Blog Entries

Launch Video

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Here is the video that was used in the launch.

PIPE INTERNATIONAL AND TYCO TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPLETE PPC-1 UNDERSEA CABLE SYSTEM

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0100

PIPE INTERNATIONAL AND TYCO TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPLETE PPC-1 UNDERSEA CABLE SYSTEM: System to Link Australia to Guam, Generate Increased Competition in Australian Market

PIPE International, a fully owned subsidiary of PIPE Networks Limited (ASX: PWK), and Tyco Telecommunications, a business unit of Tyco Electronics and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology, today announced they have completed the PPC-1 cable system. The completion of the 6,900 km system linkin [...]

COUNTDOWN TO LAUNCH

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0100

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - The final countdown to the launch has begun. Anticipation is building prior to the launch. There is less the 48 hours to go until the official launch of PPC-1. All systems are ready for launch on 8 October 2009. The official launch is expected to be at approximately 11:00 am AEDT. Prepare for launch.

Miscellaneous Errands

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0100

With all the PPC-1 project activities in place all that is left for the PPC-1 project management team are miscellaneous errands. One of these tasks includes the electronic consolidation of all the relevant documents and files from the project for the ongoing use by the operations team. Brett Worrall, Lee Harper, Robin Webb and John Bradfield in the Sydney CLS attended to tasks such as these on the [...]

What Does the NOC Do?

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0100

We have had a few posts about the Network Operations Centre ("NOC") so we thought we would give you a little more information about what the NOC does. NOCs are a vital part of network infrastructure. The essential task of the NOC involves surveillance of the health of the network 24/7/365. The NOC also performs other vital functions. These include: supporting the operating an [...]

B3 Training

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Some of our NOC people have recently been studiously undertaking some network management training. Network management training essentially involves training on the network management system for PPC-1. A key part of this training relates to alarm and fault management for the system. Pictured above is some of the NOC staff with their B3 training certificates after completion of the course.

Completion of B2 Training

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

B2 training for the system is now complete. During the week, the PI team got to carry out some dry practise runs on the various maintenance activities that they will be expected to complete during the life of the system.

In the picture above, John and Matt have just completed an exercise to change out a blown lightning arrestor. It lives inside one of the High Voltage modules in the PFE [...]

Great Brisbane Duck Race Results

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

We had a few requests for the race results so we thought that we would post an update. There was a pile-up at the start off the grid. One of our props was damaged in the process. As a consequence propulsion was lost on the port side of the duck. This meant that the duck was unable to finish the race. No doubt PIPE will return next year with a more awesome duck.

Inventory Checks

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Alongside the B2 training, all three cable stations are completing their final inventory checks with the Tyco C&A staff. This involves going through the inventory records and sighting and cross-checking the items, quantities and serial numbers - right down to every last washer, nut and bolt.

In the picture above, Matt is checking off the keys that are used to control the PFE to ensure that [...]

PIPE's Great Brisbane Duck Race Entry

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

PIPE has entered a duck in the Great Brisbane Duck Race. Ordinarily this would be a $5 affair, with our duck competing against 24,999 other ducks in a competition to float merrily down the river. This year, however, there is also a corporate version in which the ducks are larger - about a foot long, and rubber. Also modifications are legal and encouraged.

So we set about thinking how we could do this. After many discussions about the ‘how' (and a f [...]

B2 Training

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

The PIPE team is hard at it again, this time getting their last batch of hands-on training on the Tyco system. This is the last formal training session to be conducted and sees all three cable stations completing the training at the same time. It focuses on the processes and procedures for using and maintaining the systems and backs up the largely theoretical B1 training completed a few months [...]

What is Forward Error Correction?

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Forward Error Correction essentially improves the quality of a signal. It works by adding error-correcting code to the incoming signal. The client signals on the SLTE are clocked at the STM64 receiver at a rate of 9.95328 Gbit/s. Error-correcting code is added to the incoming signal that increases the line rate of this bit stream to just over 12 Gbit/s. Reed Solomon coding is one example of an [...]

PPC-1 Successfully Transmits IP Packets between Australia and the USA via Guam

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

PIPE Networks Limited (ASX: PWK) subsidiary, PIPE International (Australia) Pty Ltd today announced that PPC-1 has successfully completed another major milestone by transmitting Internet Protocol (IP) packets end to end between Australia and the USA via Guam.

PIPE International in partnership with Australian internet innovator Internode Pty Ltd established IP connectivity from Sydney to San [...]

Confidence Trial Complete

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Over the weekend the Confidence Trial came to an end. The results from the Confidence Trial will be compiled into a report which is called the ‘Commissioning Report'. The results will be reviewed for conformity with the specifications. Given the indications to date there are not expected to be any significant issues.

Testing Explanation

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Lars gives an update on the testing.

Confidence Trial Underway

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Over the past three weeks or so the majority of the commissioning and acceptance tests and demonstrations have been completed. On Saturday we reached one of the few remaining milestones: the seven day confidence trial began (the "Confidence Trial"). The Confidence Trial is concerned with recording performance data on the system over a seven day period with a view to confirming that the [...]

Tokyo POP Online!

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Following Matt and Lee's whirlwind stop in San Jose, they jumped straight on a plane and headed to Tokyo to set up the site there. The boys arrived on Saturday night and went straight to work, getting tours, access and inductions out of the way. The work started in earnest on Sunday and by Sunday night the site was 99% complete. The job was an identical setup to San Jose and [...]

San Jose POP Online!

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

At 9pm last Friday night (Brisbane time) the San Jose POP for PPC-1 came online. After Matt and Lee installed all the equipment in San Jose they connected the POP up. In the picture above, you can see Lee inserting the 10G cards into the Cisco equipment.

In addition to installing and connecting the equipment, 42 circuits worth of patch cords were also labelled, recorded, cleaned and [...]

San Jose – Equipment Installed

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Over the weekend Matt and Lee went to San Jose and Tokyo to connect up the onwards capacity (from Guam to Japan and mainland USA). Their first stop was San Jose. There they unpacked and installed the Cisco 15454 chassis along with its transmission cards and optics. They're presently heading back to Australia but we'll put up some posts of them connecting up the San Jose and Tokyo sites in [...]

Articulate Pipe Swim-Over

peter.burrows@pipeinternational.com — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Here is some footage of some articulated pipe that is used in the system. Articulated pipe is just a metal casing around the cable itself. Articulated pipe is used in some sections of the system to add additional protection to the cable where this is deemed desirable. Normally the decision to use articulated pipe is largely determined by the environment in which the cable sits.