Crosslake Fibre selects Pioneer for Lake Ontario subsea system
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Crosslake Fibre selects Pioneer for Lake Ontario subsea system

Canadian dark fibre provider, Crosslake Fibre, has chosen Pioneer Consulting to assist with the design, procurement, and project management of a 60km subsea fibre-optic cable across Lake Ontario.




Having completed the management of the marine route survey, Pioneer Consulting is also overseeing the engineering integration for various scopes of work for the subsea cable, which will provide the very first route directly across the North American lake connecting Toronto, Canada, with Buffalo, New York.

“Partnering with Pioneer Consulting and its team of industry specialists has kept this unique project on schedule—we appreciate the support,” said Mike Cunningham, the chief executive officer of Crosslake Fibre (see Q&A interview below).

“With Pioneer Consulting, Crosslake Fibre looks forward to implementing a regional, high fibre count cable providing lower latency connectivity between Canada and the US on a diverse route compared to the longer solely terrestrial alternatives.”

By managing the procurement and integration of the required goods and services, Pioneer Consulting is assisting Crosslake Fibre to implement an economically viable system. Its GoCable.io routing software was “instrumental in delivering a streamlined Desktop Study that became the basis of the marine route survey and subsequent route engineering work”, the company said. 

Gavin Tully, project manager for Crosslake Fibre, added: “By offering such broad capability, Pioneer Consulting brings the right skills at the right time to Crosslake Fibre in a way that is fully integrated into the wider project team. By establishing a relationship of mutual confidence with Crosslake Fibre, we are achieving the milestones needed to ensure the success of the planned fibre-optic network.”

Crosslake Fibre, which intends to serve the needs of data centres and telecom carriers for future decades, has set a Ready for Service’ target for the cable for Q3 2018.

In other news, Crosslake Fibre is also exploring how to bypass Manhattan with a subsea cable along the Atlantic coast between New Jersey and Long Island.

Q&A with Mike Cunningham CEO of Crosslake Fibre

Q. What has been the impact of OTTs deploying/backing their own submarine cables?

The OTTs deploying or backing their own cables has had a dramatic impact on the industry with the number of new cables being the most significant impact. There are a number of new cables in service or in development that would either not exist or would have had a much longer development schedule if it weren’t for the OTTs backing them. The systems that the OTTs have backed are also largely primary transoceanic routes where price deflation has been significant. These routes are much more difficult for carriers to develop given market pricing for lit capacity. The impact of new capacity on these transoceanic routes further accelerates price deflation in markets where international bandwidth growth outside of the OTTs is much less than that of the OTTs and will make non-OTT cable development impossible in the short/medium term.

Q. What are your predictions for the Americas’ submarine cable market in 10 years?

There have been a number of new cables developed or announced in the past few years on many of the primary routes – TransAtlantic/TransPacific and North-South America. I think there are a few more cables to come and then development will largely be limited to smaller infill systems. As we close in on a decade from now however I think many of the cables built around the turn of the century will be nearing end of life as they approach 30 years old and the cycle will begin again.

Q. Why did you choose to speak at Subsea Connect Americas?

It’s a very focussed conference and unique to North America which is especially relevant to Crosslake Fibre. With many industry leaders in attendance it is a great opportunity to participate.

Mike Cunningham will be speaking at Subsea Connect Americas 2017. For more information and to register your passes, please click here.





 







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