Icelandic Government-owned Farice and Far North Digital (FND ) have signed a memorandum of understanding for a joint marketing and sales agreement for fibre optic connectivity between Japan and Iceland which will have its exchange in Galway.
Farice’s new IRIS submarine cable will provide connectivity between Iceland and Ireland, and FND’s new Arctic cable spans between Japan and Ireland.
The parties have agreed to develop a connectivity exchange at their shared landing site in Galway, Ireland. Through the exchange, customers will be able to buy direct connectivity between Japan and Iceland, linking the third largest economy in the world and Iceland, which has 100% green and sustainable electricity.
The FND fibre route will be the first Arctic route connecting Asia with Europe through the Northwest Passage. The route follows an approximately great circle marine route, greatly reducing the optical distance between Asia and Europe, thus minimizing latency. The FND fibre is scheduled for completion and operation by the end of 2026.
The IRIS project has been in development since 2019 and the system is planned for service early 2023. Farice chose the landing in Ireland due to its short distance to Iceland with Dublin as one of Europe’s key network hubs. Direct connectivity between IRIS and FND fibre at the landing site minimizes latency for traffic between Iceland and Japan.
“We are very excited about the development of the new Arctic fibre cable that will bring the continents of Asia, Northern America and Europe closer together. The landing of the cable in Galway next to our IRIS cable will drive the development of a new submarine network exchange, connecting Iceland to Asia, North America and Northern Scandinavia”, says Thorvardur Sveinsson, CEO of Farice.
“Farice is a terrific partner, and Iceland has the renewable resources to make the Internet greener”, says Guy Houser, FND’s Chief Technical Officer. “Our combined system offers faster and more secure connectivity for the world and the North. It is critical infrastructure in the information age.”
Farice is the owner and operator of two submarine fibre systems connecting Iceland to Europe, FARICE-1 and DANICE. Farice provides international wholesale connectivity services to telecom operators in Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland, and data centre customers in Iceland. The company provides diversified services to its customers including high capacity DWDM wavelengths, IP transit and Ethernet services. The IRIS system will be Farice’ third submarine system between Iceland and Europe, providing further diversity and redundancy for international connections to Iceland.
Farice is fully owned by the Icelandic Government and plays an important role in Iceland’s infrastructure for the greater public good and economic life in Iceland. Visit: www.farice.is Far North Digital, LLC, an Alaskan company, joined True North Global Networks, a Canadian company, to develop the Far North Fibre submarine cable project. The principals of Far North/True North have significant experience in telecommunications, including the planning, financing, design and construction of subsea cable infrastructure and the management and operation of telecom companies in Alaska and Canada.
