We now move into the second half of the PTC '14 Submarine Cable Workshop. Part 2 of the Naked Truth cheekily titled “For Real? Buying and Building New Undersea Systems Naked!” It is a panel consisting of six industry representatives and moderated by Elaine Stafford, VP of The David Ross Group (DRG). Panelists are as follows:
Stephen Alexander, EVP & CTO, Ciena,
David Coughlan, President & CEO, TE SubCom
Leigh Frame, COO, Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks
Yves Ruggeri, President, SubOptic Executive Committee, and Head, Network Strategy & Submarine Systems Department, Orange
Bevan Slattery, CEO & Co-Founder, SubPartners
Hualian (Happy) Zhang, VP, Network Planning and Construction , China Telecom Global Limited
Part 2 examines the possibilities in building new systems naked (or dark). That is, without SLTE provided by the prospective wet-system supplier. Such systems have previously never been considered practical, but new studies suggest that there may be a real market.
“What are the risks? Who's going to own those risks? Can the risks be manages? Those are the questions of this panel.” ~ Stafford
Part 2 is followed by the final part of The Naked Truth. In Part 3, the panel will debate the pros and cons of buying and building a system dark. The debate will examine the feasibility of adequately specifying, demonstrating, and testing divided wet and dry scope of work, risk and risk management, benefits, and impact to the industry.
