TE Subcom, Alcatel-Lucen t Extend Subsea Comms Pact

TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company, and Alcatel-Lucent announced an expansion to their joint maintenance program for submarine optical communication links throughout the Pacific basin. The Pacific End-to-End Maintenance Solution boosts the companies’ ability to maintain and repair undersea cables in the northern Pacific region, to support current telecommunications clients and other potential customers seeking marine services.
Submarine cable networks connect countries and continents, carrying vast amounts of data traffic, including video. They are developed for high reliability over their 25-year design life. However, cables can be damaged by external forces such as earthquakes, hurricanes, intense fishing activity and ship anchors. Marine maintenance services repair damaged cable and help restore normal operation as quickly as possible, limiting disruption to global communications and commerce.
TE SubCom and Alcatel-Lucent first joined forces in the Pacific in 2008, with two cable ships serving the northwestern portion of the region. The deployment of additional cable ships in the course of this year as a maintenance resource in the northeastern region provides complete coverage for the entire northern Pacific. The companies’ cable ships operating in the Pacific are all fully equipped and strategically located to efficiently and effectively repair and maintain cable systems and provide customers with a single, streamlined marine solution for Pacific operations.
“The submarine cable maintenance market currently lacks the necessary flexibility to move resources quickly across regions to where they are needed. This initiative by TE SubCom and Alcatel-Lucent is a step forward to better address cable owners’ service and economic requirements,” said Julian Rawle, Managing Partner at Pioneer Consulting, one of the premiere undersea telecom consulting companies.   “The Pacific End-to-End Maintenance Solution brings together the technology, equipment and skills of two of the leading players in the subsea cable industry,” said Frank Cuccio, Vice President and General Manager of Marine Services at TE SubCom. “The shared expertise of TE SubCom and Alcatel-Lucent clearly benefits both customers and the undersea industry as a whole. SubCom has been providing marine services in the northeastern Pacific for 20 years, so we view the expansion of our maintenance solution in the region as a natural progression.”
“A successful submarine cable system does not end with the completion of the installation; effective maintenance and timely repair support services are critical for the efficiency of the network throughout its 25-year design life. Strengthening our marine presence in the Pacific, this End-to-End Maintenance Solution offers a real advantage for customers, as it provides customers with one point of contact for all their systems in the region, greatly simplifying management of maintenance resources,” said Michel Bouvard, Vice President Marine Operations of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks SAS.