Interview
At this year’s Submarine Networks EMEA conference, Total Telecom caught up with Infinera’s Director of Technology and Solutions, Geoff Bennett, to discuss some of the hottest trends in the submarine cable industry
Despite the widespread public misconception that satellites beam down the internet from the sky, over 99% of the world’s international network traffic in fact flows over submarine cables. As such, this sector continues to experience unprecedented growth in line with the soaring demand for connectivity taking place all around the world.
Of course, meeting this demand is no easy feat. New cables take many years and hundreds of millions of dollars to deploy, making it essential that the right technologies are used to maximise the capacity they can deliver to their users.
But deploying these new state-of-the-art cables is just one part of the solution to this global challenge. Thousands of kilometres of existing fibre networks already sprawl beneath the world’s oceans, with many of these systems nearing the end of their 25+ year engineering lifespans. Upgrading these systems with the latest transponder technology can see the economic life of these cables significantly extended, ensuring they continue to play their role in connectivity global customers for many years to come.
Finally, looking at the submarine cable industry, it is imperative that the sector refresh its pool of talent. The generation of submarine network experts that were trained around the turn of the century are nearing retirement age, so it is essential we look at the entire talent pool to introduce new faces as soon as possible and begin the process of knowledge transfer.
You can view our full interview with Infinera’s Geoff Bennet from the link below.
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