E-Farice Selects Tyco to Construct Undersea Fiber Optic Cable Connecting Iceland and Denmark

Sea Technology, Mar 2008

E-Farice (Reykjavik, Iceland) and Tyco Telecommunications (Morristown, New Jersey) announced this January that they have signed a contract to construct the DANICE undersea fiber optic system to provide high-bandwidth connectivity between Landeyjar, Iceland, and Blaabjerg, Denmark. The system will serve the data center market in Iceland by providing direct access to Western Europe via an undersea fiber optic link.

"Iceland has a rapidly expanding data center market by virtue of its highly educated work force, affordable power and strategic location," explained Gudmundur Gunnarsson, chief executive officer of E-Farice. "Coupled with the original FARICE system, which connects Iceland and the Faeroes to Scotland, DANICE will enable us to serve our data center customers as well as our traditional telecommunications customers with a diverse and reliable solution for many years to come. The undersea solution we are deploying with Tyco Telecommunications meets our stringent criteria for capacity, scalability and robustness using advanced, proven technologies."

The system will be comprised of a four-fiber pair point-to-point link and will have an ultimate capacity to transmit 128 10-gigabit wavelengths on each fiber pair, for a total bandwidth of more than five terabits. Onward connectivity from Landeyjar to other locations in Iceland will be provided through service agreements with Icelandic carriers, and onward connectivity from the landing at Blaabjerg to the rest of Europe will be provided through service agreements with international carriers.

"DANICE is a high-capacity regional system designed to deliver an industry-leading 1.3 terabits per fiber pair," said Rob Munier, managing director for global solutions at Tyco Telecommunications. "To do that, we will deploy our latest generation terminal equipment, which features high performance in a remarkably small package. For the marine installation, we plan to use our state-of-the-art Reliance-class cable ships to ensure the highest quality placement and protection of the undersea plant on the seabed in the challenging waters of the North Atlantic and the North Sea."

Tyco Telecommunications expects to deliver the system by the end of 2008.