Ocean Specialists Inc. (OSI) was well represented at this year’s Submarine Networks World (SNW) 2018 Conference in Singapore. Tony Mosley chaired the panel “Redefining the meaning of Hubs – Opportunities Arising from a Global Network Topology”, whereas David Willoughby participated in the Permitting MasterClass. Both panels were well attended and generated very good feedback and dialog with the audience. SNW 2018 recorded over 650 registered participants representing 250 organizations.
The Permitting MasterClass covered the difficulty in permitting in all major areas of the world. Dave kicked the session off by providing an overview of the permitting process, challenges to expect and key elements of success. Other panelists presented region specific issues and recommendations. The panelists agreed that the average lead time for permitting globally is approximately 18 months, with some regional exceptions where systems are experiencing up to 36 months of wait time.
The MasterClass concluded with a list of Best Practices which include ensuring that a Permit Matrix and Permit Plan of Work are developed and managed by experts starting with project inception, utilizing permit consultants with regional expertise, and collaborating with the system supplier to acquire all permits.
In his panel, Tony and the other panelists discussed how the OTTs (over the top) or content providers, such as Google and Facebook, are helping to alleviate choke points around the globe. Choke points occur when the majority of cables are landed in the same vicinity. Landing close to other submarine cables makes interconnectivity cheaper, as there is more readily available infrastructure. At the same time, these areas create points of vulnerability in communication infrastructure. Any disruption in these locations will create temporary to medium term havoc on the global communications and financial systems.
Highly congested cable landing areas range from New Yok and New Jersey in the Atlantic to Hong Kong and Singapore in the Pacific to Egypt in the Middle-East. OTTs are pushing new builds in non-traditional corridors, such as Ashburn, VA, moving away from the NY/NJ choke point. According to the panel, the real keys to DC development are reasonable real estate, cheap power, and low latency as we move toward 5G and IoT development.
OSI would like to thank Terrapinn for another well-organized event and we look forward to being a part of this important subsea telecommunication conference again in 2019.
