AquaComms Newsletter Q1 2019

25th April 2019

Welcome to FOCUS, the latest Aqua Comms Newsletter.

2019 has got off to a flying start, and as we come to the end of Q1 2019, we wanted to reflect on what’s happened and update you on the major plans for the remainder of the year:

Q1 Highlights

• Sales have been stronger than anticipated so far this year on AEC-1, and we are seeing this through upgrades of existing 10G waves to 100G, as well as growing demand for 100G backbone services.
• Launch of our New FOCUS Customer Portal.
• 3 new cable build projects: America Europe Connect 2 (AEC-2, our part of HavFrue),CeltixConnect-2 and North Sea Connect – we continue to work hard to deliver these new cables on time; please see the update below on the timings for the key milestones.
• Appointment of 2 new Board members
• Tradeshows – we have been busy participating at a number of tradeshows, including PTC, Subsea Networks EMEA and Capacity Middle East most recently over in Dubai;

AEC-1

AEC-1 remains the core of our business in 2019. This quarter we had a surge in 100G orders, keeping our Service Delivery team on their toes.

The growth is attributed to a mix of customers upgrading from 10G to 100G as well as additional 100G backbone requirements, combining to reach a total of more than 1.5Tb sold and delivered in Q1.

This further supports industry analysts’ views that the Trans-Atlantic remains a strong growth market. It also shows that AEC-1 is well positioned to capture continued growth as well as a share of existing traffic as the market continues its move to the latest 100Gb technology that AEC-1 offers.

We have also been busy supporting our customers and partners sharing our experiences in the ever-changing dynamics of the Trans-Atlantic market. If you would like to take advantage of this, please contactinfo@aquacomms.com and we can set up a session with your sales teams, sales engineering, product and / or marketing teams.

Our New Customer Portal

We have completed the design and build of our new customer portal, which is currently under beta testing before we launch in Q2. Aligned with our clear marketing positioning, it is called the FOCUS portal (pictured below) and we look forward to rolling this out to you in Q2.

The North Atlantic Loop

We have made significant progress on our 3 new cable build projects that, along with AEC-1 and CC-1, make up The North Atlantic Loop:

1. AEC-2 as our part of the HavFrue consortium
2. CC-2 (CeltixConnect-2), our second Irish Sea cable
3. NSC (North Sea Connect), the first new-technology cable to connect the UK and Scandinavia, avoiding London

The Latest is:

AEC-2: the cable manufacturing is close to completion and loading on to the cable laying ship will start in April for the first phase of deployment. Cable laying will start in July and is expected to be completed in Q3. Our New Jersey cable landing station (at NJFX) has been completed and is ready for equipment.

CC-2 and NSC: surveys have been completed and cable manufacture has started. Cable laying will start late summer and will be completed in Q4. Terrestrial networks and our cable landing stations continue to be constructed ready for a Q4 completion.

• AEC-2 will complement the existing AEC-1 and will land in New Jersey, Ireland and Denmark
• CC-2 will deliver enhanced resilience and capacity between Dublin, IoM, Manchester, Newcastle and London providing open access, carrier neutral capacity to international networks, global ISPs and telecoms operators.
• NSC is the first modern system providing diversity from the UK into Northern Europe avoiding London.

Board Update

I am delighted to announce that Aqua Comms has appointed Ed McCormack and Tim Passingham as new Board members. Both bring a wealth of industry experience and perspective to our board, and we look forward to working with them as we continue the development of the Aqua Comms business and network.

Looking Ahead

The Aqua Comms’ team will be at the following events over the next few months. Please contactereihill@aquacomms.com to schedule a meeting with us.

• SubOptic New Orleans |  April 8th–11th
• Cloud, Content and Telecoms Summit Dublin | May 8th–9th
• Data Cloud Europe Monaco | June 4th–6th
• NANOG76 Washington DC | June 10th–12th
• ITW Atlanta | June 23rd–26th
• Subsea EMEA Marseille | July 9th–10th

Finally, as always, our goal is nothing less than an outstanding experience for you, our customer. If you wish to send us feedback or suggestions for how we may better serve you, please get in touch.

Chief Executive Officer, Aqua Comms