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DESCRIPTION

Cable Types & Uses

Benefits

FAQ
Boat Alaska United is a high capacity diversely routed ring protected fiber optic communication network connecting Alaska's major population centers with the lower 48 states. The network consists of three major sections: 1. AU-North connecting Fairbanks and communities along the southern pipeline corridor to the network 2. AU-East connecting Anchorage, Juneau, and Seattle with landing sites at Whittier, Lena Point and Lynnwood, WA. 3. AU-West connecting Anchorage to Seattle with landing points in Seward and Warrenton, OR. The system utilizes optical amplification allowing flexible capacity expansion through the life of the system. The submarine portions where installed with state-of-the-art burial and laying technique by industry leaders. The cable is buried from the cable landing stations to a water depth of 4,900 ft where possible to avoid external aggressions. The networks diversely routed SONET ring architecture provides the highest availability and security of any commercial communication system for the state of Alaska.


AU Cable Types and Uses
Diagram of Cable Double Armor - Beach to 650 ft. depth, heavy surf zones and reefs

Light Wire Armor - 650 to 5,000 ft. depth, light surf

Special Protection Application - 5,000 to 8,000 ft. depth, at branching units and deep water chafing areas

Light Weight Armor - Greater than 5,000 ft. depth in benign areas


Timelines
Checked Box AU-East Route Survey Completed Dec 1996
Checked Box AU-East/North Supply Contract Signed July 1997
Checked Box AU-North Route Survey Completed October 1997
Checked Box AU-North Completed and Operational December 1998
Checked Box AU-East System Completed and Operational February 1999
Checked Box AU-West Route Survey Completed December 2002
Checked Box AU-West Supply Contract Signed June 2003
Checked Box AU-West Completed and Operational June 2004
Checked Box AU-West Segment 3, Ketchikan to BU Completed and Operational October 2008
Checked Box SEAFAST Completed and Operational October 2008

Benefits
Capacity
When Alaska United-East came on line the fiber optic capacity out of the State immediately was multiply five times. With the addition of AU-West and AU-East upgrade the capacity has been increased approximately 22 times the capacity prior to the Alaska United Fiber System. Further capacity gains can now be made by adding shore-based electronic equipment to allow total capacity of AU-West of 640 Gbs and AU-East of 110 Gbs. This is enough to carry 82.5 and 14.2 million simultaneous voice or data calls on the respective segments of the Alaska United Network.

Why Fiber?
Fiber optics is the preferred method of carrying voice, video and data communications. It allows for optimization of transmission equipment because of its lack of delay found in satellite connections. Its superior information carrying capacity enables the deployment of bandwidth hungry applications. Fiber optic cables also are totally insensitive to electromagnetic interference and offer a secure link because of their immunity to eavesdropping.

So What?
For residential users, applications like high-speed Internet and ISDN which support PC-video conferencing for home or office are now possible. Enhanced video services like movies-on-demand and distance education are likewise possible. In addition, Alaska United will eventually enhance GCI's cable television services by creating the capacity necessary to offer Alaska programming, rather than lower 48 satellite feeds.

For business users, new technologies like ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) and PRI-ISDN will, for the first time, allow businesses to access large capacities of bandwidth as needed.

For government, education and military users, broadband applications with security, equipment redundancy and route diversity can be achieved for the first time.

Even users who don't live in an area served directly by Alaska United will realize benefits. Alaska United will allow GCI and other carriers to use satellite capacity more efficiently. More available satellite capacity allows the network to deliver broadband applications to smaller communities more economically.


Frequently Asked Questions

What is Alaska United and how is it organized?
Alaska United Fiber System (AU-North and AU-East) is a partnership of two wholly-owned subsidiaries of GCI. It was the state's first fiber optic network to connect the largest population centers of Alaska. Alaska United Fiber System utilizes undersea and terrestrial connections to extend high capacity fiber optics to Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Whittier and Valdez.

Alaska United West is an asset purchased and operated by GCI Communication Corp. Although the entire Alaska United Network is operated seamlessly under GCI control there are distinct business organization differences.

Alaska United is the communications equivalent of an Interstate highway system. It will enable the deployment of new, bandwidth hungry communication applications such as faster Internet, ISDN, video conferencing, telemedicine and distance education.

Alaska United, when combined with GCI's previous investments in Alaska tailored satellite capacity (Galaxy IX, Galaxy Xr, Galaxy XVIII), will provide unparalleled communication coverage throughout the state.

Why build this cable now?
Customers in Alaska are already starved for bandwidth capacity, and that demand is expected to grow sharply in the coming years. This bandwidth crunch potentially restricts the deployment of new communication services and the development and diversification of the state's economy. In addition, AU-West construction was completed during a period of low submarine cable supply demand allowing GCI to deploy the system with the industries top resources on hand.

What fiber connectivity existed in Alaska prior to Alaska United North Pacific Cable (NPC) terminates in Seward with a terrestrial fiber that connects to Anchorage. NPC had a total capacity of nine DS-3 (420 Mb/s) or approximately 6,048 clear channel voice/data circuits. NPC Alaskan Spur is currently not in service. There was no fiber to Juneau, and had been none to Fairbanks.

What are the capacities of this new cable?
At start-up in 1999, AU-East capacity was a minimum of OC-48 = 32,256 voice/data circuits at 2.5 GB/s. As demand has increased, capacity is being upgraded to allow multiple OC-192 = 129,024 voice/data circuits at 10 GB/s. Capacity is upgraded by adding optical electronics at the shore station--no "wet plant" work is required.

AU-West was installed at OC-192 level with a commercial design capacity of 640 GB/s or 82.5 million voice/data circuits.

AU-North is currently operating at multiple OC-48 or 2.5 GB/s level. The capacity of the AU-North segment can be increase either by the utilization of unused dark fibers or through adding additional wavelengths to the current fibers in use.

What is the route? How was it selected?
The marine routing of the three segments of the Alaska United Network where carefully chosen to provide the safest routing of the cable with least conflict with historical uses of the seafloor. Initial route planning was conducted as a desktop study that included information gathered from local fishermen, pilots, USCG, Harbormasters, and permit agencies. Drawing on the results of a desktop study, a marine survey was conducted for GCI by FSSI on each segment. The system supplier's then engineered the final cable route. In several cases the route was further adjusted due to additional input from fishermen, permit agencies and conditions encountered during the installation. The route designed included the avoidance of areas known for heavy bottom fishing. Inland extensions to Juneau, Anchorage, Ketchikan, and Seattle will be configured in a physically diverse SONET ring to afford maximum protection against outage.

What are the vitals of Alaska United?
LENGTH--Alaska United network is a total of 5,970 statute miles of which 4,988 miles is subsea and 982 miles are overland. Seattle to branching unit is 1276 miles. Branching unit to Juneau is 509 miles. Branching unit to Whittier is 860 miles. Whittier to Valdez is 95 miles. Warrenton, OR to Seward is 1494 miles. Ketchikan to BU is 372 miles. The SEAFAST system is 382 miles. Valdez to Fairbanks is an estimated 284 miles. Anchorage to Fairbanks is 345 miles. Whittier to Anchorage is 50 miles. The In addition 303 miles are a combination of lease capacity or acquired dark fiber.


REPEATERS-- REPEATERS-- Alaska United includes 67 optical amplifiers (also called EDFAs, Erbium-doped Fiber Amplifiers). AU-East has 33 and AU-West has 34. These undersea amplifiers are integrated into the cable and are powered by "constant-current" PFEs (power feed equipment) located at the six cable landing stations. These EDFAs amplify the optical signal without any conversion to an intermediate electrical signal.

AU-North does not have subsea amplifiers. The capacity on AU-North is regenerated at Whitier, Valdez and along the pipeline corridor. AU-North currently operates at multiple OC-48 signal level.

STRANDS--Alaska United has been designed to support WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) whereby separate wavelengths (colors) each can carry an OC-192 (optical carrier level 192 which is 9.95328 Mbps or 129,024 traditional voice circuits). Currently Alaska United is carrying one completely ringed OC-192 signal with additional OC-192 capacity on stand alone portions of the network. Each fiber pair can be upgraded to additional OC-192 channels by adding shore-based electronics without changing the wet plant.

Alaska United has a minimum four fiber strands in all cable cross-sections (i.e., 2-fiber ring in a common cable sheath). There are up to 48 fiber strands in the terrestrial cable sections. One PSBU (power-switched branching unit) is included in Alaska United- East and provides a common point where the three undersea cable segments are joined. The PSBU provides the ability to remotely switch the power configuration of the cable and thereby enhance system reliability. The SONET terminal equipment can interface standard asynchronous and synchronous circuit types including: DS-1, DS-3, OC-1, OC-3, OC-12, OC-48, and EC-1 (electrical carrier level 1). SEAFAST has a minimum of 24 fibers in each cable segment.

What is SONET and how is it an advantage?
SONET stands for Synchronous Optical NETwork and is a fiber optic transport standard developed by ANSI (American National Standard Institute). SONET has the key advantages of providing high-capacity fiber optic transport, defines a system of synchronous signal levels, includes a high-level of OAM&P (Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning) capability, supports automatic protection switching, allows a high-degree of interoperability between different vendor platforms, etc.

Relative to Alaska United, define protection, bit error rate, route diversity?
PROTECTION-- Alaska United East and West create a diversely routed SONET ring system, which it includes automatic protection switching (APS) to protect against failure of any individual electronic or fiber optic component of the network including a cable cut in the system. Alaska United North has SONET protection but currently it is in a collapsed ring where both sides of the ring network are physically located in the same cable sheath. This configuration allows for protection against failure of any individual electronic or fiber optic component of the network not including an actual cable cut.

BER--the ratio of error bits to the total number of bits transmitted. Alaska United is an astoundingly small one bit error occurring every 10,000,000,000,000 (trillion) bits sent (this is three to four orders of magnitude better than satellite or microwave).

DIVERSITY--by itself, Alaska United does have "route diversity" on the AU-East and AU-West segments since the fiber ring is contained in separate distinct cable sheaths. AU-North does not have diversity and is a collapsed ring configuration.

What types of hazards does a subsea cable face?
The primary causes of external aggression are bottom fishing, ocean currents, and geological events such as earthquakes and volcanoes. However, 95 percent of submarine cable failures are attributable to fishing activities. To guard against these factors, Alaska United will be plow buried from shore to a depth of 4,900 feet or greater except in rocky areas where bottom conditions don't permit burial or fishing. Additionally, the route was adjusted to avoid geological hazards.

What precautions have been taken to minimize hazards?
The cable route has been selected to avoid as many external aggression factors as feasibly possible. Extensive research of fishing activities and practices has been done to avoid busy fishing areas. Cable armoring and burial is planned in areas where potential fishing is unavoidable. GCI will ensure that the Alaska United cable route is identified as a "cable protection route" on nautical charts. GCI will also actively communicate with the fishing industry and monitor fishing activities to decrease the possibility of damage to the cable. GCI maintains an active hot line to GCI network operation center to assist any fisherman that may mistakenly come in contact with one of the cables.

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