Emerald Networks, a new company backed by Wellcome Trust, has recently retained Jefferies & Company to raise $300 million to fund its proposed transatlantic cable.
Emerald Networks’ submarine cable system will be a new-build 5,200 km, 100 Gbps undersea cable system along the “Great Circle” route connecting North America to Europe via Iceland. The ambitious project, which has set a late 2012 commissioning date, aims to be the first 100 Gbps, long-haul, undersea fiber cable. The northerly route has an expected latency of less than 62 milliseconds round trip from New York to London, making it one of the fastest networks across the Atlantic. Landing points will include Shirley, New York (Long Island) and Belmullet on the West Coast of Ireland, with a branching unit to Grindavik, Iceland. The company notes that the last of the transatlantic cables were installed back in 2003, as a result transatlantic demand is expected to outstrip capacity by 2015.
The connectivity to Iceland will benefit the benefit the growing number of data centers locating there.
The Emerald cable is designed to support 100 x 100Gbs on each of its six fibre pairs. The company has already awarded a construction contract to TE SubCom to proceed with the project. Completion is estimated in Spring of 2013. http://emeraldnetworks.com
