Project Oxygen nears next milestones

By STEPHEN HARDY

Project Oxygen, the global fiber-optic network that CTR Group Ltd. (Woodcliff Lake, NJ) plans to begin building next year, is nearing several milestones. According to Neil Tagare, chairman and chief executive of both CTR Group and Project Oxygen Ltd., the network will also represent a proving ground for the equipment of some of the network`s sponsors.

Financing for the project should be in place by the end of this year, Tagare says. He explains that the company is currently in discussions with NEC, Tyco Submarine Systems Ltd., and Alcatel Submarine Networks concerning network construction. The company also is in the market for the initial provision of 10 installation and maintenance ships, with an option to increase the total to 23, Tagare says. CTR Group will own the ships through a subsidiary called Project Ozone; Tagare reveals the company plans to perform half of the network installation itself. The first phase of construction, which includes loops across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as a terrestrial network across North America, will begin early next year, Tagare predicts, noting that a shortage of cable, due to high demand from other projects, may affect the start of construction.

Some of the equipment and service suppliers for the project have already been named. Pirelli Cables and Systems will provide the cabling, which will include fiber from Corning Inc. (Corning, NY). Tagare reports that the undersea cables will contain Corning`s new Submarine LEAF fiber, which is the undersea version of Corning`s terrestrial large-effective-area fiber. Corning was expected to announce the development of the undersea fiber late last month (see Lightwave, October 1998, page 1). Project Oxygen would represent Corning`s first customer for the product. Meanwhile, Lucent Technologies (Holmdel, NJ) will supply much of the transmission equipment, including its Bandwidth Manager. Again, the Project Oxygen network will represent the first deployment of the new system.

Both Corning and Lucent are sponsors of the network. Other sponsors include Alcatel Submarine Networks, Tyco Submarine Systems, NEC Corp., Mitsui & Co., Sumitomo Corp., and NTT International.

As the construction details are finalized, CTR Group continues to simplify the network topology. Latest estimates call for the worldwide network to land at 98 points (down from the original 262) in 77 countries. The network will include 83 submarine links and 10 terrestrial crossings, for a total system length of approximately 160,000 km. All but 10,000 km of this distance will be undersea runs. The network will carry 640 Gbits/sec (16 channels at 10 Gbits/sec over four fibers) through most of its links using both Asynchronous Transfer Mode and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy transmission methods.

Tagare says price will be one factor that will differentiate the Project Oxygen network from its satellite-based and undersea network competitors. The company will offer a 25-year usage right for a full STM-1 circuit at $600,000, a price which Tagare claims is three to 100 times lower than that charged by potential competitors. The flexibility afforded by various city-to-city packages and the ability to perform point-to-multipoint transmission should also prove attractive as well, foresees Tagare.

Service on the network is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2000, with the full network slated to reach completion in the first quarter of 2002. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. of India signed a memorandum of understanding this summer for capacity on the network. Tagare says the company should announce more clients in the near future. o