Pipe Pacific Cable
Encyclopedia
PIPE Pacific Cable is a submarine cable
laid by PIPE Networks
between Guam
and Australia.
The cable is approximately 6900 km long, and runs from Cromer
, Australia
, to Piti
, Guam
.
It promises huge international backhaul cost savings to Australian customers, for access to the US internet backbone, quoting up to "50% savings" versus existing cable operators.
During the official launch, PIPE Network's CEO Bevan Slattery said the new cable would now deliver speeds at an even greater capacity than originally planned, 2.56 terabits in total.
In June 2009, most cabling work south of Brisbane was completed, leaving two cable segments—from BU2 (Branching Unit) near Brisbane up to BU4 near Madang – to be laid before commissioning.
On the 23rd August 2009 the first light signal was transmitted over the completed cable from Sydney to Guam. This marked the completion of the submarine cabling work, and testing of the system began.
On the 22nd September 2009, Internode released a press release claiming successful transmission of IP
packets across the cable, making it the first commercial entity to make use of the cable.
The project was formally completed on October 8, 2009.
s are:
Submarine communications cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....
laid by PIPE Networks
PIPE Networks
PIPE Networks is an Australian company, based in Brisbane, Queensland, primarily involved in setting up peering exchanges. PIPE itself stands for "Public Internet Peering Exchange"...
between Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
and Australia.
The cable is approximately 6900 km long, and runs from Cromer
Cromer, New South Wales
Cromer is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cromer is located 20 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Warringah Council and is part of the Northern Beaches region. Its lush bushland setting is highly...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, to Piti
Piti, Guam
Piti is a village located on the western shore of Guam. It contains the commercial port of Guam at Apra Harbor as well as several of the island’s largest power plants.- Education :Guam Public School System serves the island....
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
.
It promises huge international backhaul cost savings to Australian customers, for access to the US internet backbone, quoting up to "50% savings" versus existing cable operators.
Capacity
Quoting directly from PIPE International's PPC-1's Blog, substantial capacity will be available on the submarine cable network:"PPC-1 will be configured primarily as a two optic-fibre pair system however it will include up to an additional 4 optic fibre pairs providing the potential to install spurs extending to a number of strategic locations within and outside of Australia. The main backbone will be laid in deep water with landings in Sydney, Australia and Piti, Guam. The main segment of the network will cover approximately 6,500km. It will use the latest submarine wave division multiplexing to provide up to 96x10Gbps wavelengths on each fibre pair, producing a total of 1.92 Terabits of capacity."
During the official launch, PIPE Network's CEO Bevan Slattery said the new cable would now deliver speeds at an even greater capacity than originally planned, 2.56 terabits in total.
Construction
Submarine cable laying commenced at the end of April 2009. The Guam to Papua New Guinea segment of the cable was completed in May 2009, with the ship Tyco Durable commencing on the 4 segments from Sydney to Papua New Guinea.In June 2009, most cabling work south of Brisbane was completed, leaving two cable segments—from BU2 (Branching Unit) near Brisbane up to BU4 near Madang – to be laid before commissioning.
On the 23rd August 2009 the first light signal was transmitted over the completed cable from Sydney to Guam. This marked the completion of the submarine cabling work, and testing of the system began.
On the 22nd September 2009, Internode released a press release claiming successful transmission of IP
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
packets across the cable, making it the first commercial entity to make use of the cable.
The project was formally completed on October 8, 2009.
Cable landing points
The cable runs from Sydney to Guam. The cable landing pointCable landing point
A cable landing point is the location where a submarine or other underwater cable makes landfall. The term is most often used for the landfall points of submarine telecommunications cables and submarine power cables. The landing will either be direct or via a branch from a main cable using a...
s are:
- Collaroy BeachCollaroy Plateau, New South WalesCollaroy Plateau is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Collaroy Plateau is located 22 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Warringah Council and is part of the Northern Beaches region.Collaroy Plateau...
, CromerCromer, New South WalesCromer is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cromer is located 20 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Warringah Council and is part of the Northern Beaches region. Its lush bushland setting is highly...
, Sydney, Australia - MadangMadangMadang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century....
, Papua New Guinea - PitiPiti, GuamPiti is a village located on the western shore of Guam. It contains the commercial port of Guam at Apra Harbor as well as several of the island’s largest power plants.- Education :Guam Public School System serves the island....
, Guam
Financial Realignment
On December 19, 2008, it was reported that a "realignment of payments" was organised between PIPE, its PPC-1 customers, and Tyco Telecom, the primary contractor on the project. Some saw this as PPC-1 striking financial difficulties, however the timing of payments were realigned to allow Tyco to continue the work with respect to meeting the construction deadline of July 2009. PIPE delivered a media release confirming this realignment, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Tyco Telecom, and a key customer, to secure the financial go-ahead for the project. It confirmed that:"On 1 December 2008 PIPE Networks announced that given the unacceptable delays in the credit approval process, the Board of PPC-1 (Bermuda) Ltd had decided to withdraw from proposed arrangements with those financiers."
Mr Roger Clarke, Chairman of PIPE Networks said "It is a testament to the commercial potential and importance of the project that an alternative agreement could be reached that side-stepped the debt markets for primary project financing. I congratulate the team who have been working tirelessly over the past three weeks to bring about this outstanding outcome."
See also
- PIPE NetworksPIPE NetworksPIPE Networks is an Australian company, based in Brisbane, Queensland, primarily involved in setting up peering exchanges. PIPE itself stands for "Public Internet Peering Exchange"...
- PIPE International
- Other Australian international submarine cables (and year of first service):
- Telstra Endeavour (2008)
- Australia-Japan CableAustralia-Japan CableThe Australia–Japan Cable, or AJC, is a 12,700km submarine telecommunications cable system linking Australia and Japan via Guam that became operational in 2001. It had an original design capacity of 640 Gbit/s, but was initially equipped to utilise only 80 Gbit/s of this capacity. In April 2008 a...
(2001) - Southern Cross CableSouthern Cross CableThe Southern Cross Cable, operated by Bermuda company Southern Cross Cables Limited, is a trans-Pacific network of telecommunications cables commissioned in 2000....
(2000) - SEA-ME-WE 3 (2000, Australian portion in service earlier)
- JASURAUSJASURAUS (cable system)Jasuraus is a 5 Gbit/s, 2800km optical submarine telecommunications cable connecting Jakarta in Indonesia to Port Hedland In Australia. The name was derived from a concatenation of the original planned sites of 'Jakarta' - 'Surabaya' - 'Australia'...
(1997) - Pacrim WestPacRimWest (cable system)PacRimWest was a twin pair 560Mb/s optical submarine telecommunications cable which served as Australia's main link to the world along with its partner cables Tasman2 and Pacrim East ....
(1995)