All Systems Go For Southern Cross

[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN) said today its in the final testing stages of its 30,500km trans-Pacific cable network which is due to go live on November 15.

The announcement follows the successful completion of trials to ensure reliable performance from the launch of the cable on November 15 to the end of the system’s design life in 2025.

“After nearly two years of manufacturing, installation, commissioning and testing, we are about to open up a whole new world of global opportunity,” said SCCN’s chief executive officer Baldo Sutich.

Loading of customer-specific data is now underway and, on November 15, customers will be given access to their individual circuits and the network will be live.

“Once our customers have configured their network circuits the Australasian Internet community will start to feel the benefits of a bandwidth explosion brought about by Southern Cross,” predicted Mr. Sutich.

“Until now our Internet experience has been constrained by the lack of reliable and cost-effective international bandwidth to connect Australasia to the heart of the Internet – the U.S. west coast. By removing the international bandwidth bottleneck, Southern Cross allows full participation in the online worlds of entertainment, commerce and information for the first time.”

“With globalization proceeding at a rapid pace, the significance of Southern Cross to the future strength of the Australasian economy cannot be underestimated,” says Mr. Sutich.

The entering into service of the Southern Cross Cable Network will mark the end of more than two years of manufacturing, construction and testing for the Southern Cross project team and their suppliers, Alcatel and Fujitsu.

Since the cable first landed in Sydney on July 8, 1999 SCCN has used seven cable ships to lay 28,500km of undersea cable and over 500 optical repeaters to link four countries, including three U.S. states.

SCCN also said it had commissioned over 1,500km of land route, upgraded six cable station buildings and
built three more from scratch.