wiredInUSA December 2017

Crossing the Gulf

Closer to home

Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) has selected Ciena’s converged packet optical platform as the foundation for the new Batelco Gulf Network (BGN). The BGN runs over an optical transfer network (OTN) supporting up to 8.8TBps, and will connect all the countries across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the Arabian Gulf region. The 1,400km BGN terrestrial fiber cable, managed by Batelco, can be interconnected with other regional and global cable systems for access to onward connectivity to Europe, Asia, Africa and the rest of the world. Mohamed Bubashait, said that Batelco chose to invest in the network as a fully owned and managed terrestrial fiber optic cable network, thus providing Bahrain with a new international gateway to meet growing demand for data services and applications. Batelco chief global business officer Adel Al-Daylami, added: “The BGN is a reliable alternative to more vulnerable submarine cables, all with scalable capacity and the shortest inter-Gulf latency. This new partnership with Ciena will enable us to achieve all of this.” Batelco Bahrain’s CEO,

image: www.fero.co.nz

The Auckland wiring manufacturer Fero has moved its offshore operations from China to Samoa. Fero’s general manager, Sam Fulton, explained: “We see Samoa as the best kept secret in manufacturing. I think there is a lot of opportunity to look closer to home, and not go to the standard Asia, China, Vietnam or Taiwan manufacturers.” Fero provides wiring for the technology sector, with a quarter of its finished product previously sourced from China. This production has been moved to the Samoan facility previously used for similar manufacturing by the Japanese company Yazaki. “When the Japanese company closed its operation here earlier this year, more than 700 people lost their jobs,” said Greg Fulton, managing director of Fero. “They were purpose-built premises for our industry — the wiring industry. The quality they have been producing up here has been exceptional; they haven’t had a quality issue for four years so we know they can do it really well.” Problems with quality and the challenge of distance were among the reasons to relocate from China. Fero has employed 75 former Yazaki workers, and intends to expand to 200 over the next two years.

wiredInUSA - December 2017

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