submarine backgrounder may 2013

8/13/2019 Submarine Backgrounder May 2013

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B A C K G R O U N D E R

Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks

MAY, 2013


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Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks Backgrounder

Alcatel-Lucent May 2013. All Rights Reserved. 1

1 Crossing Oceans to Connect the Planet

1.1Alcatel-Lucent Submarine NetworksThe globalization of the economy and the growth of the internet have enhanced worldwide

communications.

As the oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth, submarine cable networks have become data

highways connecting continents and remote areas of the world. Whether located in a remote African

village or in a small Australian outback community, end-users can rely on stable telecommunications

connections to enquire about the wider world and make their contribution to it.

The convergence of services (broadband internet + video on demand + voice) has become a significant

reality. Telecom operators, service providers, enterprises and offshore entities rely on submarine

networks to run their voice, data and internet communication.

Meeting their requirements calls for reliability, a field-proven product portfolio and turnkey experience to

address any sea environment, as well as technology innovation capabilities: thats Alcatel-Lucent, the

world leader in submarine cable networks!

Figure 1: Global Submarine Cable Network Map

From network upgrades to new deployments, from regional to transcontinental networks, Alcatel-Lucent

provides every part of a global transmission network, all tailored to its customers needs. Acomprehensive service portfolio completes its turnkey offering for the submarine business, including dry

and wet operations and maintenance.


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Leveraging over 150 years of experience in the submarine business, Alcatel-Lucent leads the industry in

terms of:

Capacity multi-terabit capacity per cable using the latest dense wavelength-division multiplexing(DWDM) technology

Installed base - with over 500,000 km of submarine networks.As a system manufacturer and turnkey supplier owning a fleet of seven cable ships and offering a

comprehensive range of marine services, Alcatel-Lucent is the perfect partner to design reliable and cost-

effective solutions that are easy to operate and maintain.

2 The Industry Leader in Multi-Gigabit Undersea ConnectionsWith the most successful track record in the industry, Alcatel-Lucents research facilities (Bell Labs) have

continuously led the development of new technologies enabling substantial network capacity increases to

assist operators in meeting their end-users service demands over time. Whether it is traditional voice

traffic or new broadband services, Alcatel-Lucents submarine cable networks enable seamless service

delivery over a single, managed infrastructure.

As a system manufacturer and turnkey supplier owning a fleet of seven cable ships and offering a

comprehensive range of marine services, Alcatel-Lucent is the perfect partner to design reliable and cost-

effective solutions that are easy to operate and maintain.

Alcatel-Lucents advanced solutions target both traditional and emerging market segments, as described

below.

2.1 Transoceanic & Regional Submarine NetworksAlcatel-Lucents transoceanic solutions are developed to meet the most challenging long-haul

applications transporting up to terabit/s capacities, while regional solutions are developed to address

regional scale medium capacity applications in an optimized way. Their flexibility and scalability help

service providers meet the needs for increased capacity to transport growing broadband traffic loads

efficiently and cost-effectively, as well as to connect all territories and islands to the worldwide internet

backbone.

Figure 2: Examples of System Configurations

Transoceanic with

branching units

Transoceanic Regional with

branching units

Transoceanic with

branching units

Transoceanic with

branching units

TransoceanicTransoceanic Regional with

branching units

Regional with

branching units


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2.2 Submarine Network UpgradesSpurred by the need to provide an adequate level of connectivity to support bandwidth-hungry

enterprise and consumer media services, the submarine network upgrade market is evolving rapidly. The

successful upgrade of an installed submarine network requires a unique mix of skills and featuresincluding a very accurate analysis of system design, flexible and powerful submarine line terminal

equipment (SLTE), and an experienced commissioning team.

Alcatel-Lucents solution for submarine network upgrades can satisfy new service requirements on

installed cables to transport wavelengths, SONET/SDH and Ethernet-based services at bit-rates from low

to 10G, 40G and 100G. Offering highly advanced features and a variety of modulation formats optimized

to upgrade existing systems to the highest capacity, Alcatel-Lucents upgrade solutions deliver the lowest

price per transported bit. Upgradability tests can be performed on in-house test-beds to simulate the

target system performance, or using specially designed portable test equipment.

2.3 Unrepeatered Submarine NetworksAlcatel-Lucent designs unrepeatered submarine cable networks that offer the best performance versus

cost ratio and provide a wide range of protection and armoring capabilities to suit any installation

environment or sea floor condition. The key elements of an Alcatel-Lucent solution are derived from high

performance repeatered terminal technology and highly robust repeatered cable technology. Because

there are no active submerged electronics, they offer cost-effective alternatives to microwave and

satellite-based options, using different channel rates depending on system capacity and distance

requirements. Up to 1.6Tbit/s per fiber pair can be achieved with 10Gbit/s channels, and even more

using higher bit rate channels.

Figure 3: An Unrepeatered System

Non-armoured

Submarine Cable

Armoured

Submarine Cable

Survey/Lay/Maintenance Vessel

ROPA

Terminal Station Equipment

notto

scale

Branching Unit

Terminal Equipment SDH EquipmentNetwork Management

Non-armoured

Submarine Cable

Armoured

Submarine Cable

Survey/Lay/Maintenance Vessel

ROPA

Terminal Station Equipment

notto

scale

Branching Unit

Terminal Equipment SDH EquipmentNetwork Management


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2.4 Offshore SolutionsIn the energy industry, offshore plants are increasingly being located at greater distances from on-shore

installations. Submarine fiber optic cable systems offer an efficient shared infrastructure to provide

reliable, quality communications to each connected facility. These systems provide an alternative tosatellite or radio connections, with several key advantages flexibility, reliability, robustness to

environmental hazards, and provide better quality communication services that can enhance operational

effectiveness and safety. Submarine fiber optics networks offer the greatest versatility for transport of

large volumes of data. This makes them the ideal transport medium for communications between

offshore and onshore oil and gas facilities.

In the oil and gas field, Alcatel-Lucent announced the signature of an agreement with Statoil to co-

design and deliver a solution incorporating high-bandwidth communications and electrical power supply

into subsea control systems for offshore oil and gas production facilities. The solution will address

tiebacks connections from offshore/onshore production facilities to subsea equipment - for oil and gas

recovery.

3 MarineCareful and experienced planning and implementation of marine operations is critical to the success and

long-term reliability of a submarine cable network. The operations cover a wide range of activities

throughout the life of a project. Key aspects to a successful cable installation are thorough planning by

experienced and knowledgeable personnel: with 150 years of experience, Alcatel-Lucent has the in-

house skills and expertise to manage even the most complex projects on a turnkey basis.

These operations are performed using Alcatel-Lucents fleet of cable ships, which are fully equipped with

high engine power, thrusters, and dynamic positioning to allow vessels to maintain position and work inany almost weather conditions. The vessels are also equipped with high-tow force heavy duty ploughs,

providing a superior plough burial solution, and cable lay control systems. Automatic logs of all critical

operational parameters are recorded including navigational data, speed, tension, slack, cable counter

and plough data. All vessels utilize fully redundant GPS navigation and positioning systems, which

provide real time vessel positioning to an accuracy of better than 10 meters.

3.1Alcatel-Lucent FleetAlcatel-Lucent has seven vessels for installation and maintenance of submarine networks: In the highly

competitive telecommunications market, experience and expertise are crucial but they are not always

available within a telecom operators organization. Recognizing these needs, Alcatel-Lucent hasdeveloped a range of services to support operators from initial planning to maintenance of installed

submarine cable networks.


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3.2Marine MaintenanceThe Alcatel-Lucent Marine Maintenance Centre (MMC)manages submarine cable systems through

marine maintenance service agreements. Such agreements bring together system owners/operators and

cable ship operators proposing their services for cable repairs and maintenance. Alcatel-LucentSubmarine Networks manages a number of private marine maintenance service agreements in the

Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

4 Track RecordAlcatel-Lucent has been involved in most of the major submarine projects over the past five years.

4.1Asia-Pacific Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) -100 Gigabit-per-second (100G) submarine cable system to connect

Oman, the United Arab Emirates, India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. 8000km toenhance the robustnessand reliability of international connectivity into and out of the six countries.

Transpacific system Upgrade major upgrade of 9,600km submarine cable system using advancedcoherent technology to provide connectivity from the Japanese east coast and California.

Australia-Singapore for ASC International - New 4,8000km multi-terabit system, with an option for100G transmission design, providing the first open access from Western Australia to South East Asia

and supporting high performance data networking services

Asia America Gateway (AAG) - the first ever direct connection between Southeast Asia and theU.S.A, spanning over 20,000 km.

Telstra Endeavour - a 9,000 km submarine network connecting Sydney to Hawaii supportingTelstras network transformation strategy.

Gondwana-1for OPT in New Caledonia connecting Nouma to Sydney. An unrepeatered link will alsoconnect Poindimi, on the New Caledonian East coast, to the Loyalty Islands

4.2Africa and the Indian Ocean ACE a 17,000 km submarine cable system from South Africa to France linking 20 countries..

Designed for 40G transmission the link will deliver super fast broadband communications between

the African continent and Europe and will bring broadband optical data connectivity for the first time

to Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, and Equatorial

Guinea. Planned to go into service in 2012

SEA-ME-WE 4 the initial roll-out and further upgrades of this network nearly spanning 20,000 kmand linking 14 countries from France to Singapore. Alcatel-Lucent had the turnkey responsibility of

this state-of-the-art network for segments 2, 3, and 4 linking Mumbai to Marseilles, as well as the

overall end-to-end responsibility for the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) equipment. Upgrade to

40G was announced in February 2011.

SAT-3/WASC system - linking Portugal to South Africa with branches to Spain, Senegal, Coted'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and Angola.

EASSy - a 10,000 km submarine network linking eight countries on the east coast of Africa fromSudan to South Africa.

Kenya-United Arab Emirates cable for the East Africa Marine System (TEAMS)consortium - spanning4,900 km to connect Mombassa in Kenya to Fujairah in the UAE.


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WACS - the first direct connection between South Africa and Europe. This 14,000 km submarinenetwork will open access to faster connectivity to support innovative IP-based services such as video

for e-education and healthcare applications. The systems inauguration is on May 11. The UK-

Portugal Upgrade uses with 40G coherent SLTE. LION - connecting Toamasina in Madagascar to SainteMarie in La Runion and Terre Rouge in

Mauritius via a link of approximately 1000 km.

SEAS -new 1,900km submarine cable network linking Seychelles and Tanzania.4.3 Mediterranean Submarine and terrestrial links for Interoute- one submarine link connected the islands of Sardinia

and Sicily to the Italian peninsula, a distance of around 377 km, and the other connected Sardinia to

Lazio, a distance of more than 250 km.

Med Nautilusextension and upgrade to improve connectivity in the Mediterranean by enhancing thehub in Cyprus.

Middle East - North Africa (MENA)cable for Orascom Telecom, positioning Egypt as a central hub fortraffic transit between Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It spans 3,850 km, delivering an ultimate

capacity of 5.76 Tbit/s.

TE Northsystem for Telecom Egypt - spanning 3,100 km, TE North started with ultimate capacity of128 x 10 on each of its eight fiber pairs, which makes it one of the largest cable systems in the

region. Now in service using Alcatel-Lucent 40G coherent technology.

India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE)system - a consortium-owned submarine cable networklinking Mumbai in India to Marseilles in France, spanning approximately 13,000 km.

Atlas Offshorefor Maroc Telecom - linking the cities of Asilah in Morocco to Marseille in France, overmore than 1,630 km. It directly interconnects Maroc Telecom with the various European operators tosupport the growth and convergence of fixed and mobile services, offering advanced restoration

capabilities for the existing Eurafrica submarine system.

Europe India Gateway (EIG) the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fiber submarine cable systemfrom the United Kingdom to India.

Bezeq International new high-speed (40G) submarine cable system between Israel and Europeusing coherent technology.

4.4Atlantic Ocean Pacific Caribbean Cable System - a 100G cable system that will span 6000 km from Florida to

Ecuador. The PCCS will have an ultimate design capacity of 80 Terabit-per-second.

Amrica Mvil 1 (AMX-1 System)- the worlds first 17,500km submarine cable system specificallydesigned for 100Gigabit per second (100G) transmission. The system will connect seven countries

with eleven landing points in the United States, Colombia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto

Rico and Guatemala.

MAYA-1 upgrade ,400km distance from Florida, US, to Colombia quadrupling the data capacity toaddress growing demand for bandwidth-intensive services, as well as position the Caribbean as a

critical hub for communications between North and South America.

Canalink- a 2000 km submarine cable linking mainland Spain to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and La Palma in theCanary Islands.

Completion of the upgrade for Ois GlobeNet- a 22,000 kilometer submarine cable system linking theUnited States with Latin America. This project, the second upgrade in 18 months, enables GlobeNet

to deliver an additional 110 Gbit/s of capacity per fiber pair.


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Fibralink Extension- reconnecting Haiti to the global economy through broadband services. Thecountry is set to receive a major boost with the delivery of a 200km undersea cable which will link

the country to the world via internet connectivity. The project is led by Digicel in conjunction with

Columbus Networks. San Andressystem a 815 km submarine cable network linking Colombian mainland to San Andres

island. Alcatel-Lucent was selected in consortium with IT International Telecom.

Moldonado Las Toninas: In consortium with IT Telecom, Alcatel-Lucent was selected by Antel toconstruct a new submarine cable network linking Maldonado (Uruguay) to Las Toninas (Argentina)

spanning 250 km with a design capacity of 3.84 Tbits/s.

Greenland Connectnetwork for Tele Greenland - a 4,600 kilometer submarine cable network linkingGreenland to Iceland and Canada.

FibraLinkfor Columbus Communications - provides festoon and terrestrial connectivity from Kingstonto Ocho Rios and Montego Bay in Jamaica.

GCN (Global Caribbean Network), MCN (Middle Caribbean Network) and SCF (Southern CaribbeanFiber) network - bringing high-speed broadband connectivity required to generate new opportunities

of economic growth and development in the Caribbean Islands.

4.5 Science ApplicationsAlcatel-Lucent has paved the way by adapting its submarine technology to provide innovative solutions

for scientific networks including:

NEMOundersea neutrino telescope project for Istituto Nazionale di Fisico Nucleare (INFN) in Italy NEPTUNE Canada - the North East Pacific Time-Series Undersea Networked Experiments project

required a large subsea cabled observatory for Canadas University of Victoria with specialized

science nodes.

5 HeritageWith more than 500,000 kilometers of submarine cable networks and 6000 repeaters deployed, Alcatel-

Lucent has the largest heritage of submarine cable systems, starting from the very first days of the

industry over 150 years ago.

Whether for short, medium capacity regional applications or multi-terabit transoceanic systems, Alcatel-

Lucent has the capabilities to meet submarine networking challenges of any size.

6 AwardsIn April 2010, Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks Limited received the Queens Award for Enterprise:

International Trade 2010. In addition to its impact on bringing broadband worldwide, Alcatel-Lucent

Submarine Networks was specifically recognized for the substantial increase in revenues generated over

a sustained period of time. The Queens Awards are the UKs most prestigious awards for business

performance and are administered by the Queens Awards Office.

For more information visit: www.queensawards.org.uk
http://www.queensawards.org.uk/http://www.queensawards.org.uk/

submarine backgrounder may 2013

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