees from the major telco’s for
future capacity purchases.
Whichever model is used and whatever the
scale of development, there is indeed life in
the Caribbean Basin.
19
Reliability by
design – in
practice and
in the field
of Reliability by Design. By this, we mean that
the reliability impact of all design decisions, from
the network architecture level to the equipment
component level, is understood in terms of
physics rather than merely statistics.
Through the use of this Reliability by
Design principle, we have consistently delivered
highly reliable submerged equipment. Since the
beginning of the 980-nm repeater program in
1999, we have installed more than eleven
thousand 980-nm amplifier-pairs in
approximately 2,200 repeaters, accumulating
more than 180 million component service-hours.
To date, we have not had a single observed
service-affecting repeater failure or 980-nm laser
diode failure in these repeaters.
Dr. Barbara Dean and Dr. Jeff Gardner
Undersea telecommunications systems
represent a substantial investment to network
owners. Continuous operation of these
systems ensures an on-going revenue stream
and is a pre-requisite for end customer
satisfaction and retention. There are
numerous ways in which the outage risk of
undersea systems can be reduced, including
geographically diverse cable routes, judicious
armoring and burial of cable, and advanced
network protection switching protocols.
After proper route planning and network
architecture engineering, one of the most
Tyco Telecommunications Laboratories
Typical Reliability Requirements for
Undersea Systems
important factors in minimizing outages is
ensuring high reliability of the submerged
equipment, so that ship repairs are minimized.
Ship repairs represent a considerable cost to the
network, since recovery and repair of the system
is a lengthy and expensive process during which
the network owner typically purchases
restoration capacity, incurring even greater
expense. The reliability record of a supplier is
therefore an important metric which guides
customers in their choice of system supplier.
Reliability management at Tyco
Telecommunications is driven by the principle
The industry metric for the reliability of
submerged equipment is the expected number
of ship repairs over a 25 year system life. The
general industry target is fewer than 2 ship
repairs, excluding faults due to external
aggression, for a 7,000-km long system with four
fiber pairs.
To interpret what this target means in terms
of submerged equipment reliability, if this 7,000km system were deployed using a typical network
design, each repeater in the network would
require a probability of failure of less than 1%
over the life of the system.
20
Our Reliability Philosophy
Tyco Telecommunications’ Repeater Design
Reliability
management
at
Tyco
Telecommunications includes the implementation of Reliability by Design across all aspects
of system supply, including robust network
architecture, resilient transmission design, and
reliable equipment designs. Network reliability
requirements at the highest level are addressed
via network architecture and are cascaded down
to transmission design requirements, such as the
allocation of sufficient system performance
margins for system aging over life. Where
necessary, the prudent use of redundancy of
certain components adds additional reliability
and removes single points of failure. Tyco
Telecommunications’ transmission design
philosophy ensures the resiliency of the system
to submerged equipment degradation, including
degradation of amplifier power due to
component failures in the amplifier pump path,
without affecting end-to-end transmission. This
goal is achieved by operating the repeater
amplifiers in significant gain compression, where
the strength of the transmitted optical signal is
naturally self-regulating. For example, should
one span in a chain of repeaters experience a
greater than expected loss, subsequent amplifiers
automatically compensate by increasing their
gains. In this way, the system performance is
more tolerant to submerged equipment
degradation.
A repeater consists of one or more amplifier-pairs
— one for each fiber pair in the system —
contained within a strong housing of Beryllium
Copper which protects the electro-optical
equipment from the undersea environment.
Figure 1 shows a simplified diagram of a repeater
amplifier-pair. Incoming signals are amplified
by passing through the coil of erbium-doped
fiber (EDF) which is excited by several pump
lasers. Discrete optical components in the
amplifier include combiners and splitters which
couple the light from the pump lasers together
and then divide it evenly between the outgoing
and incoming paths, and isolators which prevent
downstream reflections from interfering with
amplifier operation.
With the exception of the pump lasers and
their associated controller electronics, all
components of the amplifier-pair are passive.
Figure 1: Simplified schematic of a Tyco Telecommunications undersea amplifier-pair.
21
This is important, since passive components in
general have fewer failure modes and hence
lower failure rates than active components. For
components which are directly in the
transmission path, such as the isolator shown in
the figure, demonstration of ultra-high reliability
is required, since the failure of any of these
components would result in transmission loss.
The reliability of the parts of the amplifier
that depend on active components, such as the
pump unit, is dramatically improved by the
prudent use of redundancy. Such designs allow
for failure of one or more redundant components
without failure of the amplifier. Thus, the
amplifier is robust to single failures in the pump
unit, so that multiple simultaneous failures
would be needed in order to affect system
performance. This results in an effective failure
rate which may be many orders of magnitude
smaller than the individual component failure
rates.
Repeater Reliability Budget
We have developed a Reliability Budget for the
Tyco Telecommunications 980-nm repeater,
summarized in Table 1.
These allocations include historical
estimates for the passive components gained
through more than 15 years of experience in
designing undersea optical repeaters. Here, 1 FIT
Table 1: Failure rate allocations for repeater components.
Component Type
Pump Lasers
Discrete Optical Components
Splices
Integrated Circuits
Discrete Electronics
Effective FIT Target
(95% Confidence)1
75
0.1—0.2
0.05
0.2
0.01—0.2
Total Transmission-Affecting Failure
Rate Allocated for a single Amplifier Pair
3.9
Repeater Mechanical Integrity
3
Total Transmission-Affecting Failure Rate
Allocated for a Repeater containing 1 Amplifier Pair
6.9
1 Confidence bound of 95% applies where acceleration of the key failure modes is possible.
22
Barbara Dean joined Bell Laboratories in the
early 1980s after receiving the Ph.D. in
Chemical Physics from Ohio State University.
At that time, she contributed to the
development and reliability analysis of optical
transmitters, receivers and passive
components for both terrestrial and undersea
applications, authoring several papers on the
concept of functional reliability.
During the introduction of opticallyamplified systems, her engineering team was
responsible for the qualification and
certification strategy for the first-generation
undersea pump lasers. In the late 1990’s,
Barbara joined the undersea system division
(now Tyco Telecommunications) and is
currently Managing Director, responsible for
Quality Management Implementation and
Reliability Management and assessment.
(Failure in Time) represents one failure in one
billion device operating hours.
As explained above, the pump lasers and
their associated control electronics are redundant
in this design. Because of this, the failure rate of
the components in the pump unit, especially the
pump lasers, may not simply be added to the
failure rates of other components in the repeater
to determine the total failure rate. Rather, pump
failures must be treated separately to determine
the probability of a given number and
distribution of pump laser failures over system
life, and thus, the resulting effect on system
performance. The failure of a single pump laser
in any given amplifier-pair would not generally
be cause for a repair. Only in the case of multiple
simultaneous pump laser failures, and then only
for certain combinations of failures, would an
immediate ship repair be necessary. These
combinations include, for example, the loss of
more than 3 dB of pump power in a single
amplifier-pair, or the loss of 3 dB of pump power
in consecutive amplifier-pairs of a fiber pair in a
repeater chain. This robustness to certain classes
of failures is a benefit of the self-regulating
transmission design of these systems.
Verification of Repeater Reliability
The philosophy of Reliability by Design dictates
that, to the extent possible, failure modes in
equipment and components be eliminated by
the product design through a detailed
Figure 2: Measured failure rate at 90% confidence as a function of service device hours without
any observed failures (Chi-Squared Statistical Model).
understanding of the underlying device physics.
As part of this process, potential failure modes
are identified through theory, exploratory
testing, and experience with manufacturing and
field use of similar devices.
We utilize a thorough regimen of testing
and surveillance in our product design and
23
manufacturing processes including: Design
Capability Testing, Design Maturity Testing,
Qualification Testing with and without
Acceleration Models, and on-going surveillance
of component reliability metrics in both the
suppliers’ and our own manufacturing facilities.
Perhaps the most direct data on reliability,
however, is gained through actual field
experience with installed systems.
Field Validation
Tyco is a leader in system supply and has more
980-nm amplifier-pairs in operation than anyone
else in the industry. Because of our role as both
a leading system supplier and network operator,
we are able to monitor reliability directly through
data from the Tyco Global Network (TGN) as well
as through feedback from our system customers.
Thus, we are in a unique position to supplement
qualification and manufacturing results with
actual field experience.
The large number of devices installed in the
field, combined with continuous use over the long
term, makes it possible to infer component failure
rates even though expected rates are extraordinarily
low. For ultra-high reliability components, the
most likely result is the observation of zero failures
over a long time period. The translation of this
Confidence
Level
Measured Failure
Rate (FITs)
95%
17.2
90%
13.0
60%
5.3
50%
3.9
Table 2: Measured failure rate of 980-nm
amplifier-pairs based on field data.
observation into a failure rate at a given confidence
level is a well-known statistical problem with an
equally well known solution. For the case of 90%
confidence, Figure 2 shows a graph of the measured
failure rate versus the number of elapsed device
hours without an observed failure.
The graph illustrates an important principle
in trying to measure the failure rate of ultra- high
24
reliability devices. The observation of zero failures
in any finite time period provides an upper bound
of the failure rate for a given confidence level. The
only way that this upper bound can be reduced to
approach the actual failure rate, while maintaining
high statistical confidence, is by accumulating
more device hours.
Given a few thousand devices in the field for
a few years, one could accumulate a few hundred
million device hours, which is the time period
necessary to demonstrate failure rates of 1 FIT or
less.
Experience and Results
Table 2 shows the failure rates for 980-nm
amplifier-pairs as measured directly by our field
data for various levels of statistical confidence.
To date, we have deployed approximately
2,200 repeaters based on 980-nm pump lasers for
a total of over 11,000 amplifier-pairs in service.
Given the approximately 180 million amplifier-
pair hours accumulated with zero failures
observed, we deduce a maximum measured
amplifier-pair failure rate of 17.2 FITs, with 95%
confidence. For a 50% confidence level, the
measured failure rate is 3.9 FITs. This result shows
that we are close to demonstrating that our
reliability design target of 3.9 FITs per amplifierpair has been fully proven in the field.
Conclusion
System reliability continues to be one of the most
important metrics by which customers evaluate
potential system suppliers. At Tyco, we have
accumulated an outstanding reliability record
over several decades and across numerous
technology changes by successfully applying the
Reliability by Design philosophy.
Using this philosophy, we remove potential
failure modes from our products by
implementing designs that are based upon the
knowledge of the failure physics. Rigorous
qualification programs combined with on-going
supplier surveillance ensure consistent reliability
of components, while continuous analysis of
field data for indications of failures helps further
enhance our knowledge of component
reliability. The result of this philosophy has been
impressive — to date, there has not been a single
reported traffic-affecting failure of our 980-nm
repeaters.
Our experience and knowledge of system
reliability is continually expanding as our
Jeff Gardner received Bachelor of
Arts and Master of
Science degrees in
Physics in 1986,
and a Ph.D in
Atomic, Molecular,
and Optical Physics
in 1993. His postdoctoral research centered on using semiconductor lasers to create and study ultra-cold
atomic samples as well as experimental studies of optical amplifiers. He has co-authored a
number of articles in these and other areas of
interest to the optics community. His experience carried over to his research at Tulane
University, where he was an Assistant Professor of Physics. Jeff joined the Reliability Management group at Tyco Telecommunications
Laboratories in 2001 as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff. His primary focus remains on optics, particularly the reliability of
semiconductor pump lasers used in Tyco Telecommunications’ undersea amplifiers.
systems accrue more and more operating hours.
This knowledge will be used to its fullest extent
as we consider new technologies, components,
and product designs driven by the continued
market need for ultra-high reliability, low
cost system solutions.
25
REPRINTS
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Telecoms Forum magazine, without
alteration. Page size is 8-1/4" x 11-3/4"
on 28lb paper stock. Shipping cost is in
addition to reprint price.
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New Times- New Strategies:
ICT Rising from the Ashes
26th Annual Telecommunications
Conference & Exhibition
11-14 January 2004 • Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach
Resort & Spa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
New Times - New Strategies, the theme for PTC’04, emphasizes the
opportunities that currently exist in the global marketplace for information and communication technologies (ICTs). While North America and
Europe still struggle to reinvigorate their economies, several Asian countries have surged ahead in leadership positions with new technologies. PTC’s annual conference offers a congenial venue to interact
with major players in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference has long
been the most important event that ties Asia to the Americas and the
rest of the world.
Seize this golden opportunity to maximize your total participation
in PTC’04:
• register early and save • exhibit • sponsor • advertise
Please contact Dolores Fung at +1.808.941.3789, email: [email protected]
or visit the PTC’04 website at www.ptc2004.org for more information.
PTC members enjoy 40% discount on the conference fee. If you
are not a PTC member and are interested in joining, please email
Justin Riel at [email protected].
www.ptc2004.org
26
A UNIQUE EVENT
PTC’04 : New Times – New Strategies: ICT Rising from the Ashes
by Richard Nickelson, Senior Advisor, Pacific Telecommunications Council
The Pacific Telecommunications Council
information-age services in the Pacific on Hawaii
(PTC) is an international non-profit, nonas the geographic center and natural meeting
governmental membership organization with
place of the region.
global membership that was founded in
The Council attracts virtually all providers
Honolulu in 1980 to bring together all those
and major users of telecoms and information
who have an interest in telecommunications
systems and services, as well as manufacturers,
in
the
vast
Pacific
Hemisphere. It serves the
digital information age
through a major annual
conference,
regional
seminars, a respected
quarterly magazine and a
variety of other activities.
PTC’s annual Pacific
Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s
Conference in January has
become one of the most
important regular events held
in Hawaii. Its impact extends
far beyond the participants
who attend, as it serves to
focus the attention of the
major providers, operators,
Hilton Hawaiian Village
manufacturers and users of
27
policy-makers, regulators, technologists, lawyers,
scientists, academics and others who share an
interest in the development and beneficial use
of telecommunications in the region.
The Council prides itself on being a
“people-centered” organization. The personal
contacts formed through the
Council in the amicable and
informal environment of the
annual conference and seminars
are a primary benefit of membership. Important business and
academic relationships are
established. In past years,
hundreds of millions of dollars
worth of contracts resulted from
meetings and contacts during
PTC’s annual conference.
In many ways, PTC is
unique in the ICTworld. It serves
as a focal point and a meeting
place to iron out otherwise
intractable problems and to
transact business. In short, PTC
is the place to be in the world’s
most dynamic growth region in telecoms. (Visit
www.ptc.org. )
PTC’s 26th annual conference will open in
Honolulu on Sunday, January 11th at the Hilton
Hawaiian Village in the heart of Waikiki. The
four-day event offers unparallel opportunities to
exhibitors and attendees.
Submarine cables
Submarine cable systems provide Hawaii’s
lifelines to the world. Partly because of Hawaii’s
location as a landing and transit place for major
trans-Pacific cables, PTC’s annual conference
features special sessions on submarine cables and
systems. The SubOptic Executive Committee has
organized a high-level session on Wednesday
morning, 14 January, that will examine funding
and managing international infrastructure for
the industry.
Satellite communications
The Global VSAT Forum has organized an all-day
Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Summit
that will highlight the opening of the conference
on Sunday, 11 January. Luncheon panels on
Monday and Tuesday will examine the
commercial satellite launch services industry and
the private sector’s role in military satellite communication requirements in the Pacific,
respectively. Concurrent-session panels will deal
with an analysis of the new reality of the satellite
industry and satellites as the backbone of the
“intelligent community” in Asia. Tuesday
afternoon will feature a high-level satellite CEO
roundtable organized by the Satellite Industry
Association and PBI Media, LLC.
Other topics
Students at PTC
The conference will include all topics of current
interest in the information and communication
technology industries. The ITU Regional Office for
Asia and the Pacific is organizing a session that
will include participants from the highly
successful ITU Youth Forum. Workshops and
panels will focus on a number of country,
regional or global issues and means for financing
needed developments.
Alternative sessions will include topic
tables, round tables, panels and workshops.
28
Richard Nickelson received BEE and MSEE degrees in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has
40 years of experience in
international telecommunications. Starting in 1963, he participated in a
series of pioneering satellite communication experiments with the U.S. Army Satellite Communications Agency. From 1967 to 1971 he
was on the staff of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology Lincoln Laboratory and contributed to major experiments in digital mobile communications by satellite. He held several senior positions with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Geneva, Switzerland,
from 1971 until 1995, including five years as
Technical Coordinator for the ITU/UNDP portion of the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in India. From 1981 until 1995
he was Senior Counsellor and head of the ITU/
CCIR department dealing first with broadcasting and later including frequency management
and monitoring. He returned to his native United
States in 1995, where he is currently Senior
Advisor at the Pacific Telecommunications
Council in Honolulu and has also been Editor
of the Pacific Telecommunications Review
since 1995. (See http://www.ptc.org/library/ptr/
index.html .)
Education, including distance learning, will be
treated in concurrent sessions and preconference associated meetings of regional
distance-education organizations on Saturday, 10
January.
The Federation of Regional Associations
(FORA) roundtable on Sunday afternoon, 11
January, will focus on the role of the Internet in
the management of regional organizations and
how to bridge the digital divide.
Exhibits and other activities
PTC’s annual conference exhibits of new
technology, products and services for the region
will be open from Sunday morning until Tuesday
noon. The conference attracts numerous
peripheral activities sponsored by PTC members
and exhibitors.
There are also pre- and post-conference
workshops and other activities sponsored by
related organizations, as well as PTC executive
and committee meeting. Social activities,
including the traditional lagoon-side opening
reception and the closing reception are always
well attended.
Featured speakers
Featured high-level speakers at plenary and
super sessions include: MICHAEL BINDER,
Assistant Deputy Minister – Spectrum,
Information
Technologies
and
Telecommunications, Industr y Canada,
Canada; FRED BRIGGS, President, Operations
and Technology, MCI, USA; MICHIO FUJISAKI,
Member of the Board and CTO, Fujitsu Limited
& President, Fujitsu Laboratories Limited,
Japan; AMBASSADOR DAVID GROSS, U.S.
Coordinator, International Communications
and Information Policy, U.S. Department of
State, USA; SALMA JALIFE, Chair of APEC-TEL
and Senior Consultant to the Telecommunications Authority, Mexico; JOHN LEGERE,
29
CEO, Global Crossing, USA; OLOF LUNDBERG,
UK; TADASHI ONODERA, President, KDDI
CORPORATION, Japan; VIRGILIO PEÑA,
Undersecretary for ICT, Philippines; TADAO
SAITO, Professor, Chuo University and
Honorary Professor, Tokyo University, Japan;
NOAH SAMARA, Chairman and CEO,
WorldSpace Corporation, USA; KENNETH
TOMLINSON, Board of Directors,
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, USA.
has entered into an
arrangement with
Lloyd’s Register
- Fairplay
making available, complimentary to
subscribers, comprehensive
databases of commercial vessels
(www.sea-web.org/),
ports and companies
(www.portguide.com).
In order to qualify
for a free trial of these services, contact
[email protected].
30
THOSE OTHER
SUBMARINE
UTILITIES
by Bill Wall
During this somewhat rather slow market for
submarine telecom cable installers I am
constantly reminded on a daily basis of the
busy times of bygone days. (Actually those
days were not that long ago).
I reside in Manasquan, New Jersey USA.
Manasquan is a pleasant beachfront (Seaside for
the Brits!) town on the Jersey Shore about 60
miles south of New York City. During the summer
it is a magnet for hundreds of thousands of
“Bennies”1 from New York and North Jersey who
go “Down the Shore” for their week-end R&R.
During the winter it reverts to a pleasant
beachfront town with a genuine “Hometown
USA” atmosphere.
Manasquan is also a major terminus for
transatlantic submarine cables on the US East
Coast; numerous systems (PTAT, Tat-14, Gemini,
TGN, Apollo etc) come ashore at beach landings
about a mile from my house. I park my car each
night on top of a C&W manhole housing the
Apollo South land cable. As it makes its way from
the beach to the terminal station Apollo runs
right along my street a mere twenty feet from
31
my front porch steps. I have spent countless
hours explaining to neighbors how this thin
strand of glass, copper & steel runs down the road
to the beach and then pops over the Atlantic
Ocean to the northern coast of France where it
once again meanders down a suburban road to a
terminal station, amazing they say.
So after driving over Apollo in the morning
I head to my office in Toms River NJ, which is
about ten miles north of Tuckerton NJ, another
major East Coast terminus of transatlantic
telecom systems. At the week-end I coach my
sons soccer team which plays on a field directly
in front of the TAT 14, Gemini & PTAT terminal
stations. Cap this with the fact that almost 70%
of my company’s revenues were derived from the
installation and maintenance of submarine
telecom cable during the period 1998 thru 2001
and the pessimist in you could say that we were
in for troubled times from late 2001 onwards.
Other Marine Markets
Having started my marine career on a C&W
cableship and then spent the next 12 years
traveling the world repairing, laying or burying
submarine telecom cables I was under the
impression that these copper & steel (coax) links
were the only submarine utility (or at least the
only one worth worrying about).
1
Bennies: a nickname used by Jersey Shore locals for out
of town visitors who come for the “Benefits” of the shore
In 1983 after leaving the staid & starched
world of the big white wire boats I served my
penance in the oil field conducting drilling
support, subsea pipeline surveys and platform
construction with ROVs out of Grand Isle
Louisiana. (I say penance because you try
switching from your own cabin and a mahogany
lined dining salon to 4 to a bunkroom and a steel
box called a canteen!) This opened my eyes to
other submarine utilities: oil & gas pipelines,
flexible umbilicals, power cables etc. It was
obvious that there was a whole other submarine
infrastructure outside of the submarine telecom
world where the skills learned in the submarine
telecom world could be put to good use. I spent
the next 15 years helping to build a submarine
infrastructure service company that although it
specialized in submarine telecom systems also
developed a whole new market of submarine
utility services to the alternate submarine
markets of energy pipelines, power cables, sewers
and outfall lines. Detecting minute fluid leaks
on high voltage Self Contained Fluid Filled
submarine power transmission cables, building
and operating an active tracking system so a
towed high pressure water jet sled can guide itself
along a 345Kv submarine power transmission
cable during a Post Lay Burial Operation, laying,
splicing and burial of 15Kv distribution
submarine cables for the US Navy, locating and
surveying the terrestrial section of a river crossing
pipeline buried over seventy feet deep; all these
tasks completed utilizing techniques originally
developed for use on submarine telecom cables.
With the current state of the telecom market this
period was definitely time well spent.
Stretch Markets
Another learned contributor2 to this publication
recently coined the phrase “Stretch” markets in
an article. This term describes other submarine
utility markets that submarine telecom cable
contractors can turn to during this downturn.
These stretch markets include offshore pipelines,
submarine power cables, offshore wind farms,
river, lake, bay, harbor crossings and regional
repeaterless systems. I agree with all the stretch
markets except maybe the offshore pipeline
market which could require too much of an
investment in new and larger equipment to see
any return within a reasonable amount of time.
So discounting the offshore pipeline market most
2
Thanks Tom Soja
32
IN FOR THE
LONG HAUL!
(We also do short and medium haul systems)
The name Caldwell has been synonymous with
submarine cable installation and repair for over 40 years.
The Caldwell Group is a marine construction group
specializing in submarine cable operations worldwide.
z
z
z
z
z
Pre-Laid Shore Ends
Route Clearance
Pre-Lay Grapnel Runs
Repeaterless Systems
Cable Clearance
z Cable Burial to 10m
Depth of Cover
z Cable repairs
z Diving/Vessel Services
z HDD Operations
1433 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08753, USA
732-557-6100 (Tel) 732-341-3078 (Fax)
[email protected]
www.caldwellmarine.com
of the alternate submarine utilities are within
coastal or inland waterways. Also apart from a
few long distance pipelines most other
submarine utilities are relatively short distance
compared to the inter-continental routes of the
submarine telecom world.
In North America alone there is a whole
network of submarine power cables both
transmission (High Voltage) and distribution
(Low & Medium Voltage). These cables cross river
estuaries, bays, harbors; they interconnect
offshore islands with the mainland and provide
barrier islands with power without having to
depend on local generation. As a great testament
to the power industry laboratories and cable
manufacturers a lot of these systems were
installed during the late 60’s and early 70’s and,
if untouched by external aggression, most if not
all of those systems are still operating today. The
inland submarine utility market suffers from the
same threats of external aggression that have
plagued the international telecom arena, mainly
fishing and vessel anchoring. Fishing activities
are not as big a concern as they are to telecom
operators but vessel anchoring and marine
construction activities can cause heartburn.
On the shorter inland power cable routes
marine route surveys are not given the attention
that they are in telecom. The changes in
bathymetry in a 5Km bay-crossing route are
usually negligible and most burial assessment
requirements can be taken care of in a diver
survey. That’s not to say that all inland power
projects have a very brief survey specification just
that most are quite straightforward. Permitting
regulations are as, if not more, stringent and time
consuming than the offshore telecom counterparts.
This is especially true in the USA if the utility is an
interstate line crossing a state border underwater.
Offshore wind farms, wave turbines and
current generators probably represent the largest
segment of a new stretch market. A short length of
submarine power distribution cable must
interconnect each turbine in a wind farm, then a
longer length of transmission cable would be
utilized to “Export” the power from the wind farm
ashore. The marine construction applications are
multi-faceted including civil, electrical and telecom
disciplines. Also “Merchant” power providers are
now discovering the possible usage of submarine
links to deliver their product to market. (Lets hope
they don’t saturate the market?)
Inland submarine pipelines are very
abundant in any medium to large port city that
has petroleum refining facilities within its
boundaries. A number of 8" & 12" product
transport lines criss-cross the busy harbor
confines. During a recent project we had to
dredge material from above a buried, abandoned
12" product pipeline in order to remove that line
so that the owner would be compliant with his
permit requirement. This pipeline was crossing
one of the busiest commercial shipping channels
in the world. Not such an easy task when there
33
Bill Wall has spent
over 30 years in the
sub-sea
cable
industry. Starting at
British Telecom
(then GPO), for a 3year apprenticeship
Wall then spent 12
years with Cable &
Wireless Marine staff, (now GMSL) where he
was very active in the development of cable
ready ROV systems. He was a member of the
original Scarab 1 operations team. Wall then
spent 18 years at Margus Co. where he was
VP Operations.
He has a broad background in sub-sea
operations and project management including
Shore Ends, ROV operations, Plowing, repair
operations. After a short stint with General
Dynamics he is currently the Business
Development Manager at Caldwell Marine
International in New Jersey.
are 20 other submarine utilities crossing the same
harbor channel and any as-built surveys were 20
or more years old. The line had no coating left
and as such would not support a tracking signal.
In order to ensure that we had the right line and
to guarantee that we dredged material from
directly above this line we reverted to an old
telecom technology. A pig was sent through the
line pulling a 10 gauge insulated copper wire, a
25hz tone was injected onto the wire and a
handheld diver probe was used to pinpoint the
line utilizing GPS. The dredge was brought in
and eight to ten feet of cover was removed for a
thousand linear feet and the line was recovered
and removed without incident.
Fiber Requirements
A large number of inland infrastructure lines
require either Supervisory Control And Data
Acquisition (SCADA) facilities or straight telecom
applications. Either a composite fiber within a
power cable or an external submarine fiber cable
“Wrapped” around the utility can fill these
requirements. High fiber count, repeaterless
operation is usually the norm.
Online e-commerce
MARKET PLACE
The resource for industry reports, newsletters and cool stuff!
MARK
ETPLA
ADDIT
CE
WANTIONS
ED
Summary
Wayne Nielsen recently mentioned Tangier
Island in the Chesapeake Bay in one of his
editorials herein and then a reader wrote about
duck hunting memories of Tangier Island. I also
have memories of Tangier Island but not from
hunting or fishing but from locating and
repairing the submarine power cable that feeds
Tangier Island from the Eastern Shore mainland.
When and if this current slump in the
submarine telecom industry ever ends then the
resourceful, the nimble and the downright lucky
will still be around to carry on the good
fight, in the meantime carry on stretching!
Industry data from:
www.subtelforum.com/catalog/
34
Its Not All A Bed Of Roses
Let’s face it, there are a multitude of ways to
protect cables and flowlines along the seabed
ranging from trenching to sheathing through
to rock dumping, etc., but let’s take a step back
for a moment and ask why protect them and
what are we protecting them from. Again a
number of reasons spring to mind from
protection from trawling to dropped objects,
etc.; but what do you do when none of all the
available solutions suffice? This was the
dilemma faced by Petrobras not too long ago.
Petrobras, a committed user of Uraduct®,
a half shell cable protection system, found that
in the ultra deep waters of the Campos Basin
region (offshore Brazil) there was a common
occurrence of Coral reefs.
Dead coral, with its razor sharp fingers
abrades the outer sheath of unprotected flexible
pipes and umbilicals in a matter of months. For
several years, Uraduct® has been fitted with its
specially developed abrasion resistant PU shells
and Inconel banding, boasting high tensile
strengths and suitability for long term sea water
immersion. A concern remained with the
by Scott Griffith
35
standard Uraduct® design in that the exposed
metallic banding would also be prone to
abrasion.
A solution had to be found that still
allowed the flexibility to fit an enhanced
protection system in specifically targeted areas,
but would not compromise the installation time
or costs and would be ecologically friendly.
CRP commenced a three-year development
and qualification program specifically aimed at
addressing this problem and meeting all of
Petrobras’ stringent requirements.
The coral would abrade very hard materials
yet would tear softer more pliable ones, and
would regenerate around the pipe or cable,
leading to an exhaustive supply of abrasive
material; hence the potential for proportionately
short life spans of the unprotected flowlines and
umbilicals.
In turning internally to its R&D
laboratories and bringing in external expertise
in the form of marine biologists, CRP evaluated
numerous materials with varied properties
testing each variant in specially built abrasive
centres. CRP’s chemists tuned and honed base
materials, formulating significantly improved
polyurethane, which offered the characteristics
needed to provide a long
trouble free life.
Focus
was
simultaneously given to
the metallic banding
system that is used within
the Uraduct® range of
cable and flowline
protection systems.
Without the aid of
alchemists, there are only
so many metals that can
be used in a strip-banding
configuration, and CRP
had over the years
tailored its product
offerings to only a handful of the most suitable
variations.
While a new more resilient polyurethane
had been developed, Inconel 625 remained the
material of choice for its banding system,
however if exposed to the coral it would
potentially suffer from similar abrasion patterns
as experienced on unprotected umbilicals.
Around 6 years ago, CRP had developed a
band seal sleeve system for a client who wanted
to encapsulate the seal prior to deployment. This
concept speared the development of a
completely new cable protection system,
heralded as Uraduct®+, and the new product was
an evolution from a internationally used
Uraduct® protection system that had been used
36
Formally working for Dresser for nearly a
decade, Scott Griffith joined the CRP
Group over six years ago. In his role of
Group Marketing Manager Scott is
involved in the day-to-day marketing
activities of each of the groups divisions –
CRP Group Ltd, OCP Cable Protection
Ltd, CRP Group Inc., Emerson & Cuming
Composite Materials, Inc., CRP Balmoral
Inc. and several divisional offices in France
and Norway.
by the majority of cable layers over the past 10
years.
Uraduct®+ was constructed using the new
range of abrasion resistant polyurethane, and
encapsulated the Inconel banding within the
main moulding leading to over a 90% reduction
in the area of banding exposed to the coral.
Petrobras recognised that the solution not only
met and exceeded all of its stringent criteria, but
they would also further benefit from potentially
reduced installation times as the banding was
both pre-cut and preinstalled within the factory
environment.
Uraduct® has now been adopted by
Petrobras as their first choice system and have
already installed several kilometres on a number
of projects beyond depths of 1000MSW.
500 m
At submarine depths,
Nexans was the first
to manufacture and
install 384 fiber
submarine cable.Nexans
has qualified and
installed their URC-1
cable family for fiber
counts up to 384 fibers.
For furter information, contact:
Telecom:
Vegard Larsen
Tel: + 47 22 63 76 47
E-mail: vegard-briggar.
[email protected]
Oil & Gas:
Jon Seip
Tel: +47 22 63 88 25
E-mail: [email protected]
goes deeper
Nexans Nor way AS
P.O Box 130 Økern,
N-0509, Oslo Nor way
Tel: + 47 22 63 88 20
Fax: + 47 22 63 74 55
US Contact:
Les Valentine
Tel. +1 281 578 6900
Fax: +1 281 578 6991
E-mail: [email protected]
exans
1500 m
37
Global expert in cables
and cabling systems
A global guide to the latest known locations of
the world’s cableships, as at NOVEMBER 2003.
SAILING DETAILS (or last known location)
Vessel Name
Built
Parent Company
GT
Speed
Arcos
2002
BOHLEN & DOYEN
3790
Asean Explorer
2002
SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Asean Restorer
1994
C.S.Wave Mercury
Port
Country
0
Singapore
Republic of Singapore
14988
14.5
Singapore
11156
16
24/09/03
Songkhla
Thailand
1982
GLOBAL MARINE SYSTEMS
10105
16
25/09/03
Kobe
Japan
Cable Innovator
1995
14277
11
10/09/03
Vigo
Spain
Cable Protector
2002
2935
0
Singapore
Discovery
1990
FRIARY OCEAN
8248
12
21/09/03
Stavanger
Norway
Elektron
1969
STATNETT ENTREPENOR
1628
0
18/09/03
Norrkoping
Sweden
Etisalat
1990
EMIRATES TELECOMMUNICATIONS
2221
13
27/09/03
Fujairah Anch.
United Arab Emirates
Giulio Verne
1983
V. SHIPS GROUP
10617
10
27/09/03
Panama Canal
Panama
Havila Skagerrak
1976
HAVILA SHIPPING
7172
10
19/09/03
Forsmark
Sweden
Ile de Batz
2001
NOT APPLICABLE
13973
15.4
Abu Dhabi
KDD Pacific Link
1993
TOKYO LEASE
7960
13
26/09/03
Hakata
Japan
Leon Thevenin
1983
FRANCE TELECOM
4845
15
25/09/03
Las Palmas
Canary Islands
38
Sailed Date
Vessel Name
Built
Parent Company
GT
Speed
SAILING DETAILS (or last known location)
Sailed Date
Port
Country
Lodbrog
1985
ALCATEL SUBMARINE NETWORKS
10243
14.5
19/09/03
Maersk Defender
1996
MOLLER A.P.
5746
Maersk Recorder
2000
MOLLER A.P.
Maersk Reliance
2001
Maersk Responder
Bristol
United Kingdom
16
Calais
France
6292
14
Falmouth
United Kingdom
MOLLER A.P.
6292
14
15/09/03
Montevideo
Uruguay
2000
MOLLER A.P.
6292
14
11/09/03
Curacao
Netherlands Antilles
Miss Clementine
1996
BROOKLYN SHIPPING
3637
9
Singapore
Miss Marie
1998
BROOKLYN SHIPPING
3639
0
12/09/03
Jebel Ali
Nordkabel
1969
NOT APPLICABLE
395
10
09/09/03
Harstad
Norway
Oceanic Pearl
1997
FISHER & SONS
7429
13.5
Pertinacia
2003
NOT APPLICABLE
12100
14
06/09/03
Dover Strait
United Kingdom
Pleijel
1972
TELEVERKET
1650
11
03/10/03
Stockholm
Sweden
Provider I
1978
MARINE SURVEY
10493
14
27/09/03
Dover Strait
United Kingdom
Segero
1998
KOREA SUBMARINE TELECOM
8323
15
24/09/03
Okpo
Republic of Korea
Teneo
1992
TRANSOCEANIC CABLE SHIP
3051
14.5
01/10/03
Valencia
Spain
Thalis
1961
GREECE (GOVT.)
1025
11
19/09/03
Kalamata
Greece
Tyco Decisive
2002
NOT APPLICABLE
12184
13.9
07/09/03
Port Everglades
United States of America
Tyco Durable
2002
NOT APPLICABLE
12130
13.9
25/09/03
Astoria
United States of America
12330
18.25
28/09/03
Dover Strait
United Kingdom
10076
16
Singapore
Wave Sentinel
Wave Venture
1995
1982
39
Barrow-in-Furness United Kingdom
wfnstrategies
WFN Strategies assists clients involved
in a variety of activities from business
development, marketing & sales
planning/implementation to installation
support, submarine cable provision,
system design, system or product
procurement, system engineering and
investment services.
From business case
to operation
One of our key strengths is the ability to
help you re-evaluate your products or
services for alternate markets and future
market positioning.
From satellite networks to
Our corporate mission is simple: To assist
customers by increasing their profitability,
corporate and stockholder value
From Alaska to Bahrain
submarine
to New Zealand
Not everyone has our
WFN Strategies, LLC
19471 Youngs Cliff Rd
Suite 100
Potomac Falls,
Virginia 20165 USA
depth of experience or
breadth of capability but now everyone can
profit from it
Tel: +1 (703) 444-2527
Fax: +1 (703) 444-3047
[email protected]
www.wfnstrategies.com
Realise your business vision
with Cable & Wireless
www.cw.com/uk/nss
40
Letter to
a friend
from Jean Devos
My Dear Friend,
I was on my way to tell you in this letter
that the submarine cable activity may have seen
now the worse, and that one can hope that
things will start to catch up somewhat. We have
many signs of this. But today I am reading in
my favourite economy newspaper that Alcatel
chairman told the analysts “the submarine cable
market is virtually dead,” and that “further costs
reduction needs to be achieved in this sector.”
Can we reconcile both statements?
My friend, as you know perfectly,
everything takes time, even in our fast moving
world! It takes time to admit the obvious, like a
virtually dead market! When you have benefited
for years of the beauty of a booming and then
profitable activity, when such an activity is at
the heart of your company culture and capability,
I can understand that it is painful and time
consuming to finally accept the reality. But the
market has been clearly dead for nearly 3 years
now, and it is hard to believe that costs have not
yet been cut up to the rock bottom!
41
Does this Alcatel statement announce
something else? Some other form of
restructuring?
It would make a lot of sense!
The important point for the supplier
industry is that the future market will probably
be modest, nothing to compare with the last
years of the last century! Something like 1 or 2
billion dollars a year globally, i.e. 50,000 kms of
system length a year! Not enough for so many
players, and more importantly, not enough for
dedicated units.
We may see tomorrow the big telecom
equipment suppliers (Alcatel, NEC, Fujitsu and
why not Lucent, Nortel, etc.) providing the
“Network electronic and software”, and other
companies providing the “submerged plant”
portion. Two very different set of skills! The
Japanese model, more adapted to the low tide
period could finally prevail.
So, my dear friend, yes, there is clearly
going to be a future submarine cable market
thanks to the wide band Internet. It will still
takes several years before the thick traditional
routes will need new investment, but in the
meantime, India and China are clearly emerging,
and represent more than two billion inhabitants!
But this does not contradict the idea that
the supplier industry needs some restructuring.
Jean Devos
President AXIOM.
Diary
FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES AND EXHIBITIONS
17-20 November 2003
Shallow Survey 2003, Sydney, Australia, www.dsto.defence.gov.au/corporate/conferences/swsurvey/
24-26 November 2003
Hydro 2003: 4th Australasian Hydrographic Symposium,
Christchurch, New Zealand, www.hydrographicsociety.org.nz/conference.htm
11-14 January 2004
Pacific Telecom Conference 2004, Honolulu, Hawaii USA. www.ptc.org/ptc2004
17-19 February 2004
Underwater Intervention 2004, NewOrleans, Louisana, USA. www.underwaterintervention.com
16-19 March 2004
Oceanology International 2004, London, UK, www.oceanologyinternational.com/
28 March - 1 April 2004 SubOptic 2004, Principality of Monaco, www.suboptic.biz
6-9 April 2004
International Cable Protection Committee Plenary, Southern France, www.iscpc.org
3-6 May 2004
Offshore Technology Conference 2004, Houston, Texas USA, www.otcnet.org/2004/
15-18 June 2004
CommunicAsia 2004, Singapore, www.communicasia.com
24-27 August 2004
Offshore Northern Seas 2004, Stavanger, Norway, www.ons.no/
14-16 September 2004
Offshore Communications 2004, Houston, Texas USA, www.offshorecoms.com
21-23 September 2004
Submarine Networks World 2004, Singapore, www.carriersworld.com
10-15 October 2004
SEG International Exposition & 74th Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado USA, www.seg.org/meetings/calendar/
2-4 November 2004
Hydro4, Galway, Ireland, www.hydrographicsociety.org
9-12 November 2004
Oceans 2004 MTS/IEEE, Kobe, Japan, www.oceans-technoocean2004.com
42

Issue 11 - Submarine Telecoms Forum

Transcription

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