International Data Connectivity in Iceland A White Paper

Transcription

1 International Data Connectivity in Iceland A White Paper 1

2 DATA CONNECTIVITY WHITE PAPER REPORT 2016 Iceland as a prime location for data centers The data connectivity aspect Since obtaining the first international data connection in 1906, Iceland has come a long way as a prime location for data centers. Fast forward to 2015, and connectivity coupled with a competitive environment for data center businesses now is an important reason why Iceland is one of the highest ranked countries worldwide when it comes to digital competitiveness. 1 One of the most important factors that characterizes favorable data center locations worldwide is the quality of onshore and offshore fiber infrastructure and competitiveness of telecommunication service providers. These factors minimize risk for data center businesses and provide opportunities for companies to optimize operations and expand them into the future. Competitive Connectivity in Iceland Redundant Reliable Fast Multiple service providers Iceland offers a solid fiber network in terms of redundancy and reliability where a number of service providers, such as Level 3, compete with services to optimize operating conditions of data centers in Iceland. Top-tier international connectivity solutions include WDM, SDH to Ethernet, and a suite of managed services. This document serves the purpose of introducing Iceland s data connectivity. It briefly describes the fiber network, information about redundancy and reliability of the submarine cable infrastructure and presents latency figures between Iceland and other international networks. This paper also focuses on backhaul quality, and shows data connectivity possibilities in Iceland. The paper ends with an overview of the different services and data connectivity solutions that providers offer the data center industry in Iceland. The Fiber Network Some of the most important reasons why businesses choose Iceland for their data center needs is a globally competitive TCO, security of power supply and minimal data connectivity risk. The fiber network consists of reliable backhaul in Iceland and a redundant submarine cable network that delivers data securely and efficiently across the Atlantic, between the US, Europe, and Iceland. Submarine Cables Data center connectivity from Iceland to the rest of the world is provided by undersea transatlantic cables, one between Iceland and Greenland, which then links to North America, another, called, that links Iceland to the U.K., and a third,, that runs between Iceland and Denmark [Figure 1]. The submarine cable connectivity into Iceland utilizes the most modern technology which ensures future-proof capacity and performance. Table 1. Iceland submarine cables and respective capacities Submarine cables Capacity 2016 Greenland C. 11 Terabits/s 34.4 Terabits/s 17.2 Terabits/s In 2014, new terminal equipment introduced coherent 100G wavelength and flex grid technology bringing the capacity of to 11 Terabits/s and to 34.4 Terabits/s. Figure 1. Domestic fiber network and submarine cable landing sites GREENLAND C. The latter is the equivalent of G circuits which is vast capacity and has brought the total capacity on Iceland s submarine network to 62 Terabits/s, securing Iceland s capability to supply connectivity demand in the coming years [table 1]. A Reliable Network Iceland submarine cable network is built to the stringent quality requirements of international data centers, high performance computing, cloud services, content providers, and government services. A combination of factors have allowed network owners in Iceland to reach 100% uptime for the submarine data network where network design and maintenance are without compromise with the highest level of security and redundancy in mind, and it is supported by a strong legislative regime. The cable protection zone is 1 km and the submarine cables are monitored on a continuous basis closer to land with radar and an automatic surveillance system. 1 World Economic Forum: Competitiveness Index (GCI), Figure 1a. Telecommunication service providers in Iceland. competitivenessreport /economies/#indexid=gci&economy=isl 2 3

3 DATA CONNECTIVITY WHITE PAPER REPORT 2016 Figure 2. Iceland Network Latency New York Halifax Glasgow 13.0 ms Frankfurt 17.5 ms Glasgow Copenhagen 13.0 ms 14.9 ms Frankfurt Amsterdam 17.5 ms 17.8 ms Copenhagen Hamburg ms Amsterdam ms ms Hamburg Berlin ms Poznan ms ms Berlin 17.4 ms Poznan 19.6 ms Comparison Amsterdam Comparison Amsterdam Hamina 14.8 ms Hamina 14.8 ms Lulea 16.0 ms Lulea Reykjavík ms ms Reykjavík 17.9 ms Proximity to Europe and US Iceland is located between Europe and North America. Iceland as a data center location offers competitive data connections to main hubs on each side of the Atlantic provided by the telecommunication companies listed in Figure 1a. Figure 2 shows latency figures for selected pairs of cities. Here, latency is a one-way measurement; half of a round trip delay (RTT) using 64-byte frames. Reykjavík Zurich 20.0 ms Munich Zurich ms ms Warsaw Munich ms ms Paris Warsaw ms ms Paris 21.8 ms 18.3 ms 18.3 ms 18.7 ms ms ms 18.9 ms Lulea Hamina Copenhagen Hamburg Poznan Amsterdam Berlin Paris Frankfurt Budapest Milan Marseille Milan 22.0 ms Marseille Milan ms ms Prag Marseille ms ms Budapest Prag 25.0 ms 26.0 ms Budapest 26.0 ms New York New York 51.3 ms 51.3 ms 52.5 ms ms 40.6 ms Halifax Halifax 48.7 ms 48.7 ms 49.1 ms ms ms 33.7 ms Bucharest Bucharest 33.0 ms Halifax Bucharest ms ms New Halifax York ms ms New York 40.6 ms The Farice network The Farice network is the main data network that connects Iceland with Europe. Farice is an Icelandic data connectivity service provider. The submarine section of the network consists of two cables: and [Figure 3]. Submarine cables is a 1,205 km submarine cable that connects Dunnet Bay in Scotland with Seydisfjordur in the East of Iceland, with optional branching to Faroe Islands. The cable has been in operation since Landeyjasandur in Iceland. The cable comes ashore on the south side of Iceland, through a purpose built landing station whereas connects Iceland from the east side of the country. Farice offers, in collaboration with Tele Greenland, high capacity transatlantic network services between Scandinavia and Germany to the US (Boston) or Canada (Halifax, Montreal). Terrestrial routes The Greenland Connect submarine cable connects Canada, Greenland, and Iceland [Figure 4]. The cable contains two fiber pairs with a maximum lit capacity of 17,2 Tb/s. The cable has landing points at Milton, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, Nuuk in Greenland, and Landeyjarsandur in the South of Iceland. The Greenland Connect cable is co-located with the cable in Iceland and the Trans Gulf submarine cable in Newfoundland. Together these cables interconnect the networks of major carriers in Europe and North America. The operator of this cable is TELE Greenland. Figure 3. Connectivity from Iceland to Europe Reykjavík Keflavík Torshavn Amsterdam Copenhagen Hamburg Frankfurt Connectivity services Most existing data centers in Iceland are ON-Net, meaning directly connected to the Farice network. Extensions to new data centers and other locations can be provided by at least three different competing service providers in Iceland with WDM, SDH and Ethernet services as well as dark fiber solutions. WDM The high-speed circuit of the Icelandic data fiber network allows for access to WDM (wavelength-division multiplexing) services for high capacity, high quality and a high degree of security. WDM is a technology that makes it possible to divide a fiber pair into about 80 independent circuits that can each deliver up to 100 Gb/s and each wave is accessed via a standard optical Ethernet or OUT interface. With WDM, separation occurs of the data streams in a fiber by assigning data streams to specific wavelengths. By the means of WDM, executive waves in the fiber can be allocated to clients, separate from other waves on the cable. From a security standpoint, data streams on individual carrier waves of light are virtually impossible to break into. Figure 5 shows an example of a data center customer located at a Keflavík Airport facility that has requirements for 20G services with a backup of 20G routes. The delivery abroad is in Amsterdam (Telecity II) and (Telehouse East). The figure then shows A & B services to with diversity on the terrestrial part and B & C services to Amsterdam with diversity on the terrestrial part. The Keflavik Airport area in this case offers two diverse paths from the area. is a four fiber pair, 2,304 km cable in use since The cable connects Blaaberg in Denmark with 2 Downtime has been 4 hours since the start in

4 D ATA C O N N E C T I V I T Y W H I T E PA P E R R E P O R T The south coast route reaches the submarine cable in about 150 km. The route onwards to the submarine cable has a common 50 km route to BREI branch where it branches out into the south route and the north route in Iceland until it reaches the submarine cable. The service is transparent Ethernet (transparent to all protocols over Ethernet) and supports Jumbo Frames of 9,100 bytes. ETHERNET Carrier Ethernet forms the backbone of most of the data products and solutions that service providers in Iceland have to offer. It is an elegant transport solution for the IT and telecom industry, as it has a wide range of benefits, including flexibility and customized solutions. Carrier Ethernet allows for price and performance to be optimized to customer needs and data requirements. In the network example illustrated in figure 5, the In the case illustrated in figure 6, a customer needs 3 customer in Iceland runs own network equipment and Gb/s over 10G interfaces where the services shall be controls the usage of the bandwidth provided concern- diverse all the way between Telehouse and KEF ing re-routing and protection. The service chosen and Airport. Furthermore, the data connectivity can be preferred in this case is DWDM based 10G (LAN_PHY). upgraded to 5G with short notice. The service is totally transparent for all protocols transported over EtherSDH net and all Ethernet extra tagging. Jumbo frames are SDH or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy is a conven- also supported. The service solution the figure shows tional time slot-based transmission technology, mainly is based on Ethernet over MPLS towards Telehouse used by companies in the telecom industry for many West and Ethernet over SDH towards Telehouse East. lower bandwith needs where ultimate assurance of bandwidth is needed. Figure 5. Iceland Europe network map showing service set-up from KEF LON MULI REK CS DB BRE KEF Keflavík Airport AMS CS CS = cable station DB = Dunnet Bay Scotland BRE = Breiðholt TC2 = Telecity II BB = Baaberg DK TH-E = Telehouse East BB Route for service A Route for service C Route for service B Route for service D Figure 4. Iceland s International submarine cable connectivity Seydisfjordur Landeyjasandur Nuuk Newfoundland and Labrador Faroe Islands Dunnet Bay Blaaberg GREENLAND C. Írafoss hydropower station in the lower part of the River Sog Iceland generates all of its electricity from renewable energy sources. Landsvirkjun generates three quarters of this energy exclusively from hydroelectric power and geothermal energy. 6 7

5 DATA CONNECTIVITY WHITE PAPER REPORT 2016 Figure 6. Example of an Ethernet service from KEF with diversity Iceland North submarine Dual terrestrial routes in UK SDH Ethernet over SDH SDH Telehouse EAST Coriander Ave. KEF Keflavík Airport Port 1 Port 2 MPLS Iceland south coast - submarine Dual terrestrial routes in EU Ethernet over MPLS Seperation MPLS Telehouse WEST Coriander Ave. For more information on connectivity services in Iceland contact: Farice at [email protected] Greenland Connect at [email protected]. Level 3 at [email protected] Colt at [email protected] Vodafone at [email protected] Símafélagið at [email protected] Síminn at [email protected] Tele Greenland at [email protected] About Landsvirkjun: Landsvirkjun generates renewable energy at competitive prices. The company is owned by the Icelandic State and has over 45 years of experience generating electricity from hydro and geothermal power sources. Landsvirkjun is Iceland s largest generator of electricity, currently operating 16 renewable hydro- and geothermal power stations. Landsvirkjun s mission is to maximize value creation from energy sources entrusted to the company in a sustainable and efficient manner. You are welcome to contact us at [email protected] for more information. 8 9

6 Landsvirkjun Háaleitisbraut Reykjavík Iceland Tel: landsvirkjun.com landsvirkjun.com/datacenter