FOCUS : the Aqua Comms Newsletter – Jan 2020
17th January 2020
Welcome to FOCUS : the Aqua Comms Newsletter and Happy New Year from us all at Aqua Comms!
2020 is here and, as we enter a new decade, there is a lot to look forward to here at Aqua Comms as we bring 3 new cables into service.
The subsea industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace with an unprecedented amount of new cable builds either in progress or being planned.
Such growth and investment is a positive for the overall industry but we must also be wary of the problems of the past, to build sustainable business models to fit with such growth and to fit the very different needs of the users – from the hyperscalers to enterprises building out their cloud connectivity.
But as we start a new year, it is always a good time to reflect however on the year just gone, before turning our attentions to the plans and goals for this year:
2019 Highlights
- Better than expected Sales performance across all key customer segments and channels
- Stronger Earnings and Cashflow results than planned through delivery of the unique Aqua Comms operating model
- Industry-leading service delivery of 100G on-net wavelengths in typically 5 days or less
- Increasing demand for new-technology cables on new and diverse routes
- Significant milestone achievements for the 3 new cable system projects ahead of launch in the first half of 2020
- Launch of our New FOCUS Customer Portal
- Appointment of 2 new Board members bringing a wealth of industry experience, and the strengthening of the management team with key new VP appointments in Engineering, Operations and Finance
- Engaged by Celtic Norse for Aqua Comms to deploy its operating model across this new cable connecting Norway to Ireland, with branches to Iceland and Scotland
- Participation in key industry Tradeshows and Conferences supported by Aqua Comms aquatic-themed customer events at the Cutty Sark in London, the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, the Blue Planet in Copenhagen and a Subcom cable factory visit in New Hampshire:
AEC-1
AEC-1 remained the core of our business in 2019 delivering multiple Terabits of new capacity services through the year, mostly at 100G level, supporting the Wholesale carrier, the Cloud and Content markets.
This further supports the industry analysts’ view that the Trans-Atlantic remains a strong growth market and shows that AEC-1 is well positioned to capture this growth as well as a share of existing traffic as the market continues its move to the latest 100Gb technology that AEC-1 offers, and in anticipation of further technology upgrades.
We continue to support 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 contact info@aquacomms.com and we can set up a session with your sales teams, sales engineering, product and / or marketing teams.
What’s Ahead in 2020:
- The launch of 3 new cable systems:
- America Europe Connect 2 (AEC-2)
- CeltixConnect-2 (CC-2)
- North Sea Connect (NSC)
- Adding 10 new subsea cable landing stations
- Delivering the North Atlantic Loop
The North Atlantic Loop
We have made significant progress on our 3 new cable build projects that, which combined with the existing AEC-1 and CC-1, make up The North Atlantic Loop:
- AEC-2 as our part of the HavFrue consortium – AEC-2 will complement the existing AEC-1 and will land in New Jersey, Ireland and Denmark to give 2 new, modern and totally diverse Trans-Atlantic systems
- CC-2 (CeltixConnect-2), our second Irish Sea cable – CC-2 will complement the existing CC-1 and deliver enhanced resilience and capacity between Dublin, the Isle of Man, Manchester, Newcastle and London providing open access, carrier neutral capacity to international networks, global ISPs and telecoms operators.
- NSC (North Sea Connect), the first new-technology cable to connect the UK and Scandinavia, avoiding London providing diversity between the UK and Northern Europe avoiding London.
The latest on each project is as follows:
AEC-2: the majority of the cable has now been laid with the last remaining sections to be completed during Q1 subject as ever to the weather. The expected completion of the build is end of Q1 with services launched in Q2.
CC-2 and NSC: cable laying has started and with the vast majority of the required infrastructure of the cable landing stations and terrestrial network connectivity complete, we’re looking forward to bringing both these cables into service in Q2.
Our New Customer Portal
We have completed the design and build of our new customer portal and this was launched in Q2 2019 to a limited audience. The portal has since been updated with new more dynamic features which were added in Q4. Full launch will follow in Q1 2020. Please look out for this as a key customer initiative for early 2020.
Aligned with our clear marketing positioning, it is called the FOCUS Portal and this can be seen below and we look forward to rolling this out to all our customers and partners from Q1 this year.
Best Woman in Subsea Award!
I was personally delighted for Maggie Parry, our Sales VP for Wholesale and Carrier, for the recognition at the Global Women in Telco and Technology 2019 event as winner of Best Woman in Subsea! Congratulations Maggie and deserved recognition for more than 20 years of outstanding service to the subsea industry.
Looking Ahead
The Aqua Comms’ team will be at the following events over the next few months. Please contact info@aquacomms.com to schedule a meeting.
- PTC – Hawaii – January 19th-22nd
- MetroConnect USA – Miami – February 10th-12th
- Submarine Networks Europe- London- February 18th-19th
- Capacity Middle East- Dubai- March 2nd-5th
- Capre NYC- New York City- March 4th-5th
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.
Warm Regards,
