SubOptic 2013 from Ocean to Cloud
W
hat an apt title for our next conference to be held in Paris in April 2013. It evokes the pre-eminence of optical fibre submarine cable systems in transporting global information but also the changing nature of demand, in content, availability and access, and supply. The changes in demand come from amongst other things, the ever increasing range of service options and the penetration of high speed broadband access via fibre and 4G mobile. The changes in supply come from changes in network architecture - mesh networks, OTN, and POP to POP provision, new system build and terminal upgrades and perhaps by major changes in the supply industry itself. What will the industry look like in five years time, will the same number of turnkey system suppliers still be in the market, how will they be organised and how will the Upgrade suppliers, fare. Will the lifetime of systems still be benchmarked at 25 years, or will a well engineered reliable system, installed with the best possible marine protection have a lifespan longer than this. What if the restrictions on upgrading a system are no longer a barrier as they have been in the past? What is the real lifespan of a system?
3
together a collection of articles, which will act as a sampler for the event itself. Some are controversial, as I hope the conference itself will be, to help further the debates.
view on how we might proceed. A pragmatic approach rather than a grand strategic vision, but none the less, one that has a possibility of being implemented.
Therefore we have articles from GlobeNet giving their view of the Latin American market, from Huawei Marine describing some of the challenges involved in entering the supply market as a full turnkey supplier, and from Verizon outlining in some detail, techniques available to increase fibre and system capacity. These help to demonstrate the range of topics that are uniquely covered at our conference.
Underpinning these articles we have a series, from our President - Fiona Beck outlining her experience of presiding over SubOptic for the past 6 years and giving her view of the future; our Programme Chair - Richard Elliott, our Papers Chair - Alice Shelton and Norma Spruce - who has the role in the Host, AlcatelLucent of organising the event, outlining all the elements that come together to make a great event like SubOptic 2013 happen. There is also an item from Linda Evans giving her personal perspective of participating in the Accompanying Persons programme and Paris provides many opportunities for this.
We have an article from Colin Anderson, which draws upon his experiences in the industry over the past 20 years and giving a very personal view on how the industry may evolve. This article in particular, I hope will provide some stimulating input to the Roundtable that will be held on the last day of SubOptic 2013, addressing the future shape of the supply industry.
All the above, covering the major commercial, technical and operational factors influencing our industry - and much more - will be presented and debated at the Eighth SubOptic Conference, the only conference in our industry “organised by the industry for the industry” on a non-profit making basis.
We have a “Letter from a Friend” from Jean Devos”. I have been called brave and foolhardy for publishing this, but the future of SubOptic is very dear to my heart, having attended a number over the past years, including the first one in Versailles in 1986. So far the debate has been carried out mainly in our SubOptic Executive Committee and I personally think it helps us to decide our future by opening the debate to a wider audience and Jean’s item is very much from his heart. He will also present a paper on this theme at the conference itself.
In this edition of Subtelforum, the second I have Guest Edited, I have tried to bring
In response I have also contributed an article - the last one – which gives my personal
The lasting message I would like to leave is that this is a conference organised by the industry for the industry on a non-profit making basis. It is only possible because many people in the industry are prepared to volunteer to undertake all the activities that differentiate our event from a commercial conference for profit. Provided this support continues there will be many SubOptic conferences to come. The good news is that at the middle of February we had 369 registrations, which is well on course for us to achieve our estimate of approaching 650 -700 attendees. See you in Paris at SubOptic 2013. Let’s make it truly memorable. -John Horne