International Terrestrial Cable and International Internet Gateway in Bangladesh

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction of the report:

The internet has become an essential part of human life as it is the main mode of communication now a days. Internet is the interconnected computer network where billions of devices are connected through the backbone of optical networking technologies in modern days. My interest was to observe the rapid development of this communication mode and for this I have studied the optical transmission and networking systems and different protocols by working as an intern in the NOC department of 1 Asia Alliance Communication Ltd. Finally I have made a report of whatever I have learnt throughout my 3 months long internship program.

1.2 Reason for selecting the specific industry:

Telecommunication is growing with the vast use of internet in Bangladesh. The introduction of optical fiber transmission both in submarine and terrestrial over satellite communication made it easy to spread the global connectivity throughout the major cities in Bangladesh. 1 Asia Alliance Communication Ltd. is one out of six companies which has the ITC license. Thus it serves as a domestic internet upstream for all the major ISP, IIG and IGW companies in Bangladesh using its terrestrial optical transmission technology. To better understand the optical transmission system and the IP network system it was the best choice to join as an intern in a company like 1 Asia Alliance Communication Ltd.

1.3 Purpose of the Internship:

To fulfill the requirements for the degree of the Bachelor of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering.
To see the practical implementation of what was studied during the university program.
To learn how a telecom company operates its technical functions.
To make recommendations on the basis of the study done.

1.4 Methods of Collecting Data:

The data for making this report was collected in many ways. Primary data, as well as secondary data for completing the task of report writing about this internship were used. Some of the methods which are used are discussed below.

Use of Primary Data:

Primary Data which were used for completing the report are as follows:

Self-observation
Discussions with the officers
Informal interview from the customers

Use of Secondary Data:

Secondary Data which were used for completing the report are as follows:

1 Asia Alliance Communication Ltd. brochure
1 Asia Alliance Communication Ltd. websites
Several articles on the internet related with the field of study
Research reports of several authors related with the field of study

Chapter 2: Backgrounds

2.1 Background of ITC and IIG in Bangladesh:

International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) operator:

In 2006 the internet of Bangladesh has been connected to the world by a single submarine cable, Sea-Me-We 4 (SMW4). SMW4 is 18,800 kilometer-long optical-fiber system and its landing station of Bangladesh is at Cox’s Bazar. Since SMW4’s activation, national Internet outages have struck Bangladesh in regular basis. When any portion of this optical fiber system is damaged, it takes huge time for maintenance and thus virtually all internet bandwidth of Bangladesh disappears,pushing local internet providers to retreat to slow and expensive satellite services or to simply wait for restoration.

A 20,000 km long secondary optical fiber system SMW5 is under construction and the landing port in Bangladesh will be at Mongla The SMW5 consortium signed the construction and maintenance agreement on March 7, 2014. But the complexation will take long time. In the meantime, major disruptions of Bangladesh’s Internet service continue to occur.

The planned maintenances and failures in SMW4 system make all understood that how susceptible Bangladesh’s internet connectivity really is. These events thus encourage the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to take alternative measures. In 2012, the BTRC issued licenses to six companies to connect to India via the International Terrestrial Cable (ITC).

The six International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) operators are:

1Asia Alliance Communication Ltd.,
Novocom Limited
BD Link Communication Ltd.,
Mango Teleservices Ltd.,
Summit Communications Ltd., and
[email protected] Limited.

2.2 Background of the company

About the company:

1Asia Alliance Communication Limited (1AACL) is a joint venture company formed between Alliance Holdings Limited, Bangladesh and 1Asia Communication (BD) Ltd. It is a sister concern of Singapore based 1Asia Communication Pte. Ltd. The company was formed by a group of NRBs with over 20 years’ experience in the telecommunications business.

The company carries the licenses from BTRC to provide ITC and IIG services to its clients in Bangladesh. 1AACL is also the first ITC operator in Bangladesh. Since its birth, 1AACL has established enormous footprints in the ICT sector of the country. It is running parallel with the country’s drive towards digitalization and higher internet penetration.

The ITC project of 1AACL brings a much required backup for to the country’s lone submarine cable SMW4. The company offers its services to several ISPs, IGWs, IIGs, and corporate clients across the country.

Licenses:

IIG: License awarded on 12/04/2012, commercially started on 01/10/2012
ITC: License awarded on 05/01/2012, commercially started on 12/12/2012

Services:

IPLC/MPLS
IP Transit
Satellite BW service
Managed data network service
VPN service
Co-location service

Client types:

IIGs
ISPs
IGWs
Enterprise customers

International PoPs (Point of Presence):

Chennai
Mumbai
Equinix Building, Singapore
Epsilon Global Hub, London
60 Hudson Street, NY

Local PoPs:

HQ-Alliance Building, Dhaka
Coloasia-Borak tower, Dhaka
Chittagong-Akhtaruzzaman Center, Agrabad
Benapole-Chowdhury Super Market, Zero Point, Check Post, Benapole

Technology Partners:

Tata Communication Ltd
Bharti Airtel
TIS
Chunghwa
Equinix-IX
SG-IX
Level3
Cogent
Google

Timeline of Infrastructure:

2012 to 2013

1AACL head quarter setup
Benapole POP setup
ITC backhaul setup
1Asia Alliance own WDM Network
Secondary ITC Network Setup
Tertiary ITC Network Setup
Interconnection Equinix, Singapore
Interconnection TATA, Chennai & Mumbai
Interconnection Airtel, Chennai
Interconnection TIS, Singapore

2013 to 2014

Chittagong Pop Setup
Pop at ColoAsia, Dhaka
London Pop Setup
Peering with Google, Facebook, Microsoft
Interconnection Epsilon GH, London
Interconnection Level3 & Cogent
Interconnection Equinix-IX & SG-IX

2014 to Present

New York, USA Pop Setup

Departments:

Administration
Accounts
Marketing
Sales
Logistics
HR
Technical : Transmission, IP Core, Service Delivery , NOC

Strength:

ITC Backhaul Systems (Dhaka- Benapole)
Primary ITC Network: 1Asia Alliance’s Own System WDM network with 8 Lamda capacity
Secondary ITC Network: [email protected] /Swapping
Tertiary ITC Network: ITC Consortium/City Cell
Number Of ITC Operators in Connection: 06
Cisco 12000 Series Flagship Routers as Core & Aggregation Equipment
Full Routing TABLE Implementation Auto Switch Over
Routing Through ITC with different upstream carrier
Switch Room Level Redundancy in National Segment
International PoPs at Chennai, Mumbai, Singapore, London, New York
Native IPv6 Peering (Upstreams & Major Players)
Direct Peering, Impressive RTD

2.3 Background study on research papers

Research Paper 1

Title: Soliton Transmission in Fiber Optics for Long Distance Communication

Authors: Mehul G.Patel (1), S. B. Khant (2)

Affiliation: PG Student [SP&C], Dept. of ECE, A.D.Patel Institute of Technology,V.U.Nagar,Gujarat, India (1) , Assistant professor, Dept. of ECE, A.D.Patel Institute of Technology, V.U.Nagar,Gujarat, India (2)

Research Problem: The research discusses the reasons for the limit in information carrying capacity of optical communication systems.

Research Methodology or Approach: Quantitative

Research Solution and Results: Soliton based optical fiber communication systems are more suitable for long haul communication because of their very high information carrying capacity and repeater less transmission.

Comments

The research paper highlights one of the important weakness of optical fiber communication in long distance. In that respect the research problem is a good one.

The research methodology is quantitative. But it could be better if more practical surveys were implemented.

The result shows the mathematical solution of the problem. But it could be better if some practical result/evidence was shown.

Strengths vs. Weaknesses: The discussion on the current problem in optical transmission is the strength of this research. But the result showing only mathematical solution is the weakness.

Opportunities: Advantages and disadvantages of optical fiber communication, Dispersion Phenomenon

References:

[1] Gerd Keiser,Optical Fiber Communications, 4thedition, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2008.

[2] http://hank.uoregon.edu.

[3] R. Gangwar, S. P. Singh, and N. Singh, “Soliton based optical communication’’,Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 74, 157–166,

2007.

[4] Akira Hasegawa, “Soliton-based ultra-high speed optical communications’’, Vol. 57, Nos5 & 6-journal of physics Nov. & Dec. 2001.

[5] Opsim-appnotes.pdf.

[6] R. Ganapathy, K. Porsezian, A. Hasegawa, Life Fellow, IEEE, and V. N. Serkin,“Soliton Interaction Under Soliton Dispersion Management’’,

IEEE journal of quantum electronics, Vol. 44, NO. 4, April 2008.

[7] David S. Ricketts, Member, IEEE, Xiaofeng Li, Student Member, IEEE, “On the Self-Generation of Electrical Soliton Pulses’’, IEEE journal

of solid-state circuits, Vol. 42, NO. 8, August 2007.

[8] Yang Jing Wen and Xiang Lin Yang,Senior Member, IEEE, “Quasi-Transform-Limited Pulse Transmission in Dispersion Managed Soliton

System’’, IEEE photonics technology letters, Vol. 11, NO. 4, April 1999.

[9] Kuppusamy Porsezian, Ramanathan Ganapathy, Akira Hasegawa, Life Fellow, IEEE, and Vladimir N. Serkin, “Nonautonomous Soliton

Dispersion Management’’, IEEE journal of quantum electronics, vol. 45, no. 12, December 2009.

[10] Hiroyuki Toda, Katsuyuki Mino, Yuji Kodama, Akira Hasegawa, Life Fellow, IEEE, and Peter A. Andrekson, Member, IEEE, Member,

OSA,“Influence of Noise in Optical Pulse Source on Soliton Transmission’’, journal of lightwave technology, vol. 17, no. 6, June 1999.

Research Paper 2

Title: Optical Fiber Based Communication Network

Authors: Dr. Dharamvir Singh

Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Ch. Devi Lal University, Sirsa-125055 (Haryana) India

Research Problem: This research discuss about the different technologies used in the fiber based communication network. It also focuses the advantages of newly developed technology over the conventional ones.

Research Methodology or Approach: Correlation

Research Solution and Results: The physics of the optical fibers are discussed here and it points to a solution that technological revolution of fiber optic communication is happening due to the development of capacity increasing methods and the introductions of high speed devices.

Comments

The research paper discusses the very basic requirements for an optical fiber communication. It is very helpful to understand the optical fiber communication technology at a glance

The research methodology is correlative. And it is a better method to show the advantages of new technology over the existing one.

The research does not reflect to any strong solution for a particular problem rather it describes the different aspects of the optical fiber communication.

Strengths vs. Weaknesses: The discussion on the different technology used in optical fiber communication is the strength of this research. But it does not focus to any specific problem which needs to solved which is its weakness

Opportunities: Transmission Windows, Attenuation, Transmitters, Receivers

References:

[1] S.G. Karshenboim, “Fundamental physical constants: looking from

different angles“, Can. J. Phys. 83, 767-811, (2005).

[2] S. M. Foreman, K. W. Holman, D. D. Hudson, D. J. Jones, and J. Ye,

“Remote transfer of ultrastable frequency references via fiber

networks”, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78, 021101 (2007).

[3] C. Daussy, O. Lopez, A. Amy-Klein, A. Goncharov , M. Guinet, C.

Chardonnet, F. Narbonneau, M. Lours, D. Chambon, S. Bize, A.

Clairon, G. Santarelli, M.E. Tobar and A.N. Luiten, “Long-Distance

Frequency Dissemination with a Resolution of 10-17”, Phys. Rev. Lett.

94, 203904 (2005).

[4] Alwayn, Vivek, Fiber-Optic Technologies. Cisco Systems, 12- 31

(2006).

[5] S. M. Foreman, K. W. Holman, D. D. Hudson, D. J. Jones, and J. Ye,

“Remote transfer of ultrastable frequency references via fiber

networks”, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78, 021101 (2007).

Research Paper 3

Title: Next Gen. Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Authors: Shaikh Bilal Anees (1) Sameer Khan (2), Shah Akhtar Ali (3)

Affiliation: Electronics Telecom Dept. AIKTC, Mumbai University, India, (1), (2), (3)

Research Problem: The existing DWDM system does not meet the current bandwidth requirements of the corporate, which is up to 1Tb/s. In this research it broadly describes the advantages of the next generation DWDM over the existing system and how it can meet the required demand. It also describes the other possible solutions.

Research Methodology or Approach: Meta-analysis

Research Solution and Results: The research ends with two solutions. One solution is to use the modulation technique RZ-DPSK over long haul systems. Second one is the utilization of DCF

Comments

This paper discusses several options to increase the capacity of optical fiber transmission over long haul. It could be better if some more studies are put into this.

The research methodology is meta-analysis. It relates all the possible solution to come up with the goal of this research, and for this it is the successful approach.

The research comes up with a good solution.

Strengths vs. Weaknesses: Its focus on the recent development to transmit high capacity data is its strength. Few more studies like the modulations techniques could be described, which is its weakness.

Opportunities: The ideas of DWDM, Light Sources and Detectors, Optical Fiber Distortion

References:

[1] Muralikrishna Gandluru â€•Optical Networking And Dense Wavelenght Devision Multiplexing (DWDM)â€-.

[2] Biswanath Mukherjee â€•WDM Optical Communication Networks: Progress and Challengesâ€-.

[3] Introduction to DWDM Technology by Cisco ltd .

[4] Fibre Optic Essentials by Casimer M. DeCusatis and Carolyn J. Sher DeCusatis .

[5] Optical Fibers and RF: A Natural Combination by Malcolm Romeiser .

[6] New functionalities for advanced optical interfaces (Dispersion compensation) byKazuo Yamane Photonic systems development dept. FUJITSU.

[7] I. P. Kaminow, et al, â€•A Wideband All-Optical WDM Networkâ€-, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Vol.14, No. 5, June 1996, pp. 780 – 799.)

[8] Melián, B., Laguna, M., and Moreno, J.A., “Capacity expansion of fiber optic networks with WDM systems: Problem formulation and comparative analysis”, Computers and Operations Research, 31(3) (2004) 461-472.

[9] E. Lowe, “Current European WDM Deployment Trends”, IEEE Communications Magazine, Feburary 1998, pp. 46-50.

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