HAVFRUE, the Danish word for mermaid, is the first new cable system in almost two decades that will traverse the North Atlantic to connect mainland Northern Europe to the U.S.A. Route survey operations for the system have begun and system ready-for-service (RFS) is expected in Q4 2019.
The system is comprised of a trunk cable connecting New Jersey, U.S.A. to the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark with a branch landing in County Mayo, Ireland. Optional branch extensions to Northern and Southern Norway are also included in the design. The cable will bring modern, high-capacity connectivity to Northern Europe, where data center construction has been increasing to support the need for cloud services.
As supplier for the system, SubCom will incorporate their Wavelength Selective Switching Reconfigurable Optical Add Drop Multiplexer (WSS-ROADM) for flexible wavelength allocation over the system design life. The HAVFRUE cable system will be optimized for coherent transmission and will offer a cross-sectional cable capacity of 108Tbps, scalable to higher capacities utilizing future generation SLTE technology. The combination of these elements will make the HAVFRUE system a powerful and flexible solution for current uses while also providing an easy upgrade path to accommodate future advances in subsea connectivity technology.
“The HAVFRUE cable will provide state-of-the-art connectivity for increasing needs of users, ranging from individual consumers to businesses and the research community. SubCom is proud to be selected as the supplier for this project,” said Sanjay Chowbey, president of TE SubCom.
The system will be owned and operated by multiple parties, including Aqua Comms, Bulk Infrastructure, Facebook and others. Aqua Comms, the Irish cable owner/operator and carriers’ carrier, will serve as the system operator and landing party in U.S.A., Ireland, and Denmark. Bulk Infrastructure of Norway will be the owner and landing party for the Norwegian branch options.
