Hibernia Express submarine cable system nears service readiness

Fiber-optic network services provider Hibernia Networks says its new transatlantic submarine cable system, Hibernia Express, is on schedule to begin service next month after the cable landed in in Cork, Ireland. The 4,600-km undersea cable network will link Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Slough, England, as well as Ireland.

Hibernia announced plans for the submarine network in 2010 (see "Hibernia Atlantic plans low-latency transatlantic submarine cable from New York to London"). It discussed it plans to add Ireland to the project late last year (see "Submarine network connection to Cork targeted by Hibernia"). The undersea fiber-optic network link comprises six fiber pairs, with some fibers optimized for lowest latency and others for 100x100 Gbps design capacity. The total cross-sectional design capacity of the cable will be over 53 Tbps.

TE Subcom has led the fiber cable deployment. Huawei initially was tapped to supply the optical transport technology as well as deploy the cable (see "Huawei Marine to build Hibernia Altantic’s Project Express"), but was replaced following security concerns surrounding Huawei and ZTE, particularly within the U.S. government.

"Our customers are now just weeks away from having access to the most advanced submarine cable system on the market," states Omar Altaji, CCO of Hibernia Networks. "Financial firms, web-centric companies, media players and traditional telecom service providers alike will benefit from the speed, diversity and scalability that Hibernia Express brings to the transatlantic corridor."

Businesses in Cork look forward to service initiation as well. "The addition of such a significant piece of enabling infrastructure to the region will add a vital new resource to our already strong multi-national sector working to enhance and facilitate further growth in the coming years, in addition to opening the region up to new sectors operating in cloud-based technologies and data center provision," said Conor Healy, CEO of Cork Chamber. "The provision of Tier 1 international fiber connectivity from Cork has been a major priority of the Chamber and we are delighted to welcome this infrastructural announcement, which will further consolidate and strengthen both the region’s and Ireland’s reputation as a prime location for growth and investment."

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