Baltic Open.Net

BalticOpen.Net. Gints Neimanis. CEF Networks 16.-18. May 2004

Baltic Open.NetBaltic Open.Net

Establishing network over submarine cable Stockholm – Ventspils

Connecting the Sweden Royal Technical University (KTH) in Stockholm and Ventspils

University College (VeA) in Latvia

Gints NeimanisVeA, Latvia


About Ventspils and VeAAbout Ventspils and VeA● Ventspils is located in the north-west of Latvia

with ~44 000 inhabitants.● Main industries in Ventspils, with main

industries in tourism and transit (one of the major ports in Baltic states)

● The VeA was established in 1997.● In 2004./2005. - 750 undergraduate and

master students in following directions– business and management studies– translating and interpreting– information technology (from 2002.)


Submarine cableSubmarine cable

● in 2002. “Stokab AB” (Sweden) has built submarine fibre cable from Uto (near Stockholm) to Foresund in Gotland.

● The “Hulvent AB”and “Foco 16” decided to extended this fibre cable from Gotland to Ventspils.


Uto

Farosund

KTH

VeA


Submarine cableSubmarine cable● At the end of 2003. “Hulvent

AB”\“Foco 16” and Ventspils municipality made agreement, where the cable owners agreed to give the free access to one fibre pair in cable to KTH and VeA for academic task (not commercial use)

● In spring of 2004. the cable was drawn from shelf to “VATS” buildings - electricity company in Ventspils


Starting the BalticOpen.NetStarting the BalticOpen.Net

● In beginning of 2004. KTH and VeA started the project “BalticOpen.Net” with main goals:– Establish the connection between KTH and VeA over

sumbarine cable, and demostrate, that the cable is operational

– Demonstrate the possibilities to use the inexpensive network equipment for reaching 175km fiber without amplifiers in middle..

– Demonstrate the services for cable usage – to build a interactive videoconferencing room in VeA for the joint lectures between KTH and VeA


BalticOpen.Net Project BalticOpen.Net Project groupgroup

● Principial – prof. Bjorn Pehrson, KTH, IT-University, Telecomunications System Lab.

● Graduate students from KTH and partly - G.Neimanis from VeA side


Tasks to establish the Tasks to establish the network connectionnetwork connection

● To find and install inexpensive equipment, which can transmit light over fibre in distance 175 km (Fårösund – Ventspils)

● To get the access to fibre pair from the one of the existing Stockholm/Uto – Fårösund fibre cable owners

● To connect the network in VeA building with the fibre in “Vats” building ( ~ 7 km distance over city)


The main obstaclesThe main obstacles● Limited budget ~ only 21 000 EUR from “Hulvent

AB”/”Foco 16” for the equipment● What transmitting equipment we can use?● What results we will have from negotiations with

the existing cable Stockholm – Fårösund owners● Unfinished negotiations between “Hulvent AB” and

“Stokab AB”● Time limit – the project was arranged to work only

till June 2004.


The fibre cableThe fibre cable

● It is a 38 pair fibre cable from Ericsson with the fiber type Corning. The cable included three sorts of fibers:– G.652c – the most common– G.654 – low reduction– G.655 – low dispersion

● Signal loss < 0,2 dB/km @ 1550nm● Theoretical overall loss in distance Fårösund –

Ventspils is ~ 34 dB.


The link KTH – VeA stretchesThe link KTH – VeA stretches– KTH – Utö, 81km, 28dB loss,

KTH– Utö – Fårösund, 149 km, 29dB,

Permission from “Stokab AB”– Fårösund - Ventspils, 175 km,

34 dB. Permission from “Hulvent”

– Ventspils – VeA. 7km. We decided to use the radiolink (Proxim MP.11a) until we have the fibres in Ventspils city

Uto

Farosund

KTH

VeA


Transmitting equipmentTransmitting equipment

● At beginning we started to look at equipment like LAN Switches with 100Base FX modules. We got some offers from companies to build a modified equipment with amplified laser modules.

● After negotiations with different manufacturers and their representatives (Transmode, Lumentis, Nortel etc) we started to explore the Gigabit connection possibilities too.


Transmitting equipment Transmitting equipment

● After public procurement we got some offers and decided to use the Lumentis M301 with DWDM transceiver at very affordable price, and use it in all stretches - in Ventspils, Foresund and Kista (KTH). The network bandwidth is 2,5 Gbit / GE.

● In Utö is installed the the Lumentis repeater M101

● The devices are connected with network switches – HP 2824 and HP 2524 with MiniGbic modules.


Establishing the connectionEstablishing the connection

● All fibre equipment was installed in late August, beginning of September 2004, after “Baltcom Fiber” - the new owner of cable Fårösund – Ventspils made the necessary measurements and cable splitting to the patch panels.

● In 9. September 2004. we plugged the optical patch cables and in 13. September we officially started to use the link., and already in autumn 2004. VeA students participate in videoconferencing course, which was held from KTH.


Lumentis installation in Lumentis installation in VentspilsVentspils


Future tasksFuture tasks

● Connect the VeA building to “VATS” with our own fiber cable, to get the full speed Gbit connection

● Connect the Ventspils International Radioastronomy Center (with biggest radio telescope in Northern Europe) which is located ~ 30 km from Ventspils to transmit VLBI data


Future tasksFuture tasks

● Watch for inexpensive devices, which are capable to work at 10 Gbps to upgrade the existing connection.

● Connect the VeA and VIRAC to the GEANT over the link. The existing VeA connection to the GEANT PoP which is located in capital Riga is only 4 Mbps.

● Demonstrate the OpenNet (Operator neutral network) possibilities. For example, how the users in Ventspils can choose and access the ISP's in Sweden.


References and contactsReferences and contacts● Bjorn Pehrson - [email protected] ● Gints Neimanis – [email protected]● www.balticopen.net – project website● www.it.kth.se – IT University at KTH● www.venta.lv - VeA website● www.ventspils.lv – Ventspils website● www.lumentis.se – Lumentis website● bcfiber.lv – Baltcom Fiber

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Baltic Open.Net