Soft-Brain is now Harewos.Telecom

Thanks for responses, comments and sorry for inactivities for the last couple weeks ... :-D ... 

Since several days ago I did some experiments to move this blog to a new address with a new look. Why? Well, I seek for a more representative name and because, slowly, I get bored with the interface ... :-D ... However, this blog will remain! I just won't post updates here. So please visit my new Harewos.Telecom and let me know what do you think about it. Thanks!

Malaysia : Broadband Infrastructure

I just found the picture illustrating transmission infrastructure in Malaysia. However, it might be outdated, since it is the condition in 2004. But, we can see some statistics:

• Long distance transmission infrastructure length approximately 70,000 km
• Main players : Telekom Malaysia, Time, Maxis, Fiberrail
  

Source MEWC Malaysia, 2004

Global Networks : Another Ochre Services ?

Thanks to Meneer for the pointer. I was thinking that Ochre Services was the only one, who has interest in wiring Singapore-Jakarta-Perth. I'm honestly still not sure whether these systems (Ochre and GN) will come into reality: whether they has secured how the projects will be financed? But let's see it. Previously I was not sure also about Surabaya - Hong Kong cable project, but it has been indeed executed. If one or more troubles come, I think, it is also possible that those companies collaborate ... something that happened like Pacnet's initiative and Unity cable. However, at a glance, it seems that Global Networks has a solid plan to enter the business in SG, AUS, and ID ...

The international sub-sea fibre optic cable network will connect Perth, Jakarta and Singapore while the domestic terrestrial networks in both Indonesia and Australia will interconnect with and provide greater capacity for telecommunications carriers, internet service providers and corporate entities to both the international and domestic networks at greater speed and at a lower cost than currently available. The international cable will also provide very important regional network redundancy and security particularly for Indonesia, Australia and all other South East Asian countries.

Plan (Indonesian Side):

Stage 1 of our domestic Indonesian terrestrial network will be approx 1,500 klm in length and be built to connect the key cities of Anyer, Jakarta, Cikampek, Bandung, Semarang, Jogya, Surabaya and Denpasar.

Stage 2 will consist of increasing the reach of our network to other areas within Indonesia, such as Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Our network will provide an increase in much needed capacity and bandwidth on already over-utilised telecoms infrastructure and enable local businesses and consumers much more cost effective access to the internet and other communications services.

Source Global Networks Australia

First Media | FastNet : Over-Booking Ratio

Recently, Dicky Moechtar, director of PT First Media, said that the company has totally 3.5 Gbps bandwidth serving 122 th. customers. He also claimed that FastNet allows users to have external download rate 18 kBps (average I guess), which is according to him, three times faster than the usual external download rate offered by other operators.

If we take the numbers given by Dicky, then it seems that FastNet using an over-booking figure of around 1:5 (corresponds to 'simultaneous factor' of 0.2 for accessing service at the highest allowable rate - note: this is for external traffic!)

However, FastNet has currently also offers services based on rates! It could happen that they set better overbooking ratio for premium customers. However, for current situations, it seems that operators just play with "rates" which affects internal traffic only.

Over-Booking vs. Over-Provisioning

We might already be heard these terms, in particular if we are inside or at least talk about network-related-things in an ISP / NSP. Overbooking is "a term used to describe the sale of access to a service which exceeds the capacity of the service" (Wikipedia). Over-provisioning is exactly the opposite i.e. a term used to describe how much excess/free capacity are available compared to used-capacity. In the networking world, overbooked system, sometimes, is also called over-subscribed system.

Users/customers of a provider will not have anything against Over-Provisioning, right? :-D ... But the provider does! Why ? You know this already I think, it's more-or-less about trade-off between Quality for customers' side vs. cost for providers' side.

A good provider deploys not only over-booking but also over-provisioning! Confused? How could two opposite schemes can be deployed simultaneously ?? ... :-D ... Right, something like "space division multiplex"! A provider (not necessarily a good one) usually appllies over-booking at access level (including international or domestic/peering connections). A good provider usually applies over-provisioning in their core networks!

Bandwidth Price (4)

I just want to comment this local report. This is written by Arif Pitoyo (Bisnis) citing Galumbang Menak (CEO Gema Lintas Benua - a local Internet Service Provider). Below, I would use "GM|AP" to refer to this report. Summary of the report + my comments:

• It is predicted that Internet bandwidth leasing cost decreases by 50% !
• The figure would be around USD 100 to USD 300 / Mbps ! (he talked about supply cost in Java, I guess) - for comparison, in 2000 Internet via satellite links cost around USD 12 - 15 mn (?? that expensive ?)
  
• In 2004, Moratel and Excelcomindo have built SDH microwave link Batam - Singapore (total capacity 2 STM-1; claimed to be the first link entirely owned by local company) - GM|AP said "because of this link, Internet bandwidth has decreased to around USD 6 mn/Mbps" (that expensive ??)
• In 2007, as an impact of several new cables, the cost is further reduced to USD 200 / Mbps at wholesale level, and to USD 300 - 500 / Mbps at retail level (?? USD 6,000,000 to USD 300 ... ???)
• As I read this : "Dalam tempo 3 tahun kembali terjadi penurunan lebih dari 95%. Harga 2007 hanya 5% dari harga 3 tahun sebelumnya ini merupakan penurunan harga yang paling drastis sepanjang sejarah,ujarnya" it's a bit clear, writing error! ... should be thousand not million!!

• "Pada saat ini di tingkat wholesale, harga bandwidth Internet adalah sekitar US$50-US$70/Mbps, dan harga ini sudah bertahan dan stabil sampai 3 tahun belakangan ini" (where? Jakarta ? - or just another typo?)
• "Bandingkan dengan harganya di negara lain seperti Jepang dan Hong Kong yang hanya senilai US$7-US$9/Mbps/bulan di tingkat wholesale. Harga transit termurah di dunia tentunya adalah di AS sekitar US$3-US$7/Mbps/bulan di tingkat wholesale" - I don't know whether GM|AP has used some results of a certain research company, but Primetrica said that IP transit (GigE full port) in Hong Kong cost around USD 36 - 37 / Mbps, in Tokyo around USD 45 / Mbps, in LA around USD 6 - 30 / Mbps!
  

• "Sementara harga Internet melalui satelit, dalam 3 tahun terakhir relatif stabil pada kisaran US$1.500-US$3.000/Mbps per bulan dan diprediksi terus bertahan mengingat satelit memiliki kendala kapasitas maksimum 48 transponder" - this seems ok!
  

By the way, why has Galumbang Menak used "Gema Lintas Benua" instead of "Moratel" ? Did he leave Moratel after Smart Telecom's majority share acquisition?

Facebook Infrastructure Needs

Facebook has experienced a phenomenal growth. According to datacenterknowledge.com (03/2009):

• Facebook has been adding more than 600,000 new users a day in recent months; it just surpassed 200 mn users
  
• More than 24 percent of U.S. Internet users have Facebook accounts, as do 43 percent of the online audience in the UK
• The company may be spending as much as $1 million a month on electricity to power its servers and data center space
• Facebook hosts more than 10 billion photos posted by users

This all adds up to an enormous amount of data to store, manage and move across the Internet. And this is why Facebook needs more data center space.

Facebook Data Center:

• ACC4 (Ashburn, Virginia); DuPont Fabros? --> 10,000 square feets (929 square meters)
• ACC5 reserved (Ashburn, Virginia); DuPont Fabros? --> 20,000+ square feets; 6 MW power
• Digital Realty Thrust Q4/2008; location unknown, but DRT owns numerous data center properties in Europe --> could be strategical partnerships for expanding Facebook to overseas
• Terremark (Santa Clara - entire space) 02/2008
• Switch & Data (Palo Alto)
  

Bandwidth Price Points

According to Telegeography Research (2009B):

• Prices are declining due to growing supply, greater competition, liberalizing markets, and technological advancements
• Prices for higher-capacity products are dropping faster than lower-capacity products
• The more you buy, the less you pay per Mbps
• High capacity means high revenue
• Prices change in large steps
• Prices vary by geography, carrier, customer

Wholesale private lines (IPLC, etc.):

• Compound annual decline 3% - 12% (median private line prices 2005 - 2008)
• Prices vary by geography: different prices correspond to different market conditions (competition, supply/demand balance, etc); Hong-Kong - Tokyo price/km is 5x London-New York
• Price trens vary by capacity: larger capacity, greater decline
• Price per Mbps decreases with increasing capacity
• Prices vary by carrier: different prices correspond to different paths, market segments served, regional strengts, SLAs, local access ownership, etc.; price changes occur in steps up to 50%; CAGR ranges from 0% - 28%
  

IP Transit:

• Compound annual decline 16% - 26% (globally)
• Prices vary by geography : prices correspond to different costs of underlying transport and market conditions (competition, supply/demand balance, etc.); Rio de Janeiro is nearly 8x Los Angeles
• Prices vary by capacity: price per Mbps decreases with increasing capacity (a 10 Gbps port at $5 per Mbps is $600,000 annual revenue; FastE at $15 per Mbps is $18,000); Higher capacities, greater declines
• Prices vary by committed data rate (CDR): price pe Mbps decreases with increasing capacity; 200 Mbps CDR price is 54% higher per Mbps than full port (but 70% less revenue)
• Prices vary by carrier: different prices correspond to different market segments served, regional strengths, SLAs, local access ownership, etc.; price changes occur in steps of up to 50%; compound annual decline ranges 20% - 35%
  

IP VPN:

• Prices vary by geography: retail price trend is more stable than wholesale; CAGR ranges 5% - 23%
• Prices vary by carrier: prices vary due to different market segments served, regional strengths, SLAs, local access ownership, etc.
• Price changes occur in steps of up to 50%, but demonstrate some convergence - CAGR ranges 11% - 36%
• Price bundle includes value-added: port bandwidth remains dominant price component; other elements' proportion varies by region; less tied to commodity pricing dynamics
  

Other Notes:

• Shift to high-capacity products, which are declining in price more rapidly, compounds decline in revenue per bit
• Price declines outpaced by demand growth, implying growing revenue
• Anecdotal price is not necessarily the market price (nor is the median price)
• Other terms, conditions, and relationships can affect actual price paid for capacity
  

Surabaya Hong Kong | Submarine Cable Asia Network - SCAN

Thanks for the hints, I've just post too early. This morning I found tens of media reports about this. I would like to congratulate NEC Submarine for the award, and also for updating the news section in their website! :-D

FIC (Dahlan Iskan, Linggar Mulyono)

PT. Fangbian Iskan Corporindo is a new venture founded by Mr. Dahlan Iskan, Chairman and CEO of Jawa Pos Group2 engaging in Telecommunications, Computer, and Information Technology businesses. Jawa Pos Group is the largest media group in Indonesia delivering quality content to the Indonesian community.

TPI (Hady Hartanto - Indonesian name, but HK citizen)

Telemedia Pacific Incorporation is a new telecommunications infrastructure operator in Asia with a focus to provide quality and reliable network services to connect the fast growing emerging markets within the region.

According to NEC, the cable is called SCAN (Submarine Cable Asia Network):

• Landing points : Surabaya, Jakarta, Hong Kong; extension to SG, VN, PH is reseved!
  
• The signing ceremony took place at Surabaya last Saturday, overseen by the Honorable Information and Communications Minister of Indonesia, Mr. Mohammad Nuh.
• The cable system will provide the first direct cable link that connects the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and the second largest city of Surabaya to Hong Kong, where it will be further connected to other cable systems reaching around the globe.

• Length : appx. 4,300 km
• 4 BUs (3 reserved to branch to SG, VN, PH)
• Capacity: initial 40 Gbps, design 1.92 Tbps
• Construction plan : H1/2009 - H2E/2011 (RFS)
• CAPEX : appx. USD 200 mn
  

Other issues:

• FIC plans to market their bandwidth product as cheap as USD 400 / Mbps instead of USD 600-700 / Mbps as current price (in Java island)! (this is IP or circuit ? seems IP, right ? transit included ??)
• “Fangbian memperoleh izin prinsip dari Ditjen Postel pada 12 September 2008. Kehadiran perusahaan ini melengkapi 9 perusahaan penyelenggara jartup di Indonesia ,” ungkap Juru Bicara Depkominfo Gatot S Dewo Broto ... (but don't try to find it in the RECON, it's not there!!)

Surabaya Hong Kong Cable (SCAN) - Source NEC Submarine

ASEAN China Super Corridor

Have you heard this "ASEAN China Super Corridor" ? As I follow it, Mr. M Nuh has used this term several times this month. It seems that this is named following a malaysian initiative "MSC". But what is it actually? Anybody knows ?

It is said several times, that this corridor shall be ready in 2012. To my opinion, it is unlikely that it a completely new cable project (partially could be), since it currently so many unused capacity in the existing, just installed or in the system currently under construction i.e. EAC-C2C, TGN-IA, AAG or Unity. These systems at least provide direct connection between Hong Kong and Singapore. Connections from mainland China to Hong Kong is not an issue.

So, my best guess, it could be something like regional RENs where the links are leased from the existing providers. What do you think ?

International Teletraffic: Internet Dominance

Trans-Atlantic submarine cable route (2008) :

• Lit capacity : 9.3 Tbps
• Purchased capacity: 7.9 Tbps
• Used capacity : 3.1 Tbps
  

Traffic composition in the trans-atlantic used capacity (2008):

• Switched voice : 1%
• Private networks: 27%
• Internet : 72%
  

Source Telegeography (2008E)

ERNET

Objectives:

• Set up and run a nationwide Academic and Research Network.
• Undertake and promote R&D in the area of computer networking
• Human Resource Development in the area of computer networking.
• Content hosting relating to education and research.
• Registrar for domains- edu.in, res.in & ac.in

Education and Research Network of India (ERNET):

• ERNET operates through Point of Presence (POP) located at premier educational & research institutes
• 15 PoPs at various cities of India
• 400 Mbps of Aggregate Internet bandwidth
• 100 Mbps connectivity to global research network through GEANT 2
• ERNET Network- GARUDA Network (GRID)
• National Knowledge Network (NKN)

Garuda Network:

• National Grid Computing Initiative - GARUDA 
• National initiative for grid computing as Proof of Concept
• 45 institutes connected in 17 cities
• 2.4 Gbps bandwidth for grid fabric
• More than 300 CPU computing resource available in grid

NKN

• Interconnect all National Research & Education
  
• Institutes, Leading National Labs, Colleges etc

Connect more than 5000 sites across the country

Serve millions of end-users + eScience Projects

3-tier Architecture, partially subsidized by National

• funds: Links national, regional and international initiatives
• High Capacity, Highly Scalable Backbone

• Provide Quality of Service (QoS) and Security
• Wide Geographical Coverage
• Bandwidth from Many NLD’s
• Highly Reliable & Available by Design
• Testbeds ( for various implementation)
• Dedicated and Owned.
• Connectivity for International & other global R&D Networks

Source Barman|ERNET@APAN

Surabaya Hong Kong Cable ?

What do you think ? It's real or just another rumor ? I've heard this several times and till I read the news snippet below, I believed that was a rumor!

"Artinya, kita melihat kondisi penyedia jasa internet terlebih dahulu dan mempelajari aspek mana saja yang bisa diturunkan. Kita tidak bisa menetapkan prosentasenya secara sepihak," jelasnya di sela penandatanganan kerjasama FIC Indonesia-TPI Hongkong dengan NEC Japan Deployment of Submarine Cable Asia Network, Surabaya-Hong Kong, di Surabaya, Sabtu (28/3/2009).

Should we believe this news? :-)

The report mentioned three companies : FIC Indonesia, TPI Hong Kong and NEC. Anybody knows FIC and TPI ? If it's true, which route will be chosen ? Whether some other company will involve? (some branchings??)

Around one year ago, it was cited by some media that Moratel will install Surabaya Hong Kong cable. Is it indeed their project ? Advise is welcome ... :-D

Fictitious Surabaya Hong Kong Cable

JGN, JGN2, & JGN2plus

Japan Gigabit Network (JGN) is High Speed Advanced Testbed Network for Research and Development (R&D), which is operated by National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT). JGN is promoted with cooperation among government, industry and academia, and also collaborated with communal and international networks.

On 1999, JGN started operation of domestic optical fiber network. From 2004, As JGN2, We added domestic and international access point, increased network bandwidth, stared IPv6 routing and installed optical switches. Moreover, From 2008, As JGN2plus, ''Service Platform Architecture Research Center''(SPARC) is operating testbed network which is providing various services for research and development of next generation network.

JGN2plus is a testbed network to support the New Generation Network (NwGN) promoted by NICT. The network supports the R&D activities at the JGN2plus research centers (SPARC) and, like the previous testbed networks as JGN/JGN2, it enables researchers to conduct demonstrative experiments for network R&D and various applications. JGN2plus is open to researchers for R&D purpose.

JGN has been supporting cyberinfrastructure as well as advanced networking instastructure for wide variety of applications such as …

• Broadcasting service (IPv6, various type of multicasting, HD, 4K image)
• Optical networking (optical switch, GMPLS, G-lambda)
• Other applications (remote lecture/telemedicine etc.)
• Next generation TCP

Strategic Visions of JGN2plus

• To design new testbed for NwGN :

those variety of activities to be taken into account.

testbed network be built on existing and operational technology

testbed network supports evolution of technology

• Testbed is used for

• proof of concept
• international collaboration and standardizatio
• social implication
• human resource development

Source Yamamoto, Yamaguchi|NICT@APAN

CERNET, CNGI, & CERNET2

CERNET

• CERNET project was started in 1993. It is the first nationwide TCP/IP backbone and the 3rd largest ISP in China.
• CERNET owns its own transport network : 30,000KM darkfiber, 800G DWDM system.
• CERNET has PoPs in 73 cities, covering all the provinces.
• There are about 2,000 universities, schools and research institutes connected.
• The end users reaches 25M : There are 320M students/school kids in China

CNGI

• Initiated from 2002 and approved in 2003
  
• Leaded by National Reform and Development Committee
• Joint with MST, MOE, CAS, MII, NSFC, CAE, …
• Main contents

CNGI Backbone: nation wide, 30-40 Giga Pops and 300 campus networks, international links

Network technology and applications

Delivery to information industry

• All NSPs have jointed this project : CERNET, China Telecom, Unicom, Netcom/CSTNET, China Mobile, China Railcom

CNGI-CERNET2:

• CERNET2 project was started in 2004. it is the largest IPv6 single stack network in the world.
• CNGI-CERNET2 runs on CERNET DWDM transport network: 30,000KM darkfiber, 800G DWDM system.
• CERNET has 25 Pops in 20 cities.
• There are about 2,00 universities, schools and research institutes connected.
• The end users reaches 1M: There are 320M students/school kids in China

Source Li|CERNET@APAN

CSTNET, CNGI & CSTNET2

I just tracked RE networking in China. China shall have at least two main RENs : CSTNet and CERNET, cmiiw!

----
China Science and Technology Network (CSTNet) is one of the earliest internet networks in China, and is extended upon the base of Chinese Academy of Sciences Network (CASNet). In April 1994, CSTNet opened the first official Internet link in China. Since then, CSTNet has been responsible for operation and management for the top domain of China (.cn).

CSTNet

• China Science and Technology Network (CSTNet)
• the pioneer to open the first link to Global internet in 1994 and One of the earliest internet networks in China
• the academic and research networks in China to support advanced science applications and research on next generation Internet
• Cover more than 20 provinces, 100+ institutes, and 1,000,000 end users

CSTNet‘s customers are spread across more than twenty provinces of China with 12 sub centers, including about one thousand research institutes of CAS and technical communities in China, Also, It has more than one million end-users.

In the near future, the bandwidth of CSTNet's international link, domestic interconnecting link and wide area networks will be upgraded, in order to provide better services for video conferences, remote education, collaborative problem-solving, virtual laboratories, digital libraries, and so on. Furthermore, CSTNet also will provide a test bed for research on Next Generation Internet technologies and actively participate in the national and international projects on advanced network applications.

Source Zhang|CAS@APAN

CNGI:

• The world's largest IPv6 network

Cover 20 major cities, consist of 40 core nodes and 300 CPN

building a national innovative information infrastructure,

offering a platform for the provision of basic research and technology development environment.

• CNGI progress

Phase one：From 2003 to end of 2005, build the network

Phase two：From 2006 to 2010, large scale deployment throughout China

Source Zhang|CAS@APAN

CSTNET2:

• CSTNET/China Netcom establish 7 GigaPoPs among 38 GigaPOPs
• The access of IPv6 network for 100 disciplinary research networks and institutes

Disciplinary research networks : about 30 networks cover many specific areas, most of them in Beijing

Institutes: more than 60 institutes around china, most of them are institutes in CAS

• Connection Bandwidth At Least 1G (1G/10G)
• Circuit Resource: Optical Fiber are provided in Beijing and Local Connection in Sub-center for further expansibility--BJlight

ThaiREN : UniNet, UniNet2

To be honest, when I was in Europe several years ago, I never thought that RE networking in ASEAN (except Singapore) could be that as what I see right now. Thailand is currently in a very good track; Malaysia, Vietnam will follow it shortly. Indonesia ?? ... still needs much works!

----
UniNet/ThaiREN:

• The Project of Inter-University Network (UniNet) is established by notification of Ministry of University in 1996. This year the project is 12-year- in operating and serving for universities and institutions.
• UniNet has provided hi-speed information network linked to universities, institutes, and campuses 180 sites over the country. Linking with foreign countries research network enables Thai universities/institutes to manage virtual classrooms with universities/institutes abroad.
• This project improves Thai education to be comparable to other countries. And now UniNet is developing particular research network which enables members to reach the source effectively.

UniNet/ThaiREN Timeline:

• Since 1996 for Distance Learning via VCS, 2 Mbps to international link. (24 Public University + 22 IT Campus)
• 2000 Peering with 10 Mbps to Internet2
• 2001 Open to Other University for Educational Resource Sharing . (75 Public University, More 176 Connecting and backbone explantion to 155 Mbps)
• 2003-2004 expand backbone in Bangkok Area to 2.5 Gbps
• 2005 310 Mbps to International link 1 Gbps to TH-NIX . and 1 Gbps to Thaisarn.
• 2006 Peering with 155 Mbps to TEIN2
• 2007 connected with 730 Mbps to International link , and 10 Gbps to NIX

UniNet Objectives:

• Promote and support distribution of higher education in Thailand
• Develop self learning center
• Sharing educational resources Learning and Teaching

UniNet2 (UniNet Next Generation):

• UniNet2 is a national higher education backbone network for research and education
• UniNet2 improved from UniNet which provides a powerful network-infrastructure based on DWDM-technology and Gigabit Ethernet for data communication between academic institutions (more than 200 universities), international Research & Education networks and offers full Internet connectivity.
• UniNet2 Objectives : Collaboration of R & D communication network, Collaboration of Advanced Internet Technologies, Support Other areas in Information and Communication Technologies

UniNet2 Timeline:

• 2008 Backbone 310-622 Mbps , expand international link to 2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps to CAT-NIX
• 2009 Backbone 10 Gbps and expand international link to 4 Gbps ,10 Gbps to CAT-NIX and 10 Gbps to TOT-NIX Respectively
• 2010-2012 Develop backbone to 40-100 Gbps , expand international link to 10 Gbps and 10 Gbps to Other NIX

Source Tawee/UniNet@APAN

PT. Singleterra : A Napinfo's Bandwidth Reseller

Napinfo has a new partner for selling their bandwidth product: PT. Singleterra, previously PT. Singer Indonesia Tbk. Yes, offcourse :-D , "Singer" was/is a famous strong-branded international company, but not for bandwidth-related things ... PT. Singer Indonesia was a sewing-machine distributor.

Qoutes from Vivanews:

Pada prospektus, perseroan telah menandatangani perjanjian kerja sama dengan PT NAP Info Lintas Nusa. Singer ditunjuk sebagai agen penjual bandwith maksimal 10 gbps.

SINET3

It seems that this is a GMPLS-Playground. *Work-in-progress :-D *

SINET3 is the new Japanese academic backbone network launched in April 2007 for more than 700 universities and research institutions. It has 63 edge and 12 core nodes and deploys Japan’s first 40 Gbps lines between Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka.

SINET3 emphasizes four service aspects: transfer layer, virtual private network (VPN), quality-of-service (QoS), and bandwidth on demand. It provides all services on a single network platform, and users can freely choose the best transfer layer services for their applications.

SINET3 provides bandwidth-on-demand (BoD) services as part of layer-1 services.
Users can specify the destinations, duration, bandwidth with granularity of about 150Mbps, and route option, via simple Web pages. BoD server receives path setup requests from users, calculates the appropriate routes, schedules accepted reservations, and triggers layer-1 path setup.

Source Nakamura/NII@APAN

AJC (2)

Design Capacity of AJC
At least 32 x 10Gbit/s on each of 2 fibre pair = 320G+320G which can be configured as:

• 320G Protected
• or 640G Non Preemptible Unprotected
• or 320G Protected + 320G Preemptible Unprotected

Initially Equipped Capacity of AJC

• 40G+40G capable of mix of Protected plus Non Preemptible Unprotected plus Preemptible Unprotected.

Source AJC@ATUG

National and International Liasion:

• Australian Critical Infrastructure - includes AJC, Reach, SCCN
• Australian Protection Zones - proposed for AJC, SCCN, SMW3
• International Standards - eg ITU-T for interoperability
• Marine Maintenance - eg South Pacific ship shared by AJC, SCCN, Reach, Telecom NZ, others
• International Consultative Fora - eg International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) and SubOptic (Vendors,Operators, Carriers tri-yearly forum – May07)

Consideration (2006E):

• Protected SDH (G.707, G.841)?
• Unprotected SDH (G.707, G.841)?
• STM-N Interfaces: STM-1, STM-4, STM-16, STM-64?
• GbE, 10GbE?
• Optical Transport Network (G.709)
• Direct Wavelength Access?
• Latency: Audio/Video downloads, P2P?
• Capacity Forecasts?
• Connectivity?

TWAREN & TANet

TWAREN stands for "TaiWan Advanced Research and Education Network", while TANet "Taiwan Academic NETwork".

TWAREN :

• A physical network serves multiple purposes and logical networks : TANet, connects to commodity Internet; TWAREN research network; experiment, testbed, special research
• Provisioning services on multiple layers : L1 Lightpaths; L2 VLAN, VPLS VPN; L3 IPv4, IPv6, Multicast ; SSL VPN

TWAREN's International Connections:

• Pacific Crossing to USA’s west coast upgraded to 5 Gb/s
• Connections between LA, Palo Alto, Chicago, and New York are 2.5 Gb/s
• Connects to the rest of the world via the U.S.’s Abilene Network
• Connection expanded to Europe in 2006 (IEEAF donated 622 Mbps of bandwidth/fiber optic cable)‏

TWAREN peers with international NRENs at Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Seattle (through Pacific Wave).

TANet:

• A national wide network backbone for academic and education use
• In operation since 1990
• Provides Internet connection for universities and some research institutes
• Now expands to all levels of schools
• Dual stack (IPv4/IPv6) has already deployed in universities

Source Liu|NCHC-TWAREN@APAN

Telkom + TM

Several times ago, I asked my friend (affan basalamah - he is one of the VIPs :-D ) why our connection to TEIN3 happens via direct link to Hong Kong. He said, this link is provided by PT. Telkom. Previously, we always connect through Singapore. My guess was, that this is due to policy or maybe some technical reasons from DANTE or other partners. But one or two days ago, I read some reports that PT. Telkom and Telekom Malaysia (TM) have signed the agreement to intensify cooperation in particular to reach international market (this is offcourse for PT. Telkom) and seems that they will better utilize their DMCS, which is upto now still far from fully occupied. I honestly, doubt if the cost to HK is cheaper than that to SG. I am even more not sure about that, since the link JKT-HK is jointly provided by Telkom and TM, because Telkom currently doesn't have any cable to HK ... :-D ... So why? It should be at least one reason! TEIN3 currently opens a new PoP at Global Switch in SG and uses some brand-new gigabit Juniper routers there: it is technically and financially more efficient to connect to SG than to HK!! any contra opinions ??

Source Zam-Isa/TM

Hong Kong Connectivity

I'm not a Hutch's people, but I think we can see Hong Kong connectivity by HGC's HutchConnect services (see the picture below).

It is claimed that HGC :

• has the whole Hong Kong connectivity!
• has several cable landings in HK
• connect to different cables
• offers bandwidth on demand
• has backhaul diversity
• offers multilayer services
  

Any contra opinions ??

Source HGC@PTC

Submarine Cable Capacity - A Hutch's View

Below is a short summary of HGC's talk at PTC.

There are over 20 new cables in 2008/2009 around the globe!
New cable builds in the APAC region:

• Long haul --> TPE (Ph1), AAG, TGN-IA
• Short haul --> Matrix, Hokkaido-Sakhalin CS
• Upgrades --> SMW3, APCN2, JUS, PC-1
• Coming soon --> Unity, TPE (Ph2)
• In the pipeline --> SJC
  

Internet traffic trends : video content fuels bandwidth demand and growth.
Used subsea capacity: (citing Telegeography 2007E)

• Internet 72%
• Private 27%
• Voice 1%
  

Network topology varies from fishbone structure (e.g. TGN-IA) to ring (e.g. APCN2)
Factors considered:

• Shorter latency (TGN-IA)
• Cost optimization
• Route diversity
• CS diversity
  

Minimum Investment Unit (MIU): STM-1 --> Lambda/FP
Investment level :

• Consortium cable 2000 : USD 1 mn / STM-1 (USD 10 mn/STM-64)
• Cable build 2008 : USD 30+ mn / 0.5 FP (USD 1 mn/STM-64)
  

Upgrade policy: phased approach --> on demand basis by individual

Lesson learnt:

• Investment peaked in 2001, USD 12 bn --> consolidation post-2001, avg. USD 2 - 4 bn (est. till 2010)
• Diversity and restoration (Taiwan earthquake; new cable routes avoiding earthquake zone)
• Network resilience --> Collaboration , capacity swapping and mutual restoration; aim to enhance route diversity and restoration options

HGC focus:

• Hong Kong as Asia Pacific Regional Hub : CS to CS and PoP to PoP (subsea and terrestrial cables; within and beyond Hong Kong)
• Connectivity solutions Layer 1 to Layer 3 : Hardpatch, IPLC, L2 peering, international Ethernet, IP-VPN, IP Transit
  

APCN2 and TGN-IA / Source Telegeography

Matrix : Napinfo Downstream

Now, I understood why I didn't see any involvement of Matrixnetworks (AS17886) for Napinfo connectivity! :-D ... It is definitely that Matrix is a downstream of Napinfo! Their homepage is also host under Napinfo's domain.


Quotes from matrixnetworks.sg

Matrix Ownership :
Brantwood International Limited (Incorporated in Hong Kong) - 50.00%
Causeway Bay Investments Limited (Incorporated in Seychelles) - 50.00%

Matrix Management / BoD :
Benny Setiawan Santoso. Mr. Santoso is the Executive Director of the Salim Group and also serves as Director of PT Indocement Tunggal Prakasa and the First Pacific Company and is the President Director of PT Indosiar Karya Media Tbk. Mr. Santoso also serves as an Advisor to the Board of the Philippines Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company.

Anton Aditya Subowo. Mr. Subowo is a Director at BIL. In this role, he is involved in overseeing the performance of Brantwood's portfolio of companies in South East Asia. He is also Director of Symbidia, Hong Kong, and of Stradcom International Holding Inc. in the Philippines. Previously, Mr. Subowo was the Commissioner for PT Fast Food Indonesia, Tbk; a Director of Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation in the Philippines; and a Senior Management at Bank PT Bank Central Asia (BCA) Tbk. Mr. Subowo holds a B.Sc degree in Engineering Management from Boston University, USA.

Pangestu Tjuhendra. Mr. Tjuhendra is the President Commissioner for PT. NAP Info Lintas Nusa, and the President Director of PT. IQ Plus Prima, an Information Provider for the Jakarta Stock Exchange data serving Securities companies throughout Indonesia. He has more than 30 years of professional experience in the IT industry dealing with both the marketing and technical aspects of the business. He has previously held senior positions in various companies, such as General Manager of Metro Indonesia, a leading IT Company dealing with products such as EPSON and SUN Microsystems; Senior Marketing position at Reuters Ltd. He was also special advisor to CEO of LKBN Antara, a National news agency.

AJC - Australia Japan Cable

Network summary (AJC/ATUG):

• 12,700km collapsed ring configuration cable Australia-Guam-Japan.
• Two cable stations per country each with own landing.
• Network Operations Centre in Melbourne with backup in Sydney.
• Design Capacity 32 protected 10Gbit/s wavelengths (320+320G)
• Initially equipped 4 protected 10Gbit/s wavelengths (40+40G).
• ITU-T G.841 Network Protection using MS SPRING (span/ring)
• One Traffic Affecting Fault since Dec 2001 to Sept 2006

ajcable.com :

Australia-Japan Cable is a quality cable system offering connectivity and bandwidth. Operationally excellent since its inception in 2001 it has provided outstanding reliability and resilience enabling for our customers a cost effective and diverse method of supplying services onto their customers.

Australia-Japan Cable is a submarine cable directly connecting Australia and Japan, via Guam. To enable onward connectivity the AJC network provides access to high capacity, high volume, low unit cost trans-Pacific and intra-Asia cables via Guam and Japan. It is currently equipped to 240Gbit/s and has current capability to over 1000Gbit/s enabling further upgrades as required.

The cable system provides diversity which assists traffic survivability in a dual event outage to any one ring system. AJC offers a range of products allowing capacity users to apply to their individual network requirements. These range from Protected SDH, FlexProtect, Direct Wavelength Access and Ethernet Services.

Australia Japan Cable was established in 2000 as a private cable company to design, construct, market and operate a 12,700km submarine fibre optic cable network (AJCN) from Sydney, Australia, to near Tokyo, Japan, via Guam.

The business was funded by a combination of equity capital from the founding shareholders and a project finance debt facility provided by a consortium of a dozen banks (the consortium now consists of 8 banks following several transfers). A significant proportion of the debt was secured by pre-sales.

The construction phase of the project was completed under budget in December 2001, with equipped capacity of 40+40 Gbit/sec of a total design capacity of 320+320 Gbit/sec.

In April 2008 an upgrade was completed on time and on budget, bringing total equipped capacity to 120+120 Gbit/sec and confirming a design capacity increase to a minimum of 1000 Gbit/sec.

Wikipedia.org:

The Australia-Japan Cable, or AJC, is a 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 capacity upgrade was completed, bringing equipped capacity to 240 Gbit/s. Design capacity was also increased to 1000 Gbit/s. Further upgrades will increase equipped capacity to meet increasing demand.

The AJC network employs a collapsed loop design that features diverse landings in Australia, Guam and Japan and diverse routing at water depths less than 4000m. This design reduces cost by utilising a common sheath in deep water, where risk of failure is low, but provides redundancy to mitigate risk in shallower waters and in the landing stations.

The network supports a range of access interfaces, including SDH at STM1, STM4, STM16 and STM64 levels, 2.5G clear, Direct Wavelength Access, Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. A range of protection options are available, including SDH span and ring protection and 1:n wavelength redundancy.

The cable has landing points in:

1. Shima, Japan
2. Maruyama, Japan
3. Tanguisson, Guam
4. Tumon Bay, Guam
5. Oxford Falls, Sydney, Australia
6. Paddington, Sydney, Australia

Source AJC/ATUG 2006

Source Lon/Wikipedia

Source Zam-Isa/TM

PGASCOM (Not PGASKOM)

Source pgascom.net

I just found the official webpage of PT. PGAS Telekomunikasi Nusantara, which is previously (in many reports) called "PGASKOM". But now, it seems that the company enters the market with the brand "PGASCOM".

Unfortunately, the site provides very limited information and is host by third party (i.e. BiZNET). Below are some statements quoted from the site:

PGASCOM was developed to serve the changes in the need for telecommunication networks in Sumatera and Java Area.

The transmission networks involves transporting bandwidth through Fiber Optic Transmission Systems between Sumatera and Java Island to end users. Long Haul Fiber Optic Transmission Systems, are connected between Batam-Jambi- Palembang-Lampung-Cilegon-Jakarta, part of them presently in operations. In addition, the combined transmission networks length is about 1,015 as of end of 2008.

OADM BU

I noticed that several times, Pipe guys have addressed this "OADM BU" issue installed in their PPC-1 system. What is special in it ? How reliable is this kind of BU ? How much budget can we save compared to "normal BU" deployment ? ... Any idea ?!?

At functionality level, I see this OADM BU as simple as "OADM+BU" which is put underwater. It could especially be useful, when we need to "pull & push" a relatively small capacity compared to the whole fiber capacity and for some reasons we do not want to route "pass-thru" traffic via the corresponding points. With this in mind, such equipment are suitable only for submarine repeatered cable systems. Agree ? :-D Comments are welcome ...

Source Loko/TPNG

Exploring CBN

CBN has also 2 ASes : AS4787 and AS38158. Connection from AS4787 is a bit diverse than that can be found for Telkom or XL network. Upstreams for CBNnet (AS4787):

• AS24203 NAPXLNET-AS-ID PT Excelcomindo Pratama (Network Access Provider)
• AS38158 CBN-NETWORKS-AS-ID Network Access Provider
• AS4761 Indosat

Upstream for AS38158:

• AS6453 GLOBEINTERNET TATA Communications
• AS703 UUNET - MCI Communications Services, Inc. d/b/a Verizon Business

This configuration could emerge from CBN's network development: it seems that AS4787 has established first before the other one and CBN has kept the other connections for diversity.

InterPlaNet (IPN) : Interplanetary Internet

(Almost) Everybody knows Vint Cerf. Yes ? If no, try find him virtually via (or physically at) Google ... :-D ... He was and is one of the VIPs behind the development of the Internet.

But as he mentioned "Interplanetary Internet", I was thinking, that he probably was talking about the far future; or maybe he did some kinds of "futurist jokes". But slowly I realized that he addressed something real! I didn't check it entirely, but the logic is: NASA, ESA, JAXA or other bodies currently in the state that they have to communicate with their equipment sent to the far space. And the current trend is, every communication shall be in IP way, right ?

Interplanetary Internet (Planetary Internets + Interplanetary Gateways ??):

• End-to-end information flow accross the solar system
• Layered architecture for evolvability and interoperability
• IP-like protocol suite tailored to operate over long round trip light times
• Integrated communications and navigation services
  

Interplanetary Long-haul Architecture (RFC 4838 ??)

• Licklider Transport Protocol (LTP)
• Bundle Protocol (RFC 5050): Delayed Binding of Identifiers, Email-like behaviour

Delay and Disruption Tolerant Protocols

• Tactical Mobile Applications (DARPA?)
• Civilian Mobile Applications (SameNet?)
• Deep Impact Testing (DINET?)
• Space Station Testing in 2009 (?)
  

IPN - Source Vint Cerf | Google @ PTC09

TEIN3

Yes, TEIN2 is retired! It's replaced by TEIN3. Well, in the networking world, naming convention is (still) more conservative than, say, in the Linux world .. :-D .. The successor of TEIN3 shall be named TEIN4 in place of e.g. TEIN "Potato" or TEIN "Reloaded" ... :-D

TEIN3 highlights:

• Tendered Q2 – Q3 2008
• 6 circuits Contracted with 5 providers
• 10 circuits provided by TEIN3 partners
• Migration to TEIN3 underway, due to complete march 2009

• New Singapore PoP at Global Switch
• New Juniper M120 routers in Singapore and Hong Kong
• Singapore – EU upgraded to 2.5 Gbps
• Singapore – HK upgraded to 2.5 Gbps,
• Beijing – EU 2.5 Gbps link being re-tendered by CERNET
• TransPAC2 link to US via Tokyo maintained

• Indonesia – 45 --> 155 Mbps
• Laos – 10 Mbps (via ThaiREN, being provided)
• Malaysia - 45 --> 155 Mbps
• Philippines – 10 Mbps (via MAFFIN)
• Thailand - 155 Mbps (via NICT Singapore/Bangkok link)
• Vietnam - 45 --> 155 Mbps

• Australia – 622Mbps --> 933 Mbps
• Hong Kong - 18 Mbps
• Japan – NII 2 x 622Mbps, NICT 1Gbs,
• Korea - 622 --> 2.5 Gbps
• Singapore - 45 Mbps
• China – 2.5 Gbps to EU, 1Gbps to HK
• Pakistan – 155 Mbps (via NSF/PERN link)

TEIN3 South Asia Extension:

• Tendering started for: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
  

TEIN3 as of March 2009 - Source West/DANTE

Palapa Ring (10)

I just want to quote and share two points which are addressed in this local media report :

• "Harga kabel jadi makin mahal. Padahal, lima puluh persen biaya operasional ditentukan harga submarine cable," keluh Ketua Konsorsium Palapa Ring, Tonda Priyanto kepada detikINET, Jumat (20/3/2009). Menurutnya, konsorsium keberatan dengan harga yang ditawarkan oleh vendor kabel optik peserta tender proyek. Tiga vendor NEC Corporation, NSW Fujitsu, dan Alcatel-Lucent, menawarkan harga US$ 50 ribu untuk harga serat optik per kilometer. Sedangkan konsorsium cuma menganggarkan dana US$ 20 ribu.

• Menkominfo Mohammad Nuh sebelumnya pernah mengatakan bakal mencari jalan keluar untuk masalah ini. Salah satunya, adalah dengan meminta bantuan dari negara lain. Kabar terakhir, menteri coba melobi Korea Selatan untuk menarik kabel laut dari Negeri Ginseng ke Sulawesi

This basically mentions additional reasons for project delays (cable price USD 20 th. in the plan vs. USD 50 th. in the proposals) and possible alternatives to support that project (invitation for foreign involvement - this case, the ministry has approached South Korea to construct SK-Sulawesi submarine link). However, I don't really understand, what is the relationship between realizing local network Palapa Ring with international link from Sulawesi to South Korea ?? Details might be missing from the report. Any suggestion ??

SPIN

SPIN stands for South Pacific Islands Network. It's a regional initiative supported by: Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, French Government, Government of French Polynesia, and Government of New-Caledonia.

SPIN shall provide faster and cheaper bandwidth to Pacific Islands countries and territories:

• Interconnect the 3 French territories of New Caledonia, Wallis & Futuna and French Polynesia
• Connect Pacific Islands countries currently relying on satellite
• Open a new transpacific route Sydney - Hawaii

Impacts in terms of connectivity:

• For Islands operators: significant reduction of international bandwidth charges
• For subscribers: lower prices and better access
• For international Telco and ISP : new offer with up to 600 Gbps spare capacity available for sale

SPIN will be built in three steps:

• New Caledonia cable - Sydney to Nouméa
• French Polynesia cable - Tahiti to Hawaii
• SPIN cable - Nouméa to Tahiti
  

SPIN - Step 1

SPIN - Step 2

SPIN - Step 3 / Source Frouin/SPIN

SPIN is :

• Limited company incorporated in Wallis & Futuna - France
• Private investors, among which API Group
• Public investors : French Territories of Pacific region

Approximate cost of SPIN: Euro 150M

• Ongoing tender under finalization
• Expected contract signature March 09

Funding:

• Investment and capacity agreements
• Own funding from shareholders
• French public aid
• Bank financing

Credits : Frouin / SPIN