Carrier neutral telecommunications gateway to Europe goes live in 2010
Dublin, Ireland – 7th December, 2009 - CeltixConnect, provider of Europe’s most advanced sub-sea telecommunications network, today announced it has commenced construction of an unrivalled hyper-capacity fibre optic sub-sea cable that will connect Ireland to the UK. Once deployed, CeltixConnect will deliver the resilience, diversity and low latency connectivity now demanded by enterprises, carriers and mobile operators alike. CeltixConnect with its unique business model will allow end users to buy or lease dedicated dark fibre on the sub sea cable or alternatively lease high capacity managed services on this uniquely designed route. CeltixConnect also announced the launch of www.celtixconnect.com which will be updated regularly with project highlights.
Tom McMahon, Operations Director, CeltixConnect said: “Today’s announcement signifies a major milestone in the project in light of our submission of the final required regulatory applications. These final applications mark the culmination of a rigorous eighteen month permitting process which involved extensive consultation with interest groups both in Ireland and the UK.”
The CeltixConnect cable will uniquely land directly in the heart of Dublin’s business district at East Point Business Park and the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC), connecting from there to the T50, Dublin’s major metropolitan network that links all key business districts, datacentres and business parks. In the UK, the privately owned carrier neutral sub-sea cable will have the ability to connect to either the Welsh Assembly Government funded ‘’Fibre Speed’’, an open access fibre-optic network that connects Holyhead to Manchester, or with a number of other major fibre-optic networks that connect into London and mainland Europe.
Diane Hodnett, Commercial Director, CeltixConnect, said ‘’No new Irish sub-sea cable system has been built since 2000 and currently most of the existing sub-sea cable systems face near technical obsolescence and natural end of life. As such, until now Ireland risked facing the possibility of becoming a marooned digital island. CeltixConnect’s pioneering sub-sea dark fibre business model, where each fibre is capable of carrying up to 960 Gigabits per second (Gbps), the equivalent of 480 hours of video per second, will offer customers increased reliability, security, scalability and technical longevity at a competitive price.”
Minister of Communications Ireland, Eamon Ryan said “This is a very exciting development as CelltxConnect’s investment in such a massive fibre infrastructure is a revolutionary step towards modernising Ireland’s communications network.”
Demand for CeltixConnect type services is driven in the main by technology and content companies such as IBM, HP, Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft and by media companies that are transitioning from print to on-line, analog to digital and from satellite to fibre. The continuing explosion of online content and the need to transport it is compounded by IT cloud computing applications such as on-line back up delivered by Amazon and email services such as Hotmail and Google. Research Analysis IDC predict that spending on IT cloud services will grow threefold rising to $42billion by 2012. Ireland’s success in attracting and supporting these companies and their peers will be founded ,in no small part, on its ability to provide a secure, reliable and cost effective technical infrastructure of fibre optic communications - both throughout the country and off the Island.
Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister Ireland) Mary Coughlan said “This is a huge endorsement of the Irish economy and our continued ability to attract foreign direct investment to the country. A robust and modern telecommunications infrastructure is pivotal for current and future foreign direct investment as well as indigenous job creation”
Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy & Transport of the Welsh Assembly Government, Ieuan Wyn Jones stated; “The Welsh Assembly Government recognises the importance of widespread access to affordable and secure telecommunications. CeltixConnect will contribute to the continued progress of the competitive business environments of both Wales and Ireland - improving job creation and prosperity going forward’
Recent sub-sea projects
Other recent sub-sea projects number amongst them; the Unity undersea cable consortium, including Google, Tyco and Singtel, who have invested $300m to connect Asia (Tokyo) to the US (LA); the Europe- India Gateway, a consortium consisting of amongst others; Cable and Wireless, BT and AT&T, connecting India to the UK, via the Middle East at a cost of €700m; the investment of €50m by the South African Government and local providers connecting Capetown to London; and Project Kelvin, diversely connecting Northern Ireland to the US.
About CeltixConnect
CeltixConnect is owned and operated by Sea Fibre Networks T/A CeltixConnect, a privately owned Irish Company. CeltixConnect was founded by an experienced team of executives with a track record of delivering large-scale telecoms/cable projects. Combined the executives have over 40 years experience in the telecoms industry at senior management positions both in commercial and engineering disciplines.
CeltixConnect’s unique business model offers the opportunity to lease or buy dedicated sub-sea dark fibre or lease dedicated high capacity managed services.
All CeltixConnect products will be supported by industry leading Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and a programme of active management of the sub-sea cable.