From The Programme Committee

Keith Russel Shaw (top) and Stuart Barnes (bottom)

By Stuart Barnes and Keith Russell Shaw
July 24, 2018

Regional Systems, SubOptic and Globalization

When the “Founding Fathers (and Mothers)” of our Industry gathered in Paris in 1986 none could have envisioned the tectonic shifts that have occurred since then. Telephony and Commerce were the drivers, and this meant that the vast majority of links revolved around a Japanese, USA and Western European axis. As a natural consequence all the PTT’s, installers and equipment manufacturers were to be found in these countries. These systems were essentially long haul in nature and in the fullness of time built out to surrounding regions. Todays’ systems, fueled by the Internet and insatiable demand for social media, are echoing these trends as large data centers are being built almost on a daily basis and connected by long submarine links. These “hubs” will naturally be extended by “spokes” to distribute bandwidth to users

Of course, this axis was naturally reflected in the attendance at the first SubOptic and the ensuing organization. Over the years SubOptic has been trying to throw off the shackles of its original constitution and reflecting the truly Global Nature of OUR business. We have seen SubOptic in Dubai 2016 and after New Orleans 2019 the next will be in China/Far East in 2022. We have seen the Membership grow rapidly to over 50 Organizations and still growing fast. Now the Executive Committee agreed to support a Regional Ambassador initiative. This resulted in the appointment of many leading lights in regions of the world wherein there was significant industry but a relatively quiet voice! We have every hope that these ambassadors (see below) can raise the issues within their region and ensure that the debates in SubOptic 2019 reflect a truly global view.

As we are in the Papers Submission phase we hope the Regional Ambassadors will encourage contributions from players (Operators, Suppliers and Academia) within their region.

To continue reading the rest of this article, please read it in Issue 101 of the SubTel Forum magazine here on page 56.