Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:04:17 +0100 From: "D.H. van der Woude" <dirkvanderwoude@gmail.com> To: NANOG@merit.edu Subject: Re: AFP article on Taiwan cable repair effort

Thanks for the link, which brought me to the page http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/submarine/vessels/index.htm where their vessels are decribed.

Their specs bring up something (at to least to me) of interest. The popular story is always "in the 90-ties so much submarine (trans-Atlantic & -Pacific fiber was laid that it will take decades to fill it up. And the bust of 2000 seemed proof enough.

However, from the specs of Alcatel's 5 vessels one learns that 4 of them are effectively from 2002 (!).

So did Alcatel some anti-cyclic investing - or did they know more than others?

1) Any idea how long it takes to manufacture one of those vessels? Any idea how long in advance of start of manufacture that the 'firm order' had to be placed? 2) Were they additions to Alcatel's fleet, or _replacements_? 3) With all that additional cable 'in place', the amount of maintenance required goes up proportionately.