Press Release

This is the second in a series of eShots that will provide further detail as the programme is confirmed.

The event commences on Monday 18th April with a series of masterclass/tutorial sessions given by experts in their field. During these sessions SubOptic aims to provide an overview of new technical and commercial facets of the industry and update on key technologies.

These sessions are designed both for those who wish to update themselves in the subject area and for those who are just seeking a wider knowledge of the industry.

Topics that will be covered include:

– Myth Busters 2: Revenge of the Cable Myths

This will cover areas such as pricing, demand and types of content and be given by Alan Maudlin and Tim Stronge from TeleGeography with a special guest star, David Ross.

– Extending Capacity and Reach – Demand and Supply

A two part masterclass covering the future scaling of submarine networks from data centre operator perspective followed by presentation of the latest optical communications research on the techniques and designs to maximize system capacity to meet the future demands, given by Valey Kamalov from Google and Research Scientists from the Optical Networks Group of University College London.

– Legal Innovation

Covering the legal implications of the new market conditions such as sales of spectrum not capacity and updates on many other legal matters for private and consortium cables, given by Mike Conradi (DLA Piper).

– Jurisdictional Creep

A masterclass on marine jurisdictional problems for submarine cables starting with an explanation of the rights of, and claims by, coastal states to the different maritime zones, describing the many problem areas where disputes can occur that can significantly delay and put at risk a submarine cable project, concluding with a practical section focused on remedies, presented by Kent Bressie (HWG).

– Software Defined Networks and Network Function Virtualisation

A three part presentation to cover these important new features in our industry starting with an explanation of the concepts from the beginning, a more technical section explaining software protocols and standards and lastly implementation choices.  Start off a dummy and become an SDN and NRV expert!  This masterclass is being organized by Peter Booi (Verizon).

– Competing Seabed Users

A masterclass that will discuss how submarine cables relate with other seabed interests, considering the needs and concerns of the competing seabed users; fisheries, Oil & Gas, aquaculture, offshore renewables and other sectors, to be given by Graham Evans (EGS) and other seabed users.

– Power Budgets – become an expert!

Another masterclass with an educational objective!  This masteclass will cover areas such as how the budgeting process works; how it should be used during bid assessment; how it can be verified at RFPA? and the new ITU standards.  This masterclass will be given by Tony Frisch (Xtera) and others from the working group that Tony has been running.

– Oil and Gas : Projects & Technologies

The fibre optic concept for offshore platforms is no longer a new concept, but the industry has been knocked back recently by the significant drop in oil prices.  This masterclass will discuss how we can approach and sometimes re-structure the current opportunities to accommodate a low oil price without impacting the key criteria of safety and reliability.  This commercial presentation will be complemented by a presentation on Oil and Gas technologies.  To be presented by Pierre Tremblay (OSI) and Nexans. The backbone of the conference, the oral and poster presentations of papers written and presented by the industry, was launched with the Call for Papers in May. By the closing date for Abstract submission, we received more than 120 Abstracts across 6 topic areas.

The Abstract review process is ongoing and authors will be notified by early December. The Preliminary Programme will detail the Papers to be presented as Oral and Poster presentations.

Early Bird registration will open in early December 2015 and full details of the programme will be contained in the Preliminary Programme to be published in January 2016, which will be available from our website at www.suboptic.org