FEATURE
BRINGING THE NORDICS TOGETHER AND BEYOND BY KJETIL KORSLUND
T
he Celtic Norse cable system will connect central Norway to Ireland, and both of them further to the East Coast of the United States. The German attack on Norway and Denmark started very early on the 9th of April 1940. In Norway the Wehrmacht headed for destinations of strategical importance. These were mainly the big cities, but also Egersund, an idyllic Norwegian city with only 3.250 residents at the time. At 04:15 AM two German minesweepers arrived in the harbour, and the first one docked at the steamboat quay at 04:24. 22 minutes later Rittmeister Eickhorn had located the telegraph station, and switched off the connection to Peterhead in Scotland. The cable itself was cut some days later. For the Germans, it was of utmost importance to hinder Norwegian communication with Great Britain. This cable was laid in summer 1869. Earlier messages from Christiania (Oslo) to Great Britain had to go via Sweden, Denmark and Amsterdam. Today all fibre in central Norway is routed through Oslo. What Celtic Norse is proposing to its owners and other
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
CEO of Celtic Norse, Erling Aronsveen, at Den BlĂĽ Planet in Copenhagen, speaking to representatives of the Nordic data center industry. Photo: Vicki Maddison.