Farice

TRANSPORTING DATA BETWEEN ICELAND AND THE REST OF THE CONTINENT

THE KEY TO CONNECTING EUROPE

We speak to Thorvardur Sveinsson, CEO of Farice, about the developments of the telecommunications industry and the company’s prime position in the European market

Writer: Lucy Pilgrim

Project Manager: Dennis Morales

Thorvardur Sveinsson, CEO, Farice

Nowadays, it seems that the transference of data is what truly makes the world go round. As the lifeblood of digital global development, telecommunications (telecoms) is becoming more integral every day.

As an industry, telecoms has become the epitome of modernity with the advancement of surrounding technology.

“The industry has matured a lot over the past 30 years. We have seen the introduction of low bandwidth connections and simple voice-only handsets develop quickly into highcapacity connections to houses, businesses and handsets. We now

expect to always be connected with a high-capacity network,” introduces Thorvardur Sveinsson, CEO of Farice.

“The interplay and co-development of telecoms and information technology (IT) has resulted in the rapid advancement of cloud services, which have transformed the way we live even further. In essence, cloud services are IT applications that run in data centres all over the world and are connected via high-capacity telecoms fibre links. We commonly refer to this connectivity as the internet.”

The simple transportation of the internet is facilitated by submarine cables that connect countries and

continents together, with 99 percent of internet traffic travelling beneath the ocean.

Significantly, Farice is stateowned by the Icelandic government, bringing to light the company’s strategic importance as a hub for international connectivity. As a result, Farice offers its customers highcapacity data transmission services from key network hubs in Iceland to major network hubs in Europe. This is achieved through an extensive network of both its own submarine cables and the terrestrial cables of local partners in neighbouring regions.

“The nature of our business is

to be a carrier’s carrier - that is, we sell our services primarily to carriers. Our customers are telecoms companies in Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, as well as international data centre customers hosting their IT applications in Icelandic data centres,” Sveinsson tells us.

UNIQUELY PLACED

Farice is a critical operator of telecoms infrastructure in the northwest Atlantic as the only operator of submarine cables between Iceland and Europe, which are separated by 1,500 kilometres (km) of open North Atlantic waters, giving the company a unique position in the industry.

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Thorvardur Sveinsson, CEO: “Every time we invest in a new fibre cable, we work closely with local interest groups in the area to educate and support the local communities. Our approach is different between regions, which depends on how we can benefit each local community.

“Our investment in a new submarine system will always strengthen connectivity in the region. Likewise, auxiliary investment from our terrestrial partners to connect to our system will also bring benefits to the local community.”

Aurora Telecom: Supporting global connectivity

Ireland is taking centre stage in the digital world, bridging time zones but also the massive amounts of data that traverses between New York, Dublin, London and across the globe.

Aurora Telecom, a division of Gas Networks Ireland, is a key facilitator of this connectivity through its operation of the most modern dark-fibre infrastructure in Ireland. Established in 2000, we specialise in dark fibre and colocation services and are the carrier-neutral provider of choice to the top five global content and application providers, subsea carriers, data centres and service providers.

Building Ireland’s network of the future

We own and operate an extensive national backhaul fibre network, built in a ring topology of 1,250km that spans 15 counties and connects all major urban centres. This provides an ultra-high fibre count backhaul network on all routes. Our wide-reaching metro network in Dublin connects all key data centres and central business districts. We also own additional metro networks in Ennis and Shannon. The network is designed to cater for long-haul transatlantic backhaul, ensuring the best-in-class latency with minimal optical loss. The exclusive deployment of Corning G652D across the network, ensures the lowest possible fusion splice values are maintained.

Our colocation facilities have been designed to provide customers with the most secure sites to house their equipment. These facilities are spaced at a maximum of 80 km apart and have 24/7 Building Management System (BMS) monitoring to ensure business continuity of the highest level. Some of the services provided include CCTV, AC systems, DC power supply, UPS systems, generators and all ancillary systems. Since a substantial proportion of our network is located within the gas infrastructure, the Aurora Telecom network benefits from aerial and foot patrols. Our current network availability

is performing at 100 percent, but to increase the resilience of the network, we are also rolling out standby generators to increase backup power.

From dark fibre to subsea cables

Subsea cables provide the vital network that allows data travel around the globe and Ireland has become a key landing site for these highly advanced fibre optic systems. Aurora Telecom provides an advanced terrestrial network that interconnects with key submarine landing points including IRIS, AEC1, AEC2 (Havfrue), Havhingsten and Celtic Connex. Most recently, the IRIS subsea cable became ready for service and ensures a direct link from Ireland to Iceland, further diversifying the connectivity links across the country. This will potentially open the entire West Ireland region for new investment.

Our national fibre network provides the terrestrial backhaul solution from Galway to Dublin for the IRIS subsea cable system which connects from Iceland. We not only provided the connectivity from Galway to Dublin but also enabled the connectivity from its backhaul network in north Dublin city to the cable landing station in Galway Harbour.

Aurora Telecom’s network around Galway and the IRIS CLS (Cable Landing Stations), already has diverse paths from the city, connecting north to AEC1 and AEC2, south to Shannon, Limerick, and Cork (CIX), as well as direct connectivity to Dublin alongside Gas Network Ireland’s transmission pipeline. The network is modern, has ample fibre capacity and additional duct capacity to augment further fibre capacity to support natural growth or specific project requirements.

“DEVELOPING NEW SUBMARINE SYSTEMS TAKES A LONG TIME, AND THE SYSTEMS ARE COSTLY, SO GOOD AND CAREFUL PREPARATION IS NEEDED BEFORE NEW PROJECTS ARE INITIATED”

– THORVARDUR SVEINSSON, CEO, FARICE

The company operates in a small home market of 380,000 people that live an ultra-modern and digitally driven lifestyle. The cost of building and operating submarine cables has been a challenge for other operators to enter the market.

The company works with data centre partners by providing connectivity to international customers of Icelandic data centres. However, Farice is in indirect competition with other connectivity providers in the Nordic region.

Furthermore, the company recognises its responsibility as a sole provider in the country.

“We design our network for security and resilience as it is essential infrastructure for Iceland. International customers gain from the quality of the network design and operational stability.

“We also benefit from a long history of the successful operation of submarine cables in the North Atlantic,” Sveinsson comments.

When looking at Iceland’s geographical location more closely, the island is ideally positioned to be an indispensable connection hub for Greenland. As one of Greenland’s two submarine cables lands in Iceland, Farice carries the traffic onwards to Europe.

Regarding the Faroe Islands, located to the west of Iceland, the FARICE-1 cable is one of two submarine cables that connects the Faroe Islands with the rest of the world. Thus, with just a few examples, it is easy to see how the importance of the submarine cable sector is growing in correlation with the rapid development of the data centre industry in Iceland.

An additional pillar of the company’s success is certainly its employees, who stand as experts in the field of submarine fibre engineering. The employees can comprehensively work with cable manufacturing to design a cable

system for optimum performance, using the safest and most secure cable route.

“In the North Atlantic, where we sometimes have harsh weather conditions as well as a large fisheries industry, which is very important, we are very proud of that fact that we have never had any underwater faults on our submarine systems,” Sveinsson affirms.

PASSION FOR COMMUNICATION

Most recently, Farice is enjoying the success of its newest submarine fibre cable, known as IRIS, after four years in development. In service since the 1st March, the IRIS cable system lies between southwest Iceland and Galway on the west coast of Ireland. From Galway, the company connects to a key network hub in Dublin via a highly secure terrestrial fibre.

“The IRIS system is our third submarine cable system that will add diversity and dependency to our international network and bring even further security to our operation. As the main purpose of the project was to further strengthen the security of international connectivity between Iceland and Europe, we settle the cable at a new landing site in Iceland and the marine route of the new cable

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Thorvardur Sveinsson, CEO: “I worked in the telecoms industry for close to 15 years before joining Farice in 2020. I was COO for Vodafone Iceland and Head of Group Development and Strategy for Iceland Telecom. Prior to that, I worked in IT and finance for 10 years.

“My interest in the telecoms industry really began in my early 20s when I decided on my graduate degree in engineering. My focus became telecoms engineering as, at the time, mobile handsets were in fast development as well as the internet, which was evolving quickly. I could see the impact that technology has on the daily lives of people as well as the development of businesses. The industry really touches people and the way we interact with each other. I found it, and still find it, a very interesting and exciting industry.”

does not cross any of the existing cables coming into the country.

“With Iceland’s digital cloud infrastructure to a large extent operating in the cloud environment from European data centres, the importance of secure connectivity cannot be understated. We also believe that the system will support Europe’s digital drive towards sustainability with the offloading of digital processing to data centres in Iceland,” Sveinsson proudly details.

In conjunction with the advancements of the IRIS system, a project currently in development

connects Ireland and Finland to Japan via the Arctic. Additionally, there are also interesting transatlantic projects that could be of great potential for the company and the connectivity of Iceland. Farice closely follows the Icelandic telecoms market and evaluates the need for potential added capacity that would require further development between Iceland and Europe.

“Developing new submarine systems takes a long time, and the systems are costly, so good and careful preparation is needed before new projects are initiated,” he states.

Overall, Farice is the vital piece of the puzzle in connecting Europe and ensuring safe passage amongst the continent. With strategic partnerships and an eye for expanding the potential of cables, Farice is the backbone of the European telecoms industry and beyond.