Hundreds of jobs to flow from transatlantic data cable
The Irish Examiner has learnt that global networks operator, Hibernia Networks, has agreed to build a ‘spur’ off its $250m (€200m) 100-gigabit-per-second Project Express cable, linking the US to Europe, directly in to the south coast of Ireland.
The Irish link, which is estimated to cost up to €14m, will open up vital high-capacity, or Tier 1, fibre connectivity from Cork direct to the US and Britain.
As well as delivering a new data access point for the country, it is understood that the spur will have enough super-capacity to meet the data requirements of the entire southern region for several years.
Details of the strategically important telecommunications project will be unveiled in Cork this morning by Marine Minister Simon Coveney.
Most of the heavy data flow leaving Ireland today is what the industry calls “back-hauled” to Dublin — the national hub of data connectivity.
Dublin’s data connectivity has helped attract data rich and data dependent businesses such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn, and large data storage facility operators, in to and around the capital.
However, the deal to be announced this morning will deliver another Tier 1 access point in Ireland which will help attract new multi-national data giants to locate here.
The delivery of this vital piece of infrastructure has been a core policy focus of Cork Chamber since 2008.
Chamber president Gillian Keating, said the arrival of Project Express in Cork is hugely significant, not just for the region, but for the country.
“Project Express, added to other new developments in the region such as One Albert Quay, the re-development of Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the soon to be announced events centre underscores Cork’s position as a driver of economic development regionally and nationally,” she said.
Chamber chief executive Conor Healy said the business lobby group has worked hard to deliver this project.
“We are excited now for what it will mean for both Cork and for Ireland,” he said.
“This piece of enabling infrastructure will add a vital new resource to our already strong multinational sector while also opening the region up to new sectors operating in cloud-based technologies and data centre provision.”
Hibernia Networks, an American company, owns and operates a global communications network connecting 89 markets in 25 countries.
The company provides wholesale, finance, media and high-bandwidth clients with secure ethernet, DTM, wavelengths and carrier-grade IP Transit services.
It announced its Project Express cable project in 2011. It is spending about $250m laying the highly advanced 4,600km underwater cable between North America and Europe — the actual cable runs from Nova Scotia to London.
The company says it will be the fastest telecommunications cable ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean and hopes that the work will be completed by next summer.
It will transfer data five milliseconds faster than current transatlantic cables — a fraction of time that can mean millions to stock traders in New York or London who use computer algorithms to buy and sell stock in micro seconds.
Hibernia Networks chief, Bjarni Thorvardarson, said the last one to be built was 12 years ago.
“And there’s been a lot of demand for additional capacity because of data centres, web-centrics, the social networks,” he said.
Earlier this year, the company added Cork Internet eXchange (CIX), the regional data centre for the southwest of Ireland, as a new Point of Presence (PoP) on its network.
The PoP has allowed Hibernia to further expand its high capacity, international services in Ireland.
CIX is responsible for delivering IP connectivity to thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of homes from Kerry to Waterford.
