An international forum for the expression of ideas and

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Issue 8May 2003

An international forum for

the expression of ideas and

opinions pertaining to the

submarine telecoms industry

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Contents

Advertisers

Editor’s Exordium 3

SubOptic Submarine Telecoms IndustrySurvey 4

Emails to the Editor 5

NewsNowA brief synopsis of current news items 6

Maintenance News 8

Recovery or RationalisationSubOptic - a tonic for the Hangover!Alan Robinson 11

Negotiating the Market’s Half PipeThe market “adventure” over the last two yearsTom Soja 15

Walking a Mile in Our Customers’ ShoesBeing a System Supplier with Owner andOperator ExperienceDr William Marra 21

Key DriverThe Delivery of Broadband Remains the keydriver in the Asia Pacific RegionNeil Lambert 26

Major Submarine Cable Projects in AsiaThe infrastructure of Asian cable systemsPaul Rudde 30

Tracking the Cableships 39

The Silence after the BattleJean Devos 41

Upcoming Conferences 42

T Soja and Associates 5Cable & Wireless 6,7,8,38Global Marine 9,10STF MarketPlace 13SubOptic 14Thales GeoSolutions 17Fugro 20Tyco Telecommunications 22BJ Marketing Communications 24Great Eastern Group 25WFN Strategies 28NSW 29CTC Marine 32Nexans 34

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��Submarine Telecoms Forum is published quarterly by WFNStrategies, L.L.C. The publication may not be reproducedor transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without thepermission of the publishers. Liability: while every care istaken in preparation of this publication, the publisherscannot be held responsible for the accuracy of theinformation herein, or any errors which may occur inadvertising or editorial content, or any consequence arisingfrom any errors or omissions.

Submarine Telecoms Forum is an independentcommercial publication, serving as a freely accessible forumfor professionals in industries connected with submarineoptical fibre technologies and techniques. The publishercannot be held responsible for any views expressed bycontributors, and the editor reserves the right to edit anyadvertising or editorial material submitted for publication.© WFN Strategies L.L.C., 2003

Contributions are welcomed. Please forward to theManaging Editor: Wayne F. Nielsen, WFN Strategies,19471 Youngs Cliff Road, Suite 100, Potomac Falls,

Virginia 20165, USA.

Tel: +1 (703) 444-2527, Fax:+1 (703) 444-3047.

Email: [email protected]

Advertising - Europe/ME/Africa - Hildegard Peltier

Tel: +[33] 1 4785 2207


Advertising - Houston USA, Robin Gentry

Tel: +1 (281) 895 6880


Pacific - Carole Marsh McCormick

Tel: +[61] 2 48 611993


Designed and produced by Ted Breeze

BJ Marketing Communications, Colchester, UK..

Two months ago in our last issue, we mentioned our partnership with

TSA, that being the debut of News-Now, the online, complimentary

submarine cable intelligence service, and thankfully, it seems to

have been well received, and as designed, has become a weekly

resource for the general community.

This month, we are pleased to announce the launching of STF

MarketPlace, the new online resource for industry reports,

newsletters and other cool stuff! By pre-negotiating favorable terms

beforehand, we can offer various industry data sources with a

favorable STF discount. So, watch that space as it grows.

Issue 8 brings some interesting insight into our dynamic submarine

cable world. Alan Robinson welcomes all to the upcoming 2004

SubOptic Conference, and Tom Soja reveals some interesting signs of

market life. Neil Lambert discusses broadband demand, while Paul

Budde examines infrastructure, in the Asia-Pacific region. And of

course, Jean Devos returns with his ever-insightful observations.

Lastly, we have included a one-page industry survey co-sponsored by

SubOptic 2004, which we hope you will take the time to complete and

forward, the results of which will be shared in an upcoming issue.

Happy reading.

mailto:[email protected]


[email protected]


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SubOptic 2004 and Submarine Telecoms Forummagazine are co-sponsoring the first annual SubmarineTelecoms Industry Survey, the results of which will beshared online and published in an upcoming issue.

One lucky responder will receive a free copy of the 2002edition of Undersea Fiber Communication Systems,which was edited by Jose Chesnoy, Head of SystemDesign & Technology, Alcatel Optics Group, France.

Please take a moment to respond by printing this pageand mailing or faxing to:

WFN Strategies19471 Youngs Cliff Road, Suite 100Potomac Falls, Virginia 20165 USAFax [1] 704 444 3047

1. Which best describes you?

� Academic

� Engineer/Project Management� Management� Marketing

� Other

2. What best describes your business?

� Cable owner

� System Integrator� Cable Installer/Maintainer� Marine Surveyor

� Other

3. Which Keynote Speaker would attract you toattend SubOptic 2004?

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

4. What would you find the most stimulating andrelevant topic for a SubOptic Roundtable?

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

5. Are you planning to attend SubOptic 2004?

� Yes � No

6. Are business conditions improving or gettingworse?

� Improving � Worse

7. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future?

� Optimistic � Other

� Pessimistic

8. Does your current business performance indicatethat we are still in a recession, or has yourbusiness not been affected?

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

9. How have client requirements changed over thelast three years?

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

10. How has the type of project you handle changedover the last three years?

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

11. How would you rate the content of SubmarineTelecoms Forum magazine

� Excellent � Unsatisfactory� Good � Poor� Satisfactory

12. How would you rate the content of News-Nowand the STF website?

� Excellent � Unsatisfactory� Good � Poor� Satisfactory

13. Would you like to see any changes in STF orNewsNow, or other website information services?

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

14. In your opinion, what does the industry most need?

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

Name___________________________________________

Company_________________________________________

Address_________________________________________

City_______________________________________________

State/Province ______________________________

Country_________________________________________

Telephone_________________________________________

Email____________________________________________

Submarine Telecoms Industry Survey

5

Dear Industry Colleague,

Further to my last email

on this subject, I can con-

firm that Pro-Bank now has 18

registered candidates based in

4 different countries.

I am pleased to advise

that the service has been pro-

moted within “Submarine

Telecoms Forum” - a free news

information service aimed at

the entire submarine telecom-

munications industry - visit:

www.subtelforum.com/

16_march_2003.htm.

NB: Submarine Telecoms Fo-

rum is an excellent publica-

tion - if you do not already

receive it, visit the home page

at www.subtelforum.com and

sign up!

Graham Marle

QUALTRACK LTD

Emails to the Editor

....................................

....................................

Another good edition.

John Graham

ITG

I enjoy reading Submarine

Telecoms Forum.

Donald Dean

President

DMM International Inc.

Re: NEWS-Now

Good show, mate.

C.F. Chamberlain

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T Soja & Associates, Inc. has published anew report entitled

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�� The report provides a timely look at pipelineand submarine power cable projects that mayprovide opportunities for marine servicescompanies and telecom infrastructuredevelopers.

The report, available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdffile, identifies 68 terrestrial and submarinepipeline or electric power cable projects thatmay provide opportunities for marine servicecompanies and telecom developers looking touse their expertise in major constructionprojects outside the tradit ional telecomindustry.

Opportunities: Pipeline andPower Cable Projects is

available now.

A quarterly update service is

also available.

www.subtelforum.com/catalog

http://www.subtelforum.com/16_march_2003.htm

http://www.subtelforum.com

http://www.subtelforum.com/catalog

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Brazilian Research Network AwardsContract to Global CrossingGlobal Crossing has announced an agreement to

provide Latin America’s largest research and aca-

demic network, the Brazilian National Education and

Research Network (RNP), with high-speed Inter-

national Private Line and Dedicated Internet Ac-

cess services.

www.subtelforum.com/23_march_2003.htm

Cable Ship Ready to Install AustralianCableA state of the art international cable vessel install-

ing Telstra’s additional communications capacity to

Tasmania, has arrived in Burnie, Australia.

www.subtelforum.com/4_may_2003.htm

CNBC to Use London-Pacific Fiber Linkfor Video FeedsSingapore’s StarHub has sealed a substantial con-

tract with CNBC Asia Pacific, the world’s leading

business television news provider, to provide ‘live’

video feeds from London, Hong Kong and Japan to

Singapore via fiber cable.

www.subtelforum.com/13_april_2003.htm

Corning estimates fiber market down50% in 2002Corning Optical Fiber estimates that the total world-

wide fiber market was about 55 million fiber-

kilometers in 2002, down about 50% on 2001.


Global Crossing Adds New ManagedServices to PortfolioGlobal Crossing has announced a new managed

services offer to deliver an unmatched service com-

mitment to customers worldwide. Global Crossing

Managed Services can be provided over the world’s

first integrated global IP-based network, which

reaches 27 countries and over 200 major cities.


Global Crossing Files MOR for JanuaryGlobal Crossing has filed a Monthly Operating Re-

port (MOR) with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the

Southern District of New York, as required by its

Chapter 11 reorganization process.


A brief synopsis of current news itemsfrom NewsNow, the weekly news feedavailable on the Submarine TelecomsForum website.

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http://www.subtelforum.com/4_may_2003.htm

http://www.subtelforum.com/13_april_2003.htm

http://www.subtelforum.com/30_March_2003.htm



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Global Crossing Signs With UniversityGlobal Crossing has signed an agreement with

Florida International University (FIU) to provide In-

ternational Private Line (IPL) and Dedicated Internet

Access (DIA) services.


International Telecom Wins CanadianProjectInternational Telecom Inc. has been selected to in-

stall two marine cables connecting Cape Breton to

mainland Nova Scotia, Canada.


IP Solution Strategy for NTTNTT Communications Corporation has announced

a comprehensive strategy for transforming the com-

pany from a “Global IP Company” to a “Global IP

Solution Company.”


KPN Adds Services Across GermanyWith the official launch of KPN EuroRings into the

German market KPN is now offering a broad range

of international data and IP services across Ger-

many.


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Level 3 Wins Private Line InternetContractLevel 3 Communications, Inc. has signed an agree-

ment to provide network services to mpX technol-

ogy AG in Munich and Frankfurt.


Mintera Sets New Transmission RecordMintera announced that it demonstrated error-free

transmission of 40 data channels each operating

at 40 Gbps over a record distance of 10,000 km of

transmission fiber without electrical regeneration.


More Customers for NAP of the AmericasTerremark Worldwide, Inc. has announced that the

company signed eighteen contracts with new cus-

tomers and had three existing customers expand

their relationship with the NAP of the Americas by

ordering additional space or services.



http://www.subtelforum.com/20_April_2003.htm






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MPLS-based IP-VPN Services forThailandNTT America, Inc., has announced MPLS-based

IP-VPN services availability in Thailand for multi-

national corporations doing business in the region.


New Bank Facility for Southern CrossSouthern Cross Cable Network has successfully

concluded negotiations with its senior banking syn-

dicate for a restructured bank facility.


Tyco Wins Svalbard ContractTyco Telecommunications (US) Inc. has been se-

lected by a subsidiary of the Norwegian Space

Centre (NSC) to supply the Svalbard Undersea

Cable System linking the island of Svalbard with

mainland Norway.


WFN Strategies Expands Capabilitywith Runfola AdditionWFN Strategies, LLC recently announced that long-timeindustry expert, J.A. (Jack) Runfola has joined thecompany as Senior Consultant.


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OTE Picks Interoute for “Olympic” TrafficInteroute has signed an agreement with the HellenicTelecommunications Organization S.A. (OTE), the largestGreek telecommunications operator, to provide highspeed data networks services throughout Europe, inpreparation for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens,Greece.


PTC Tokyo Bay Mid-Year Seminar 2003The Pacific Telecommunications Council invites

companies to join them in Japan this May for a two-

day power packed program.


http://www.subtelforum.com/20_April_2003.htm

http://www.subtelforum.com/4_may_2003.htm





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Europe-Asia Cable UpgradedFLAG Telecom Group Limited has announced a

capacity expansion to key segments of its FEA ca-

ble system, which links the telecoms markets of

Western Europe and Japan through the Middle

East, India, Southeast Asia and China.


Fujitsu Announces FLAG ContractFujitsu Limited announced recently that it has been

awarded a contract by FLAG Telecom Ltd to up-

grade the capacity of key segments of the FLAG

Europe Asia (FEA) submarine cable network.


GD Sells IT International TelecomCanadian investors have entered into an agreement

to acquire IT International Telecom Inc. and IT In-

ternational Telecom Ltd. (UK), business units of

General Dynamics Network Systems.


Global Marine Launches CableAwareness SiteGlobal Marine’s Cable Awareness section on its

website (www.globalmarinesystems.com) has

been launched.


Global Marine Wins ContractSouthern Cross Cables Limited has renewed and

extended its maintenance agreement with Global

Marine for the portion of the Southern Cross Cable

Network installed in the North Pacific Ocean.


KPN Upgrades for 10-Gbps ServicesKPN will use optical equipment from Nortel Net-

works to provide dense wavelength division

multiplexing (DWDM), 10 Gbps service on its inter-

national fiber-optic network.


More Capacity for C&W IDC BackboneCable & Wireless IDC has greatly expanded its IP

backbone to improve connectivity to its global IP

network in Japan and Asia.


New Management for SeaworksSeaworks, a New Zealand-based provider of instal-

lation and maintenance services for the submarine

cable industry, has announced that its management

restructuring has been restructured.


New ROV for Global MarineGlobal Marine Systems Limited has introduced At-

las 2, a 300 Kw highly specified, remotely operated

vehicle (ROV), capable of carrying out inspection,

burial and survey of submarine cable systems down

to 2000 meters water depth.


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New Owners for State-of-the-ArtTransatlantic CableColumbia Ventures Corporation (CVC) has

announced that its subsidiaries have completed the

purchase of a state-of-the-art 12,200-kilometer fiber

optic submarine cable system connecting North

America with Europe.


New Underwater Vehicle Serving theGulf of MexicoBoeing announced that the Echo Ranger, an

unmanned autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV,

that performs deepwater surveying in depths up to

3,000 meters (10,000 feet), for gas, oil and telecom-

munications companies, has entered service in the

Gulf of Mexico.


Pacific Crossing Bought by PivotalPrivate EquityPivotal Private Equity announced today that it has

signed an Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire

the assets of Pacific Crossing Ltd. and its

subsidiaries (PCL) for 63 million dollars. PCL,

formerly a subsidiary of Global Crossing, operates

the PC-1 fiber optic telecommunications network

connecting Japan with the United States of

America..


Regional Submarine Networks – thealternative from Global Marine and BTGlobal Marine launches its Regional Submarine

Networks, the first truly vendor-independent solu-

tion for regional cable systems.


SMD Tractor For Offshore WindfarmsSMD recently announced that Mayflower Energy in

Teesside, UK has awarded them a contract for a

subsea cable installation vehicle.


STT Takes Over in Global Crossing DealST Telemedia has assumed the rights and obliga-

tions of Hutchison Telecommunications Limited

(Hutchison) to invest in Global Crossing under the

purchase agreement signed August 9, 2002.


Telecom Italia Increases PresenceTelecom Italia has further boosted its presence in

South America by expanding, through Telecom Italia

Sparkle (100% owned by TI) and Seabone, its

international backbone to provide IP and data

transmission services in the area.


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Eighteen months ago I was appearing as an“industry expert” as part of a Round Tablepanel discussion. The panel was asked an ex-acting question by a determined member ofthe audience. “When would we see the greenshoots of recovery in our once, much admiredindustry?” Needless to say all the so-calledexperts threw bets on the table with forecaststhat left as much room for vagueness and re-traction as possible. I was the last to answerand I said, “March 29th 2004”. The questionerjumped to his feet immediately to ask for myreasoning for such a precise reply. “Becauseit is the start of SubOptic 2004……… “. I’mnot sure why I answered as I did, but perhapslooking into the foggy crystal ball, I had anintuitive feeling that by this date we as anindustry would have taken as much pain aswe could bear. We would be driven to get to-gether to understand how we had rational-ised, how we might regroup and where thereal value was in building, owning and oper-

ating submarine networks.

Firstly, it is probably worth recalling someof the objectives of the conference from theSubOptic Constitution:• It is a mutual, non-profit making organisation• Its objective is to promote the interests of the

submarine telecommunications cable com-munity by exchanging ideas and information,educating within the community and foster-ing debate

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By Alan Robinson

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• The SubOptic Executive Committee willmaintain impartial academic excellence andthe interests of the organisations within thecommunity

So on March 29th 2004 we shall meet withthe intent to look back over a torrid 3 years sincethe heady days of Kyoto, recount the lessons wehave learned, and put every effort into confirm-ing and reforecasting the future in both com-mercial and technical terms.

In the last few months I have been fre-quently asked a number of similar questions spe-cifically around the timing and location of thenext SubOptic……..

“Will the conference go ahead in 2004?”“Why have we chosen Monaco, in times

of economic hardship?”The answer is a definite yes to the first ques-

tion. There is a small proviso to that question –the financial success, i.e. break even, of the con-ference entirely depends upon the submarinecable community registering attendees, takingsponsorships and booking exhibition space. Soearly booking will be appreciated to keep thehosts, Alcatel, cash flow positive, or at worst,neutral and to keep the Executive Committeeconfident that they will not have to subsidisethe event.

The latter question “why Monaco……?”can be answered very simply. Monaco has a su-perb conference and exhibition facility at theGrimaldi Forum. (By way of interest, the lecture

theatres are in fact built below sea level, on thewaters edge, so this should add an extra theatri-cal dimension). Most hotels are within walkingdistance; attendee feedback from Kyoto stronglyindicated a preference for this. The costs of ho-tels and restaurants are equivalent to a Europeancapital such as Paris or London, with Alcatelhaving negotiated significant discounts. Butmore importantly, Monaco is home to the MuséeOceanographique de Monaco founded in 1910by Prince Albert 1er. He sank all of his casinoprofits into a passion for deep-sea exploration,and the research laboratories were once headedby Jacques Cousteau. There is therefore a realtie between Monaco and the sea, and the Mo-naco government has been most welcoming andsupportive of SubOptic 2004.

So what are the arrangements, format andtimetable for the event? For details please seethe website www.suboptic.biz which will be sup-ported by a number of mail shots that com-menced in mid-April. If for some reason youdid not receive this initial mail shot, please con-tact Didier Provost at [email protected] [email protected] and get on the mail-ing list. Unfortunately, with the turmoil in theindustry since Kyoto, some companies have dis-appeared, changed ownership or address, soAlcatel’s database needs some amending. Pleasemake sure that you make their task as easy aspossible. The website has details of registration,with excellent discounts for early bookings, and

Alan Robinson is

Vice President of

Global Operations

Engineering Serv-

ices (GOES) for

Cable & Wireless,

responsible for

strategic invest-

ments on behalf of C&W.

He is a Master Mariner and joined BT

in 1976. He has since held positions in Sales

and Project Management, before being ap-

pointed BT Marine’s General Manager for

the Asia Pacific region, based in Singapore.

On his return, he took up a position of Di-

rector of International Sales with the newly

combined BT and C&W cableship fleet in

C&W Marine. Alan was appointed

Managing Director of Network Services in

1997 and Director of Capacity Management

in January.

information concerning a range of sponsorshipopportunities and, exhibition and hospitalityspace.

Both these latter opportunities are draw-ing considerable early interest so don’t delay yourbookings as we have scaled back on availablespace in line with the industry downturn to en-sure we run at maximum capacity.

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The mail shot also has a call for papers,which will stay open until the end of August2003. The Programme Committee is doing anexcellent job in preparing a broader range ofsubject areas and for 2004 there will be signifi-cantly more emphasis placed on the state of themarket and market forecasts, trends and oppor-tunities.

We are prioritising the need to attractspeakers and contributions from the financialand venture capitalist community, and alsobroaden our dealings with regulatory and per-mitting issues. So my hope is that, even with acontinued downturn in investment, the valueof the conference will be to establish a more pre-dictable future, incorporating new and innova-tive solutions for an industry which went fromregulated conservatism to wild opportunism inone disastrous leap.

In the SubOptic calendar, as part of a steadymarketing and awareness programme, we had aSubOptic sponsored Roundtable at PTC in Janu-ary in Hawaii. The panellists included BrookeCoburn, Managing Director of the Carlyle Groupand Scott Davies, CEO of Macquarie Communi-cations Infrastructure Group. Between them,they established that there was still an appetitein the financial community for properly pack-aged and managed, communications assets, withgood long-term returns. But before this couldhappen the overhang of capacity from the boomyears has to be rationalised and the players re-

structured before any form of investment stabil-ity will return. With prices still declining on themajor long haul routes, sense has to prevail, orwe will see another round of Chapter 11 andbankruptcies.

So this coming year is critical to the healthof the industry. There are currently regionalniche opportunities, and a clamour to shut downold uneconomic systems. Some companies haveor will emerge from Chapter 11; others have goneunder with assets sold off at staggering low prices.When Stephen McClelland asks in Telecom In-ternational “is the submarine industry now inneed of a lifeline?” he poses a number of signifi-cant questions that were articulated at that PTCRoundtable.

I’m sure by next year we shall be able toanswer most of those questions, but in the mean-time, SubOptic will be working hard to preserveone of the founding principles of the conference,namely the well being of the (submarine cable)community.

Please help to get the conference off to avery positive start by making a commitment toexhibition and hospitality space and sponsor-ship opportunities. Early registration has signifi-cant discounts. I am sure we will be rewardedwith vigorous debate, eloquent presentationsand powerful recommendations – of course sup-ported by evenings that will enhance the daysevents – just the tonic for a hangoverrecovery!

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We’ve seen the bottom and it looks deep andflat, not pointed, U-shaped, not V-shaped, andhopefully not L-shaped.

As bad as the telecom market has been overthe past two years, the recent winter ski season,at least here in New England has been great.When this article was initially proposed, NewEnglanders were experiencing their sixth (!)straight month in which there has been accu-mulating snowfall – a skier’s dream to be sure.

While peering up at the half-pipe sectionof a terrain park at a popular ski resort late lastWinter, the parallels between that type of skiadventure and the market “adventure” that theindustry has endured during the past two yearsbrought into sharp focus consideration for whatit would take to negotiate such treacherous ter-rain, especially as a ski patrol “expert” went head-over-heals (losing skis and poles in the process)on just such challenging terrain.

The market has witnessed similar self-de-struction by both novices and experts, but justas that unfortunate ski patrol person got backon his feet to ski again, so too is there a modestresurgence or at least a resurrection amongstsome of the firms in the telecom industry.

If all one had ever known either in skiingor the telecom market is a nice smooth ride gen-tly upward to the peak of customer interest fol-lowed by a nice smooth cruise down the gentleslopes of profitability, there is no way that onewould be prepared for what lies within the

NEGOTIATINGTHE MARKET’SHALF PIPE

bumps and grinds of a terrain park. But if onewere interested (or stubborn enough!) to try andsurvive rather than cruise safely around to analternative field of nicely groomed opportuni-ties – basic human instinct is fight or flight, re-member – one might consider what would con-stitute reasonable preparation for such an un-dertaking (no pun intended.)

You’d need to develop a few new skills ortechniques just to be able to drop-in over theedge much less be able to come up the other sideor perform tricks and eventually glide down andthrough without wiping out and losing every-thing as did the hapless ski patrol “hot dog.”Increased flexibility might be a good idea sincenew opportunities, whether for fun or profit,generally require some type of “stretch” eitherin resources or existing skill sets.

Strengthening would not be a bad idea aswell which means not waiting until you’re onthe precipice, but rather constantly preparing fornew opportunities through training even ifyou’re not sure exactly what those opportuni-ties might look like. Remember, chance favorsthe prepared mind as well as the prepared body– and the prepared organization.

So having pushed this analogy to a reason-able limit, what lessons can we draw?

� When a firm’s main markets go down, al-ternative opportunities may lie in relatedfields in which core competencies mightbe applied.

By TOM SOJAPart I

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“Stretch” markets: Some examples� Energy pipeline and terminal projects – ex. Saudi Aramco

� Power cable projects� Offshore wind farm projects� Offshore oil & gas production platform opportunities – Fiber Web (Gulf of Mexico)� River, lake, and bay crossings – ex. Sonoque project in Quebec Province� Niche regional and micro-markets� Subsea research networks – ex. Project Neptune offshore tectonic plate monitoring and

underwater laboratory environment

Note: There are 103 Pipeline, power cable and wind power projects listed in TSA’s Power Cable &Pipeline Opportunities Report which is published annually in January and updated quarterly.

� Core strengthening – all the rage amongthe various top sports gurus from runningto biking to outdoorsmanship to teamsports – speaks to an organizations’ abilityto realize and constantly strengthen thefoundation from which all other skillsemanate and perhaps expand the core forpotential applicability to new situations.

� This speaks also to the flexibility and train-ing issue in that the more that specific skillsets are honed, the greater the potential tobecome blindered by increasingly special-ized tasks and decreasingly open to newareas of potential opportunity.

Prosperity just around the corner?

So is the market climate beginning to changenow that the sun has returned and the days growlonger? Indeed, has the half-pipe melted awayand given way to verdant green opportunitiesor is there a continued threat from maniacal free-rider downhill gravity-sport artists (think moun-tain bikers, all-terrain skateboarders, New Zea-land-style gravity ball gonzos) that threaten toaccelerate the self destruction cycle even further?Well, yes and no.

While it is much too soon to call a full-blown return to the go-go days of the recenttelecom bubble – indeed those may never return,but even that’s hard to predict with any morethan 50%/50% accuracy – signs of renewed ac-tivity are certainly beginning to appear. Within

the analysis and consulting sector, clients andothers are starting to renew their efforts towardbeginning to plan for future growth. There isconvincing evidence that some vendors are ac-tually doing this while others still have theirheads in the sand, hoping that it doesn’t getmuch worse.

These future winners have recognized thatreality dictates that you can’t cost-cut your wayto growth or rely on the world to beat a path toyour door in the hopes of writing up orders foryour product or services. Proactive opportunitycreation requires new ways of approaching mar-kets and customers, and sometimes partneringwith outside organizations in order to best lev-erage each other’s core competencies.

Several bright spots on the horizon.Carriers are still interested in buying capacity andhave indicated so even during the past years’

darkness. Numerous capacity and service dealshave been completed in the first four months ofthis year.

Pull-through at the end-user level is beingborne out as evidenced through surveys such asthat just published by America’s Network inwhich states, among other things, that demandfor telecom services remains strong and thatsignificant proportions of business end-users areplanning to increase their spending on keytelecom services over the next twelve months.

Similarly, a recent Information WeekResearch study showed that the number ofprocesses and other metrics being monitored bybusinesses in real time will triple (i.e. increase by3X) over the coming year from about eighty (80)such metrics today as companies of all types striveto move at the speed of their customers.

Inexpensive processing, storage,teleconnectivity, and software solutions will

17

make it easier and more cost effective toimplement IT and IP-based business solutions.

Globalization of labor markets for highvalue-added services, not just for manufacturedgoods – outsourcing of software projects to In-dia and also to China will require fat pipes.

As reported last December (2002) byForbes:

Tech giant Hewlett-Packard has seen the fu-ture of technology consulting. It’s on the other sideof the globe and it’s really, really cheap.

“We’re trying to move everything we canoffshore…aggressively realigning our resources.” —HP Services chief Ann Livermore

Short term, that means adding to the softwareand services personnel HP already has in India. Fur-ther out, HP expects China to also turn into a majorconsulting center.

Napster: although severely hobbled bylegal actions against it, descendents and imita-tors are now beginning to attract the interest ofmainstream music publishing labels.

On the video entertainment front, Netflix– which offers DVD movie rental via the Internet– serves as the closest potential precursor yet tobuying and delivering video content online.

Turmoil in the air travel business may spurthe implementation of more frequent use ofhigh-quality videoconferencing – at least where“pressing the flesh” is not absolutely crucial. Ofcourse, this is an applications that’s been waitingto happen for many, many years now – but now

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could be spurred on by various health and safetyconcerns.

Ultra-cheap and ubiquitous telecon-nectivity via wireless phones of all types – andnot necessarily full-bore 3G, but less expensiveand complex versions such as 2.5G, WiFi andthe various flavors of each with perhaps 80% to90% of the functionality. NTT DoCoMo has 58million cellular subscribers compared with KDDIwhich has 14 million subscribers.

However, NTT DoCoMo has only been ableto sign-up 190,000 3G subscribers thus far whileKDDI now has six million 3G subscribers in Japan– the second largest 3G subscriber base in theworld (only SKTelecom in South Korea hasmore.)

On a broader scale, the economic down-turn is producing literally hundreds, if notthousands, of start-ups worldwide. The layoffsfrom established tech companies and fromflame-outs has loosed upon the economy manywould-be entrepreneurs who have both broadlyapplicable talents as well as an abundant talentpool from which to build their new organiza-tions – at quite reasonable costs compared withthose during the bubble years in which talentwas scarce and expensive. These will providethe seeds of innovation-driven growth that willdrive the “next big thing.”

Signs of Life in New Projects in Niche Markets – New Build Markets Beginning to Recover

� SMITCOM St. Maarten – Puerto Rico cable� Bass Strait 2 project� Svalbard Undersea Cable System� Pakistan-UAE – at least two competing projects for that route� Telecom and Internet initiatives in Afghanistan, Croatia, Bangladesh� New projects in the Caribbean� Homeland security initiatives� Upgrades – FLAG Europe-Asia network, Southern Cross� Alaska United ring completion� Phenix Telecom transpipeline link� Bids for large end-user MNCs in some markets, especially in third-world markets, continue to be

throttled by monopolistic behavior and expensive capacity pricing schemes� Refinancings – the fact that they are getting done is a sign that the capital markets believe there is

hope, at least for some survivors – those that have gone through re-organization as well as thosefortunate enough to have avoided the process and still remain standing.

Source: T Soja & Associates, Inc.

“We never emphasized that our new phoneswere 3G, which is a technical thing most custom-ers don’t care about; instead we focused on newservices like personal GPS and the ability to takeand send video clips using our phones,” saysYoshitaka Ishida, head of KDDI’s public relationsdepartment.

Innovation, as always the case, will drivethe next boomlet. Innovative applications fol-low naturally on technology that, while stillevolving, delivers useful services for whichcustomers are willing to pay. In a similar way,international bandwidth will begin to be rap-idly devoured as new applications are devel-oped that take advantage of the economies andplentitude of the capacity available.

Mr. Soja has ten years

experience as a Senior

Analyst in the fiberoptics

industry and as a Director

of Submarine Cable

Research. He has

conducted feasibility and

market demand studies for

projects such as Atlantic Crossing. In the

Pacific region, Mr. Soja completed a market

study for the Hawaii-Americas and Western

Hemisphere submarine cable systems.

Mr. Soja holds an MBA from Babson

College and a bachelor ’s degree in

mechanical engineering from the University

of Rochester.

19

Market Not Dead: More Signs of Life Among Recent Capacity and Service DealsNetwork Services� Level 3 – Euronext network services (4-30-03)� Equant – EUMETSAT (4-24-03)� THUS – Capital Radio broadband network (4-24-03)� SingTel – Sumitomo Heavy Industries (4-18-03)� Cable & Wireless International – NTL IP Traffic (4-28-03)� Level 3 – Mesh Solutions co-location and IP transit services (4-01-03)� Global Crossing – Florida International University international private line (IPL) dedicated Internet

access (DIA) services (3-26-03)� Global Crossing – Brazilian National Education and Research Network high-speed IPL and DIA

services (3-21-03)� Level 3 – mpX Technology IPL and Internet access services (3-17-03)� Sprint – Hitachi Data Systems domestic and global voice and data services (3-12-03)� Equant – Behr GmbH & Co. KG connecting fourteen (14) sites on four (4) continents with IP VPN and

Voice for IP VP (3-12-03)� Level 3 – University of Oregon Internet access and private line services� TeliaSonera International Carrier – Lycos Europe backbone capacity for its Europe-wide corporate

network (2-10-03)Wholesale Capacity Agreements� Interoute Hellenic Telecommunications (OTE) high speed data networks services throughout Europe

for the 2004 Olympic Games (3-18-03)� France Telecom’s GlobeCast extends trans-world ATM Fiber Network to Asia with 45-Mbps transpa-

cific fiber trunk between Singapore and Los Angeles (2-28-03)� Level 3 – HanseNet IP transit service (2-28-03)� Global Crossing – DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe) incremental 2.5

Gbps wavelength services (2-25-03)� Level 3 – George Washington University metropolitan dark fiber services (2-24-03)� Level 3 – The Southern Crossroads (SoX, Atlanta) private line, Internet access services, and other

broadband services in aggregate for the University of Miami and Florida Atlantic University (2-24-03)CapEx plans (5-5-03)� Reporting on Equant’s revenues, Didier Delepine, president and CEO, said: “We are particularly

gratified to meet revenue expectations in the first quarter.� Although Equant “…continue[s] to manage…costs aggressively [it] continue[s] to effectively

manage…capital expenditure at less than 10 percent of revenues in the quarter…”� What’s notable is that revenues for Equant’s Network Services increased 3.7 percent to $408 million

for the quarter, meaning that Equant would be budgeting CapEx expenditures in the tens of millionsof dollars – a significant and far from “zero” amount. Source: TSA NewsFeed daily newsletter and diary of the

international telecom and submarine cable industry.

Make no mistake about it, faith remainsstrong in the process of innovation – the virtuouscycle is not dead, merely going through a longerperiod of new expansion as the world catchesup and digests the implications of the last roundof technological innovation and what it haswrought in terms of opportunities – mainly ben-efits at lower costs in so many product areas.

The innovators and their angels and sup-port structures (venture capitalists, academicconnections, legal advisors, etc.) are also con-sidering and taking to heart the lessons of thefrenzy. However, it would also be reasonable tosuspect that not all the lessons of the last boom-and-bust cycle will necessarily be internalized.

Most company starters are optimists by na-ture and necessity, and will be fully self-confi-dent that what’s happened before would neverhappen again – at least to them. And that’s okaybecause free-market based capitalism is often avery messy process; but it beats the alternativeshands down.

There is the beginning of a shift away fromrescue and resolution of the distressed assets andshareholder and vendor/customer lawsuits backtoward evaluation of strategic growth opportu-nities, some involving more new-builds eithervia consolidation, re-deployment of assets, andgenuine from-scratch physical infrastruc-ture builds.

20

��#��%��#��

21

��

As the Chief Technical Officer of Tyco Tel-ecommunications, I am often asked how Ibalance the responsibility for the develop-ment of new technologies in our underseasystem supply business while simultaneouslymanaging the engineering and operation ofthe Tyco Global Network, which includes ex-tensive amounts of fiber infrastructure, doz-ens of PoPs and cable stations around theglobe, and all of the services and products thatwe deliver to our capacity customers. The an-swer that I give is always the same: When itcomes to developing new technologies for thesystem supply market, the Tyco Global Net-work (TGN) provides us with a valuable andunique testing ground for differentiating whatis important to a system purchaser from thatwhich is superfluous.

Typically, the trend amongst all of the turn-key undersea system suppliers has been to in-crease the intrinsic traffic-carrying capacity ofeach new system and bring new, higher-capacity

technologies to market as soon as possible. Untilrecently, the most desirable technology was al-ways the one that provided the greatest capacityby packing the largest number of carrier chan-nels into the available optical bandwidth. Theunderlying belief was that the greater the over-all bandwidth of a system, the lower the cost perindividual circuit would be, thus making thesystem more financially attractive. In addition,the prospect of having extra fiber pairs was seenas a supplementary means of system financing;the sale of fiber pairs could generate sufficientrevenue to cover a significant portion of the ini-tial system construction cost.

This mindset resulted in the installation ofa great deal of undersea infrastructure, whichfocused suppliers on dealing with ways to sat-isfy the prevailing market demand volumes whilediverting them from focusing on the issues thatmost concern system purchasers: cost (bothconstruction and operations), performance, andschedule. These three parameters are inter-woven��

22

and I visualize them as a 3-dimensional matrixof system supply. This “supply matrix” needs tobe carefully optimized for each purchaser’s re-quirements, objectives, and strategy. In this ar-ticle, I will focus on the first two parameters: costand performance, since my background as CTOand network operator give me fundamental ex-perience with those issues.

Tyco Telecommunications’ historical rootslie in the Bell System (AT&T). As a Bell Labora-tories development organization, we prided our-selves on being the technological leader in theindustry. We pushed the limits of transmission,developed many of the fundamental technolo-gies used today, and were instrumental in defin-ing the international standards for undersea sys-tems and their integration with terrestrial net-works.

To give some examples of what we haveaccomplished over the past several decades: we

deployed the first commercial, repeatered fiberoptic system in 1986, Optican 1; the first opti-cally amplified system in 1994, Americas-1; anddeveloped and installed the highest capacitytrans-Pacific system in the world, TGN Pacific.But we also know, from first-hand experience,that leading-edge technology alone does not al-ways win system supply contracts. Having beenpersonally involved in the “bids and proposals”process, I understand that, regardless of bid strat-egy, our success is often tied to the initial costsof system deployment. Selecting the optimaltechnology for each application is an importantcontributor to minimizing initial system costs.

While many systems are awarded on thebasis of initial cost, actual network viability de-pends on what we call the “total cost of owner-ship” of a system - the initial deployment costscombined with the long-term operating costs.Tyco’s understanding of the long-term operat-

ing costs has been significantly improved byowning and operating the Tyco Global Network.Today, we work with our customers to under-stand their needs, provide input from our expe-rience of running a network, and create an opti-mal balance between the initial constructioncosts, the long-term operational costs, and thetechnological capabilities of the system. Thiscooperation yields a much more cost-efficientand profitable solution than simply focusing onthe short term construction costs or on techno-logical advances.

I am pleased to say that the Tyco GlobalNetwork incorporates the optimal technology (Ihappily acknowledge my own bias) to meet theneeds of each individual sub-network, and thatby being mindful of both the initial and the long-term costs when designing each sub-network, wehave achieved one of the lowest OPEX figures inthe industry for a transoceanic network. We have

23

learned a great deal from this experience andfuture undersea systems will incorporate this firsthand knowledge reflecting lessons learned. I willsummarize some of our key focus areas below.

Initial CostsThe initial costs of system deployment are fun-damental to a purchaser’s ability to execute aproject. They consist of the basic equipmentinfrastructure deployed at system start-up plusall of the associated cost overhead of equipmentintegration, installation and commissioning. AtTyco Telecommunications we carefully selecteach component that goes into our equipmentdesigns; we examine the cost of the associatedtechnology, and analyze the performance ben-efits of the technology and how our choices willimpact the manufacturability and long-term re-liability of the finished product.

In every dimension of our business we aredriving costs down without sacrificing our fun-damental commitment to quality and reliabil-ity. Once inventories are depleted, our reducedmanufactured product costs and optimized sys-tem designs will drive down initial system con-struction costs.

One of the many lessons we have learnedin being a network owner and operator is howto balance the economic life of an undersea net-work with the appropriate network design ca-pacity. With this in mind, Tyco’s latest systemproposals have utilized designs more precisely

focused on actual market needs for bandwidth.Determining the most cost-effective system de-sign means working closely with the customerto understand his current and future traffic de-mands. This effort directly impacts the initialsystem deployment costs. For example, thedifference between a system that carries sixty-four 10-Gb/s channels and thirty-two 10-Gb/schannels is approximately 3 dB of net systemperformance. This additional margin can in-crease repeater spacings by approximately 15 km,thereby removing approximately 20 repeaters forsystems of trans-Atlantic distance; this wouldreduce the total system cost by millions ofdollars.

These lower capacity system designs shouldalso allow for less costly wet plant fiber manage-ment and terminal designs, all contributing to-ward initial system cost savings for the customer.

Long-Term CostsLong-term costs are those that have historicallybeen of more concern to network operators thanto system suppliers. They include, but are notlimited to, equipment upgrades (software andhardware), equipment space, and operationaland maintenance costs. The importance of un-derstanding and managing the long-term costsof a network have been amplified in recent yearswith advances in DWDM technology and theincreased competitive pressures on equipmentand bandwidth.

Dr. William C. Marra

is Chief Technology

Officer and Vice

President of Re-

search, Develop-

ment, Network En-

gineering, and Operations for Tyco Telecom-

munications where he is currently respon-

sible the research, development and reali-

zation of current and future products re-

quired to support undersea systems solu-

tions. He is also responsible for all as-

pects of network operations and services for

the Tyco Global Network (TGN).

Over the last five years, Dr. Marra

has had overall network design and engi-

neering responsibility for Tyco’s undersea

projects, including third party systems and

Tyco’s own Global Network (TGN).

He received his BSEE from the

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, an MSEE

from Stevens Institute of Technology, and a

Ph.D. for joint work done at Stanford

University and Stevens Institute. He joined

the basic research organization of AT&T Bell

Laboratories in 1969. Since that time he

has worked on the development of

numerous fiber-optic telecommunications

systems for both terrestrial and undersea

applications.

24

there is a fixed cost associated with every squaremeter of floor space that equipment occupies.This fact alone is helping to guide our productdevelopment as we seek to increase equipmentdensity while lowering heat generation andpower consumption.

Finally, operational costs are of paramountimportance to a network owner. The supplier’schallenge is to find cost-effective network man-agement solutions that readily identify problemsand provide fault isolation diagnostics that aresimple to use and accurate in their findings.Being able to quickly collect valuable informa-tion from the network without extensive analy-sis can make the difference between a contentedcustomer and a frustrated one. Having efficientnetwork management tools greatly simplifiesservice troubleshooting, making life easier – andcheaper – for both customer and supplier.

A good system supplier with a practical un-derstanding of these realities will keep theessential network management features simple

Network capacity upgrades are a major con-cern of every network owner. Owners want cer-tainty that their initial investment will evolvein a cost-efficient manner. Of course, supplierscannot predict the future any better than pur-chasers, but we understand that once a vendor’sequipment is initially installed, those compo-nents and software tend to “stick” to a systemthroughout its operating life.

Telecommunications components and soft-ware, as in the computer hardware and softwareindustries, are manufacture-discontinued almostevery day due to rapid advances in technology.Therefore, as a supplier, we must find ways todesign equipment that is both forward-upgradeable and backward-compatible. A com-plex problem to be sure, but one that we are tack-ling because of the tremendous long-term valuethat such flexibility offers our customers.

Tyco Telecommunications is particularlyaware of the issue and impact of equipmentspace. We recognize that for a system owner,

and accurate, and eliminate the cumbersome andexpensive non-essentials.

Overall System PerformanceThe systems that Tyco Telecommunications con-structs for the third-party supply market areoptimized using the same technology designapproach as the infrastructure we have installedfor the Tyco Global Network. One of the ben-efits that we have gained through ownership ofTGN is how to most efficiently operate, main-tain, install, and commission networks from atotal cost of ownership perspective. Virtuallyevery undersea link in TGN has lit fiber for cus-tomer traffic as well as for experimental testing.

We have done numerous in-field experi-ments on these actual, installed fiber systems,which, collectively, constitute the largest fiber-optic test bed available in the world. There aresegments on TGN that utilize dispersion flat-tened fiber, the only commercially deployedsystem of this kind. This experimentation has

��

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25

kept, and will continue to keep, Tyco Telecom-munications on the cusp of the technology andperformance curve. We understand what can bedone on actual systems, and perhaps even moresignificantly, what cannot be done on real sys-tems, the latter being crucial to ensure completecustomer satisfaction.

Most importantly, we are incorporatingwhat we have learned into the products and sys-tem designs that we provide to our customers atcost points that make sense. I believe that manyof these ideas would not have been developedby a company that only does system supply with-out the benefit of owner/operator experience. So,while many of our system supply competitorsgrapple with the focus of their R&D during thisdifficult period of industry contraction, for TycoTelecommunications the path is clear. Our broadexperience over the last several years as both asystem supplier and a network operator has givenus comprehensive insight into the challengesfacing network operators today, and thus, we arewell positioned to address those challenges forour system customers.

The integrated structure of Tyco Telecom-munications uniquely enables us to offer turn-key system supply solutions that are in-line withmarket conditions and customer needs. I believewe understand our customers better today thanat any other point in our history – and we arenow putting that understanding to valuableuse for our customers.

26

The constantly increasing level of demand byend users for internet and data service appli-cations, has not mirrored the volatility expe-rienced by other players in this market.

This increasing demand has never wanedand whilst the rate of growth may be less thanthat predicted some years back, it has achievedrates that in some instances match and evenexceed those experienced by mobile phone

operators of only a decade before. Many otherindustries seriously envy the growth ratesachieved in the internet and data market, whichtoday are being driven more and more by thedeployment of broadband technology.

The Asia Pacific region in particular, hasbeen predicted to achieve strong growth rates,as communication services expand into previ-ously untapped and heavily regulated markets.

Internet growth and broadband adoption,in this region, is currently the highest worldwide.The long term investment by many operators hasmade the current growth rates for these servicespossible.

In a relatively short period of time, we haveseen statistics reported indicating that in somecountries, there are already in excess of 50% ofhomes with internet connections and as very large

��

��The Delivery of Broadband Remains the key driver

in the Asia Pacific Region by Neil Lambert

27

relatively undeveloped markets in Asia join theglobal trend for online services, we will see signifi-cant increases in demand levels for this region.

The key driver for current and future demandis the expanding deployment of broadband tech-nology. Large capacity, interconnecting state of theart, fibre optic systems are linking all regions ofthe globe, making instant communications to any-where, a reality.

These systems have the capacity and tech-nology to ensure that they expand and upgrade tomeet the increasing end user demand as it in turngrows. These systems are required to be sufficientlylarge so as not become redundant in only a fewyears.

As regions commence utilization ofbroadband services and become familiar with theresultant ease and speed of their communicationfacilities, significant changes occur to their us-age patterns. In more established markets thefollowing usage patterns have become apparent:

� Broadband internet users tend to go onlinenearly 3 times more often and remainonline 4 times longer than their dial upcounterparts.

� Broadband internet users also access be-tween 1.5 – 2.0 times as many web pagesduring each session, as compared to otherusers.Individual country studies have shown that

although not as many users currently subscribeto broadband as to dial up services, the quantity

of aggregate bandwidth consumed by broadbandusers surpasses that of dial up users. The numberof broadband subscribers in the Asia Pacific re-gion is forecast to rise 3 fold by 2005.

Broadband take up was initially highest inSouth Korea, where high speed lines now reachsignificantly over half of all homes with internetaccess. Levels of adoption in Taiwan and HongKong are approaching South Korea, whilst Sin-gapore and Australia are forecasting large ratesof growth.

In South Korea, they have found that fastinternet connections vastly increase access to in-formation, lift productivity and create new mar-kets. But entertainment of many sorts, as initiallyexpected, remains the biggest attraction. Internetaccess is now a greater part of everyday life inboth the consumer and business critical opera-tions markets.

As these regional markets continue to de-velop and expand, the requirement by the onlinecustomers to access an increasing and diverserange of information and services increases. Asfamiliarity and reliance on these expanded com-munication services grows, consumers expandtheir reach for information and range of serv-ices, not remaining static in the same simpletasks and applications initially undertaken ortrialled.

In turn, as the range of services and timespent online increases, thereby increasing the de-pendence consumers place on them, the need

Neil Lambert

Neil has a Bachelor of Business degree with

majors in Accountancy and Marketing and an

MBA. He has been the CMO for AJC for the

past 3 years. Prior to that he was the National

General Manager of Market Information for

Telstra Australia. He has 12 years experience

in the telecommunications industry in

Marketing and Finance strategy and prior to

that, held management positions in corporate

investment, legal and accounting

organizations.

for security and stability in the provision of theseservices also increases. It is essential that the tel-ecommunications networks supporting theseapplications and services meet the reliability re-

28

quirements of the users. This has lead to manyglobal operators designing and developing theircommunication supply networks, based on thecost effective and technically efficient meshednetwork concept.

The very high capacity of these optical fi-bre submarine cables has led to the implemen-tation of one for one redundancy in some re-cent systems. In some circumstances, one forone redundancy is an unnecessarily expensivesolution and can add unnecessary infrastructure,and therefore end user costs as:

� it may add redundancy where it is notjustified by the failure evidence available;

� alternative network architectures are avail-able which may offer alternative ap-proaches to providing redundancy throughmeshed networks of non redundant sys-tems

� it can add to the maintenance costs wherethe costs of cable ships are related to sheathmiles covered.Alternative architectures can afford

economic benefits without compromisingreliability and leading overall, to a superior com-mercial arrangement in some deepwaterroutings.

Recent studies in the Asia Pacific regionindicate that the analysis of available data from1995 – 2001, shows that on past performance,for every 10,000 klms of cable deeper than 4000metres, there is on average one outage every 18

years. Less than 2% of all faults occur at depthsof 4000+ metres, so by constructing cost effec-tive highly reliable systems such as the AustraliaJapan Cable, which utilizes the state of the artcollapsed ring configuration, incorporation ofsuch a system into the meshed network opera-tion of both regional and global operators, pro-vides the dual benefit of diversity and restora-tion.

Global meshed networks are a very effec-tive way for operators to obtain instant networksat a cheaper cost than building them themselves,whilst providing the diversity and security ex-pected by their users.

As end user broadband demand continuesto grow in this region, we will see continued uti-lization of the capacity provided by these large,highly secure meshed network systems. Atpresent, there are significant levels of capacitythat remains unlit and unactivated on many ofthese systems in all regions.

Whilst the demand for this capacity to datehas been considerably less than that forecast atthe time of construction of these systems, theyhave been built to meet the demand require-ments for many years. The current overhang ofavailable capacity will be gradually consumedas the impetus of broadband ensures end userdemand continues to grow. Those operators thancan adjust their business models to the changedmarket conditions will survive to servicethis demand into the future.

Providing business solutions to companiesseeking to evaluate a market segment ortechnology application in the submarinecable markets for telecom, oil & gas, anddefense industries.

� Analysis and development ofbusiness strategies

� Business and financial plandevelopment and evaluation

� Business environment assessment� Competition analysis� Partner screening and evaluation� QA/QC� RFP process mediation and support� Strategic alliance initiation� Technology assessment

WFN Strategies, LLC19471 Youngs Cliff RoadSuite 100Potomac Falls, Virginia 20165 USA

Tel: +1 (703) 444-2527

Fax: +1 (703) 444-3047

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.wfnstrategies.com

www.subtelforum.com

��

29

30

Examining the existing submarine telecom-munications infrastructure reveals that theover-provision of submarine capacity in theregion has been in the intra-regional networksrather than in the large regional and trans-Pacific cables. In the case of the intra-regionalcables, over the last few years major cablescoming into service, including FNAL (FLAGNorth Asian Loop), EAC (East Asia Crossing),APCN2 and C2C (City to City), have resultedin 16Tb/s of extra capacity.

By mid-2002, only a tiny fraction (876Gb/s) of this capacity was in use. On the other hand,the trans-Pacific routes do not have this luxuryof over supply of capacity and the pressure tolay more such cables has been mounting. It isnoted that a new Tycom Pacific cable that isplanned for 2003 will add another 300Gb/s totrans-Pacific capacity.

This overview concentrates on some of thelatest developments and highlights some of thelesser-known projects.

��

In April 2000, 44 companies joined forces tobuild APCN 2, a US$1.06 billion submarine ca-ble network linking eight major markets. Majorinvestors in the system include Cable & Wire-less, China Telecom, China Unicom, ChunghwaTelecom, AT&T, BT, Global One, Japan Telecom,KDDI, Korea Telecom, KPN, Metromedia FibreNetwork Services, NTT Com, NCIC, PLDT, Reach,

StarHub, SingTel, Taiwan Fixed Network,Teleglobe, Telekom Malaysia and Williams Com-munications. NEC (Japan) was awarded the sup-ply contract for the 19,000km cable system.

In December 2001, the APCN-2 becameoperational. Connecting China, Hong Kong, Ja-pan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sin-gapore and Taiwan, the network also tapped intotrans-Pacific cables between China, Japan andthe US. The system, which offers 80Gb/s of ca-pacity and is planned to be upgraded to 160Gb/s in 2003, will provide additional capacity tomeet the growing demand for voice, data andInternet bandwidth in the region. With a de-signed capacity of 2.5Tb/s, the system will beupgradeable using Dense Wavelength DivisionMultiplexing (DWDM) technology.

APCN2 was the first pan-Asian submarinering system to come into service.

In July 2002, the APCN2 cable consortiumreported that multiple cable failures that hadinterrupted service on the APCN2 network hadbeen fully restored, explaining that repairs were

��

��

��

Paul Budde continues

his article on the

infrastructure of Asian

cable systems

31

porting continued expansion of its customerbase.

We expect that the cable would eventuallypass through Japan and Asia and onto the US.

��

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) setup a subsidiary called C2C Asia Pacific Pte Ltd tobuild and operate one of the largest-capacitysubmarine systems in the Asia Pacific. Theproject was also backed by carriers such as GlobeTelecom of the Philippines, Hong Kong’siAdvantage, GNG Networks of South Korea,KDDI-SCS and New Century Infocomm of Tai-wan.

With a design capacity of 7.68Tb/s, the C2Csystem is a self-healing, highly redundant ringconfiguration for greater network resilience androute diversity. The consortium is targeting thetelecommunications carriers and Internet Serv-ice Providers in the region with its city-to-city(C2C) connectivity.

C2C secured pre-launch capacity purchasesworth US$710 million, mainly from its own part-ners, taking up around 15% of the network’s160Gb/s initial capacity.

In December 2001 the northern loop of theUS$2 billion 17,000km system was launched, con-necting China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea,and the Philippines with an initial 160Gb/s of fibrecapacity. The northern loop began carrying live

delayed due to poor weather conditions in thesea off Japan. A section of cable near Taiwan hadalso apparently suffered damage. Customers hadcomplained of major disruptions to Internetservices. The company said that it was unfortu-nate that despite the resilient design of theAPCN2 cable system, a double cable break prac-tically put it out of service.

��

Established in March 2000, the Australia-JapanCable (AJC) has been designed to provide up to640Gb/s of undersea capacity to a shareholdergroup of international carriers consisting ofTelstra, Japan Telecom, NTT Com, AT&T, BT,TeleGlobe, and MCI WorldCom.

The planned capacity was more thandouble that currently available between Australiaand Japan. The 12,500km cable had extensivepotential, especially as it had a landing point inGuam and therefore could be connected to asignificant number of trans-Pacific cable systems.NEC was contracted to build the link.

In December 2001, the consortium an-nounced that the cable installation was completeon schedule and under budget. It commencedoffering service in January 2002.

By August 2002, the operator was report-ing that the AJC cable had moved smoothly intofull operational mode, with the claim that it wasachieving high performance standards and re-

commercial traffic on most of its routes shortlyafter launch. The southern loop linking HongKong, Singapore and the Philippines was beinginstalled.

The launch of C2C marked the first time aprivately owned fibre cable system has landedin China. In this instance it was courtesy ofChina Netcom, a key partner in the C2C project.China Netcom’s involvement allows Chinesecustomers to be offered services using C2C’s net-work via PoPs in Beijing, Shanghai andGuangzhou.

In January 2002, having already putUS$551 million of equity funding into its cablenetwork, C2C secured a further US$700 millionfinancing package to fund its US$2.1 billion sys-tem.

In August 2002, C2C Pte Ltd announcedthat it had signed US$13 million in new con-tracts, bringing total sales to US$62 million sincethe completion of its network in January 2002.This was in addition to the US$710 million worthof sales that it had secured before its Januarylaunch.

!�� !��

Global Crossing’s EAC is a 19,500km submarinesystem that was planned to connect Japan, HongKong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, thePhilippines and China on completion, expectedin early 2003. It was expected that the EAC wouldbe fully integrated with the entire Global

32

��#�� #��

Crossing Network and be the fastest system de-ployed in the region.

In August 2002, parent Asia Global Cross-ing (AGC) announced its EAC cable system hadbeen completed. This meant that the fully re-dundant submarine system connected Tokyo,Osaka, Nagoya, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul,Singapore and Manila. The immediate effect wasthat about 80% of our data traffic would staywithin Asia, rather than be hubbed via the US.The cable will be linked into China as regula-tions permit. The cable is also to be connectedwith the Pacific Crossing 1 (PC-1) system.

The EAC cable is monitored and main-tained by AGC-owned Network Operations Cen-tres in Singapore and Sydney. The cable systemuses bi-directional transport capacity shared overfour fibre pairs to provide initial transmissioncapacity of 80Gb/s and is upgradeable to 2.56Tb/s, in scalable increments.

In October 2002, AGC, majority owned bybankrupt telco Global Crossing, was forced torestate certain financial results for 2001 to wipeout network capacity swaps it did with othercarriers. The company had previously reviseddownwards its first-quarter 2002 revenue to re-move sales from such swaps. Global Crossing hadbeen in the habit of swapping network capacityto boost revenue and increase reported earnings.

In November 2002, China Netcom tookcontrol of AGC. It was planned that AGC’sregional network and customers will be moved

33

to a new vehicle, Asia Netcom for US$120 mil-lion in equity and a reported US$150 million infinance. As part of the deal, AGC filed for Chap-ter 11 protection in the US Bankruptcy Court inNew York. Subsidiary Pacific Crossing was ex-cluded from the deal, as was Taiwan Crossing,which AGC said would be sold to a US investor.The transaction was expected to be finalised bymid 2003.

��Singapore Telecom (SingTel) and India’s BhartiGroup have set up a 50:50 joint venture in 2000to build and operate the world’s largest subma-rine cable in terms of capacity, linking Singapore,Chennai and Mumbai, with a total bandwidthof 8.4Tb/s and capable of carrying more than 100million conversations simultaneously. It was re-ported that the project would also represent thelargest infrastructure project ever betweenSingaporean and Indian companies.

The joint venture partners, who formedNetwork i2i Pte Ltd to build and operate the net-work, said that they were committed to invest-ing an estimated US$650 million on the self-healing, 10,800km ring network. The entire i2icable network utilises Dense Wavelength Divi-sion Multiplexing (DWDM) technology. The firstphase of the cable network involved establish-ing the landing point in Chennai, and install-ing the 3,200 km Singapore-Chennai undersealeg of the cable network. The terrestrial cable link

between Mumbai and Chennai was the respon-sibility of Bharti Telesonic. The final phase ofthe project was the submarine link from Singa-pore to Mumbai.

In Singapore, the i2i cable will link toSingTel’s extensive cable network infrastructureto the rest of the world, including the C2C cablenetwork, SEA-ME-WE 3 and APCN 2.

The cable installation was physically com-pleted in April 2002. In July 2002, the cable con-

sortium, Network i2i Pte Ltd, announced thatthe i2i cable network had begun to carry com-mercial traffic. Bharti Telesonic, a subsidiary ofthe Bharti Group, was the first carrier to use thei2i cable network.

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A group of more than 44 telcos including AT&T,Sprint, MCI WorldCom, KDDI Corp and Japan

34

35

Telecom have invested US$1 billion in a projectinvolving a 21,000km cable, consisting of a four-fibre pair, undersea fibre optic system that linksJapan, Hawaii and the US. The J-US landingpoints include US-based stations in Manchesterand Morro Bay, California and Makaha, Oahu,Hawaii; Shima South, Maruyama and Kitaibaraki,Japan.

The network was activated for commercialservice in August 2001.

The J-US network was set using Wave-length-Division Multiplexing (WDM) technol-ogy and had an initial capacity of 80Gb/s. Up-grades to the landing station facilities that willboost the capacity to 400Gb/s have been com-menced. Further capacity increases were beingconsidered with a view to providing a capacityin the future of 640Gb/s. Total capacity of thecable is upgradeable to 1.5Gb/s.

The J-US cable network has been targetingthe strong demand for Internet and data con-nectivity in the Asia Pacific region. There are over200 million Internet subscribers throughout theAsia-Pacific region, the Asia-Pacific is tipped toovertake the US as the world’s largest Internetmarket by end-2003.

According to NUA, which is typically be-hind with its stats, the number of Asia- PacificInternet users has already passed US Internetusers. In September 2002, the figures were Asia-Pacific 187 million and US-Canada 182million.

Level 3 Communications leased 8Gb/s ofcapacity in J-US. When Reach acquired Level 3’sassets in December 2001, it took over the leaseand upgraded to 40Gb/s in March 2002.

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In May 2001, Japan Telecom, Korea Telecom, NTTCommunications and Kyushu Electric Powersigned a construction and maintenance agree-ment and a supply contract for their plannedsubmarine cable between Korea and Japan. Themain contractor for the US$60 million projectwas to be Fujitsu Ltd. The network was plannedto be commissioned in the first half of 2002. Ofthe partners, the three carriers each have a 20%stake in the cable, with Kyushu Electric Powerholding 40%. The KJCN system was completedand brought into service in March 2002. Thecompleted cable network consists of two routes,each around 250km in length. These connectPusan, South Korea, to Kitakyushu and Fukuoka,Japan. There are 12 optical fibre pairs per routeand has a capacity of 2.88Tb/s. It is the Asia Pa-cific region’s first non-repeatered cable system.

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The Malaysia East Asia Satellite (MEASAT) Com-pany has linked up with the Indian state ofAndhra Pradesh to build and operate a US$300-

million submarine cable that will connect Indiawith Singapore and Malaysia, providing 3.3Tb/sof bandwidth to Indian IT companies.

In a deal signed in January 2001, MEASATand the government of Andhra Pradesh set up aconsortium for the construction of the cable plat-form, which was to link the southern Indian cit-ies of Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam with Sin-gapore and Kuala Lumpur.

In the second phase of the rollout, the con-sortium planned to offer a gateway for traffic onits network to the US and Europe through stra-tegic alliances with other bandwidth consortia.

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The Nava-1 is a US$645 million, 9,000km longfibre optic cable linking the east and west coastof Australia to Singapore and Jakarta, effectivelytripling available international capacity in 2002and providing the first multi-terabit high band-width cable directly linking the major Austral-ian cities of Perth and Melbourne. The companyhas indicated that it intends to expand through-out the Asian region.

Nava Networks is a privately owned com-pany backed by Dolphin Networks, a broadbandnetwork developer, and its owner Dolphin Com-munications Partners, a New York-based privateequity investor focused on the telecoms sector.Fujitsu has been appointed to build the cable.The network will use Dense Wavelength Division

36

Multiplexing (DWDM) repeatered 10Gb/s tech-nology. The undersea cable portion of the sys-tem will have a minimum of 4 fibre pairs, eachequipped with a minimum of 64 channels ofSTM-64. Minimum total transmission capacitywill be 2.56Tb/s.

The Nava-1 network will provide high ca-pacity strategic data connection between Singa-pore, Indonesia and Australia and also connectto international cables, closing the SouthernHemisphere loop for international systems be-tween Europe, North America and Asia. The net-work will target telecommunications companies,ISPs, business-to-business e-commerce providersand Web broadcasters. Construction of the net-work began in 2001.

In March 2002, Nava announced that ithad decided it would be more cost effective toacquire its broadband links on the Perth-Mel-bourne leg of the project rather than build newinfrastructure. The company said that the deci-sion was due to the emergence of new infrastruc-ture on the route and the changed market con-ditions. It had previously made the same deci-sion for the Sydney Melbourne leg.

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Introduced into service in December 1999, Glo-bal Crossing’s PC-1 is a four-fibre-pair systemlinking the US and Asia via Japan. PC-1 usesadvanced WDM technology to provide 80Gb/

s initial capacity. Global Crossing joined withMarubeni Corporation to build and operatePC-1.

Fully integrated with the entire GlobalCrossing Network, landing points for PC-1 in-clude:

� Grover Beach, California, shared withPan-American Crossing (PAC),

� Harbour Pointe, Washington,� Ajigaura, Japan,� Shima, Japan.Each of PC-1’s four fibre pairs have a trans-

mission capacity of 20Gb/s, for a total systemcapacity of 80Gb/s, upgradeable to 640Gb/s. Thetotal length of the system is approximately21,000km.

The future ownership and deployment ofthe PC-1 system remained dependent on theoutcome of Global Crossing/Asia Global Cross-ing (AGC) financial restructuring. A dealannounced in November 2002 between AGC andChina Netcom did not include Pacific Crossing.

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The formation of Reach, a 50-50 joint venturebetween Australia’s Telstra Corp and Hong Kong’sPCCW, in 2000 has seen the emergence of a sig-nificant player in the market. Reach owns andoperates a global network with a strong Asianfocus. It has an ownership interest in 50 subma-rine cable systems. The operator signalled its in-

tentions to consolidate its market position when,in December 2001, it acquired the Asian assetsof Level 3 Communications. These includedLevel 3’s North Asian cable system and capacityon the Japan-US (J-US) cable system, as well asdata centres in Hong Kong and Tokyo. It has fol-lowed this up by signing major capacity leasingand interconnect deals with Level 3 to strengthenits global capability.

In February 2003, Telstra and PCCW an-nounced a dramatic write down of their Reachassets, after reduced demand and tough price

37

competition had seriously hit revenues. The writedown totalled US$1.6 billion in value and, inTelstra’s case, an adjustment of A$965 million(US$546 million) meant that the value of its stakein Reach had been reduced to zero.

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Level 3 Communications Inc has built a high-speed, broadband undersea cable system calledTiger 1, connecting Hong Kong to Tokyo, Ja-pan. The cable system was completed in mid2001. In Hong Kong, the cable came ashoreon South Lantau Island and was then con-nected to Level 3’s international gateway fa-cility in Quarry Bay. In Tokyo, it intercon-nected with an undersea cable connecting Ja-pan to Level 3’s network in the US.

The system was designed to initially runat 320Gb/s – more than eight times the com-bined existing undersea capacity to and fromHong Kong and significantly higher than othersystems. It can also be expanded to 2.56Tb/sas demand increases. However, as of March2002, only 80Gb/s of capacity was lit.

The cable is the first stage in the construc-tion of a larger undersea network in the region,referred to as the Tiger network. The cable net-work was being extended to Taiwan and Koreawith the completion of the proposed Tiger 2.Additional landing stations were under devel-opment in Pusan, Korea and Toucheng, Tai-

wan. The entire cable system was designed withsix fibre pairs, spanning over 10,000km andhaving a maximum capacity of 2.4-3.8Tb/s.With six fibre pairs, the cable system offers amaximum capacity of 2.4Tb/s on the HongKong-Taiwan-Japan leg and 3.8Tb/s on the sec-ond leg linking Japan, Korea and Hong Kong.

Level 3 Communications has been expe-riencing serious financial problems and in De-cember 2001 signed a deal with Reach involv-ing the sale of its Asian assets. The deal willsee Reach takeover all Level 3’s contracted ca-ble installation work associated with the Tigercable system.

-./��

Canada-based global submarine cable opera-tor 360networks set out plans to build a newtrans-Pacific cable called 360pacific. The com-pany proposed a 22,000km, six-fibre pair,4.8Tb/s, submarine cable connecting the US,Canada and Japan, with Alcatel responsible forthe network design, as well as the supply andinstallation of submarine transmission andprotection equipment, including cable, repeat-ers and terminal equipment in a contractworth approximately US$1.1 billion.

Plans for the 360pacific cable connect tocapacity on the C2C cable network being builtby Singapore Telecom subsidiary C2C. 360net-works has already leased two fibre pairs on the

C2C network. Capacity on the C2C network isexpected to allow 360networks to reach sevenmajor Asian markets including Japan, SouthKorea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong,China and Singapore. In return, C2C has com-mitted US$200 million to buy capacity on the360pacific cable.

Construction began on 306pacific in No-vember 2000 with the cable scheduled for serv-ice by April 2002. However, in June 2001,360networks put its 360pacific cable on holdas it filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.

In November 2002, parent company,360networks Corporation, announced that itsreorganisation plan had become effective andit had successfully emerged from Chapter 11protection in the US and CCAA protection inCanada.

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The China-South East Asia Cable, a terrestrialoptical fibre cable linking China, Vietnam, Laos,Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore came intocommercial service in February 2001. The sixparticipating countries formed a consortium in1995 to build this 7,000km optical fibre cablelink. The national enterprises involved in theproject are China Telecom, Vietnam Posts andTelecommunications Corporation, Enterprise ofTelecommunications Laos, the CommunicationsAuthority of Thailand, Telekom Malaysia, and

38

SingTel (Singapore). The cable connects the sixcountries at seven landing points, namely China(Shanghai and Guangzhou), Vietnam (Hanoi),Laos (Vientiane), Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia(Kuala Lumpur) and Singapore. With a designcapacity of 2.5 Gb/s, the cable utilises Synchro-nous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) technology andwill carry traffic between the East and SoutheastAsia on a Droit de Passage (DDP) basis as well asprovide connectivity to other major systems.

Impact of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)traffic

A sector of the market to watch is the level ofInternational traffic now being carried on theVoIP platform. Whilst the conventional trafficvolumes remain strong and continue to grow-ing globally, Telegeography data indicates theemergence of what is now a significant VoIP com-ponent.

By the end of 2002, VoIP was running atabout 10% of the total global call traffic volume,up from virtually nothing 3 years earlier. Thistrend will certainly also be reflected in theAsia Pacific region.

Paul Budde is a leading telecomsconsultant in the Asia Pacific region.His company BuddeComm producesone of the largest telecoms researchwebsites: www.budde.com.au

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39

A global guide to the latest known locations of

the world’s cableships, as at MAY 2003.

SAILING DETAILS (or last known location)Vessel Name Built Best Contact GT Speed

Sailed Date Port Country

Arcos 2002 BOHLEN & DOYEN 3790 0 31/03/03 Gibraltar Gibraltar

Asean Explorer 2002 SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 14988 14.5 19/04/03 Singapore Republic of Singapore

Asean Restorer 1994 SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 11156 16 Singapore Republic of Singapore

C.S.Wave Mercury 1982 GLOBAL MARINE SYSTEMS 10105 16 Aioi Japan

Cable Protector 2002 SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 2935 0 Singapore Republic of Singapore

Cable Retriever 1997 SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 11026 16 02/04/03 Kaohsiung Taiwan

Chamarel 1974 NOT APPLICABLE 5925 16.5 Cape Town South Africa

Discovery 1990 FRIARY OCEAN 8248 12 19/04/03 Hartlepool United Kingdom

Dock Express 20 1983 DOCKWISE 14793 15 11/04/03 Vancouver(CAN) Canada

Elektron 1969 STATNETT ENTREPENOR 1628 0 28/03/03 Immingham United Kingdom

Havila Reel 1976 HAVILA SHIPPING 3186 11 Veracruz Mexico

Heimdal 1983 ALCATEL SUBMARINE NETWORKS 10471 16 Kobe Japan

40

Iberus 1978 TRANSOCEANIC CABLE SHIP 8334 17 18/03/03 Jiangyin People’s Republic of China

Ile de Batz 2001 NOT APPLICABLE 13973 15.4 05/04/03 Durban South Africa

Ile de Brehat 2002 LOUIS DREYFUS ARMATEURS 13978 15.4 Singapore Republic of Singapore

Ile de Sein 2001 NOT APPLICABLE 13978 15.4 17/04/03 Naples Italy

KDD Pacific Link 1993 TOKYO LEASE 7960 13 Moji Japan

Leon Thevenin 1983 FRANCE TELECOM 4845 15 07/04/03 Vigo Spain

Lodbrog 1985 ALCATEL SUBMARINE NETWORKS 10243 14.5 Bristol United Kingdom

Maersk Defender 1996 MOLLER A.P. 5746 0 21/04/03 Dover Strait United Kingdom

Maersk Recorder 2000 MOLLER A.P. 6292 14 Yokohama Japan

Maersk Reliance 2001 MOLLER A.P. 6292 14 27/03/03 Curacao Netherlands Antilles

Maersk Repeater 2000 MOLLER A.P. 6292 14 25/03/03 Singapore Republic of Singapore

Maersk Responder 2000 MOLLER A.P. 6292 14 27/03/03 Christiansted American Virgin Islands

Manta 1992 JADE-DIENST 2723 15 Flushing Netherlands

Miss Marie 1998 COASTLINE MARITIME 3639 0 Singapore Republic of Singapore

Nordkabel 1969 NOT APPLICABLE 395 10 23/03/03 Bergen Norway

Pertinacia 2003 ITALMARE 12100 14 24/03/03 Catania Italy

Pleijel 1972 TELEVERKET 1650 11 17/04/03 Uddevalla Sweden

Raymond Croze 1983 FRANCE TELECOM 4845 15 31/03/03 Kalamata Greece



41



[email protected]

ORGANISING ACONFERENCE?Give your exhibition orconference the maximumexposure to the submarinetelecoms industry.Advertise your event inSubmarine Telecoms Forumand reach all the key people.

Email:[email protected]

has entered into an arrangement with

Lloyd’s Register - Fairplaymaking available, complimentary to subscribers, comprehensive

databases of commercial vessels (www.sea-web.org/),ports and companies(www.portguide.com).

In order to qualify for a free trial of these services, [email protected].

Segero 1998 KOREA SUBMARINE TELECOM 8323 15 12/04/03 Okpo Republic of Korea

Sir Eric Sharp 1989 GLOBAL MARINE SYSTEMS 6141 13.5 Bermuda Bermuda

Stanelco 1975 ALCATEL CONTRACTING NORWAY 1692 12 Falkenberg Sweden

Teliri 1996 ITALMARE 8345 14.5 15/04/03 Augusta Italy

Teneo 1992 TRANSOCEANIC CABLE SHIP 3051 14.5 20/04/03 Cape Finisterre Spain


http://www.portguide.com


42

�� We, the few survivors, are all walking

in a field of ruins, exhausted. We can-

not recognise what was once, only 2

years ago, a field of bounty, where

everybody could harvest with joy and

excitement. At that time the relation-

ships were easy, new comers were

most welcomed, everyone was show-

ing its good face. Now we can see here

and there some “pockets of resist-

ance”, like the planning activities

toward a possible SMW4; we suffer

sometimes from a desperate act of

“suicide bombing” through a deadly

dumping price on an upgrade.

Friendly shots have been seen here

and there? Probable accident?

Some key people have disappeared,

hiding themselves in their bunker office

or having rushed out in another posi-

tion, together with their guards.

Any idea where he could be? A

rumour says he is most likely dead! But

who knows, he could be back for

Suboptic next year!

My dear friend, for the time being

the trust is gone, the game is over;

everyone is suspicious of the other, and

no one listens; yesterday best friends are

now bashing each other. The much

needed reconstruction will require time,

effort, creativity, open minds. What

form will the new order take? Which

model will prevail? Have lessons been

learned? Where are the new leaders?

The route to peace is often much

longer than the one to war! But, let’s

walk!

Jean Devos, Past President of SubOptic, was formerly

Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Tyco

Submarine Systems, and previously Director,

Submarcom and Director Marketing and Projects for

Alcatel Submarine Networks. He is currently President

of Axiom.

��

43

�� FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES AND EXHIBITIONS

20-22 May 2003 Intelsat Global Telecommunications Meeting, Washington DC, USA. www.intelsat.com

26-28 May 2003 PTC’s “New Frontier of Info-Communications – Challenge from Asia” Tokyo Bay, Urayasu City, ChibaPrefecture, Japan. www.my2003.org/

4-6 June 2003 Oceanology International Americas, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. www.oceanologyinternational.com

24-27 June 2003 Third International Workshop on the Scientific Use of Submarine Cables & Related Technologies, Universityof Tokyo, Japan. http://seasat.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SSC03/

24-27 August 2003 13th International Symposium on Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology,University of New Hampshire, USA. www.ausi.org/uust/uust.html

26-29 August 2003 Offshore Comunications Conference and Exhibition 2003, Houston, Texas, USA. www.offshorecoms.com

2-5 September 2003 Offshore Europe 2003, Aberdeen, Scotland, www.offshore-europe.co.uk/

9-12 September 2003 Defence Systems & Equipment International, London, UK, www.dsei.co.uk/

22-26 September 2003 Oceans 2003 MTS/IEEE, San Diego, California, USA, www.oceans2003.com/

7-8 October 2003 4th India Telecom Conference, Mumbai, India. www.indianteleconference.com

12-18 October 2003 ITU Telecom World 2003, Geneva, Switzerland, www.itu.org

24-26 November 2003 Hydro 2003: 4th Australasian Hydrographic Symposium,

Christchurch, New Zealand, www.hydrographicsociety.org.nz/conference.htm

17-19 February Underwater Intervention 2004, NewOrleans, Louisana, USA. www.underwaterintervention.com

16-19 March 2004 Oceanology International 2004, London, UK, www.oceanologyinternational.com/

28 March - 1 April 2004 SubOptic 2004, Principality of Monaco, www.suboptic.biz

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