The research and education (R&E) networks are preparing for participating in the upcoming Far North Fiber Submarine Cable project
Press release from Cinia
The new Far North Fiber (FNF) cable system will open a new, high secure and fast route connecting three continents in the global R&E community. It is good news for users in the research and education communities of the Nordic countries that an entirely new high-capacity route is currently under development by an international joint development company Far North Fiber, Inc.
The FNF Submarine Cable System will interconnect Scandinavia and Japan, through the Northern Arctic, including landings e.g., in U.S, Canada, and Ireland. The Scandinavian/Nordics landing stations will be in Northern Norway and Finland.
Far North Fiber project is executed together by Cinia Oy from Finland, Far North Digital from US and ARTERIA Networks Corporation from Japan. It is estimated that the nearly 17,000 km cable system will be ready for service by the end of 2026.
NORDUnet, has signed a Letter of Intent with Far North Fiber, Inc, expressing interest in a dedicated fiber pair in the FNF Submarine Cable System between Norway/Finland and Japan. This could potentially also include other landing points pending interest from Research & Education Network organizations.
The Nordics are in a unique position to pioneer a fiber pair for Nordic and European Research and Education, on a completely new route. This project, once realized, will enhance the collaboration landscape between R&E partners in The Nordics, Europe, North America and Japan. In addition, it will boost Nordic regional development and significantly enhance European digital sovereignty, says NORDUnet CEO Valter Nordh.
NORDUnet is also currently working on forging a consortium of National and Regional R&E organizations in Europe, Asia, and possibly North America, that jointly plans to invest in the cable pair for the lifetime of the system.
We are pleased to welcome the international research and education community, headed by NORDUnet, to leverage the benefits obtainable from the unique Far North Fiber opportunity. As an engine customer with a highly positive boost to the FNF project, the R&E networks are signaling the importance of global digital infrastructure enabling new routes, additional capacity and increased diversity, says Mr. Ari-Jussi Knaapila, the CEO of Cinia Oy, the Finnish Partner in the Far North Fiber Inc.
This fiber pair in FNF cable system will be among the first intercontinental fiber pairs in history owned and managed by the research and education communities. The ownership will contribute to securing connectivity in an age where the ability to transmit large data sets and conduct distance learning and conferencing is absolutely imperative. On top of that, R&E users in all of Europe will experience further benefits in terms of lower cost, access to larger bandwidths, improved latencies and increased resilience.
Contacts:
FND
Ethan Berkowitz
Email: [email protected]
NORDUnet A/S
[email protected]
About Far North Fiber
Far North Fiber, Inc. is a company which was established to work towards development of a submarine fiber optic system connecting Asia and Europe through the Arctic. The partners of Far North Fiber, Inc, are Finland’s Cinia Oy, Alaska’s Far North Digital and Japan’s ARTERIA Networks Corporation. Far North Fiber will promote a submarine cable system that aims to realize a faster and more secure route directly connecting Japan, North America, and Ireland and Scandinavia.
More information: www.farnorthfiber.com
About NORDUnet
NORDUnet is a collaboration between the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) of the five Nordic countries, i.e., Denmark (DeiC), Finland (Funet), Iceland (RHnet), Norway (Uninett), and Sweden (SUNET). We operate a world-class data network, based on dark fiber and spectrum sharing, together with support for e-infrastructures, including media services like videoconferencing and lecture capturing & playback. More than 400 research & education institutions in the Nordics, with over 1.2 million users, are connected via the Nordic NREN networks, enabling scientists, educators, and students to work and share knowledge globally. NORDUnet is an active participant in the European NREN collaboration GÉANT and is a founding father of intercontinental NREN collaborations such as the Advanced North Atlantic (ANA) and AsiaPacific Europe Ring (AER) systems that are part of the Global Research and Education Network (GREN). In 2020, NORDUnet celebrated 40 years of Nordic NREN collaboration.
More information: https://www.nordu.net/
Originally published on 2 December.
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