1.0
Repeatered Submarine Fiber Technology – A New Era
Introduction
The harsh environment associated with submarine networks inherently pushes optical transmission technology to the limit. Every submarine network link is different and each link must be custom designed in order to maximize the link performance and reliability while minimizing system cost. As a result, submarine networks have continually been at the forefront of optical transmission technology and were one of the first places where hybrid fiber transmission lines were trialled. The resurgence of the submarine market is now well established. The year 2006 saw significant demand for unrepeatered and short- haul repeatered networks in areas such as the Caribbean, Middle East, Africa and also in Asia. At the same time there were indications that this renewal of submarine system demand would extend to long-haul repeatered networks and in particular to transoceanic systems. Those early market indicators have now been realized and this year several major transoceanic submarine projects have started in earnest with dispersion managed fiber technology adopted and being considered for some of these projects, a solution that is at the very forefront of optical transmission technology. 2.0 The Submarine Market Environment
By Merrion Edwards, Rita Rukosueva and Sergey Ten
Up until 2001 the overwhelmingly dominant driver for cable demand was the transoceanic market where submarine links exceed 6500 km. Large quantities of transmission capacity were installed during a prolonged wave of submarine installations such that when the telecom market stalled in 2001, it was predicted that it would be a very long time before demand outstripped supply for transoceanic transmission capacity.
However, even though the market stalled, the growth in broadband applications and internet connectivity did not. This coupled with the strong growth in the economies of India and China has led to an early shortage of submarine capacity serving Asian countries in particular. In 2005 and 2006, as the submarine market re-emerged from the crisis of 2001 we saw a significant number of regional submarine deployments. However, as internet connectivity and the broadband market continue to grow it is evident that the next few years will see a massive growth in demand for bandwidth between the major Asian centers and between Asia and the rest of the world, which will cause an overall shortage of capacity on transoceanic links. The recent occasional shortage of capacity between China and the US that causes bottlenecks in internet traffic is an early indicator of this. The 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the unavoidable necessity to provide adequate communication capacity to support global and secure coverage of the games is another factor in this equation. Furthermore, the Taiwanese earthquake on December 26, 2006 has had an instrumental influence on opinion with respect to submarine cable redundancy in the Asia Pacific region. This earthquake, according to China Telecom and China Netcom, caused the disconnection of nine undersea communication cables resulting in major disruption to Internet traffic for over two months. The Internet traffic was diverted to the U.S. though Europe and Australia as well as using satellite and landlines. The earthquake highlighted the serious vulnerability of the existing network of transoceanic and intra-continental cables in the Asia Pacific region to natural disasters.
39