Prysmian Group's newest underwater cable has successfully been deployed under the Sydney Harbour
Prysmian Group has successfully manufactured a new underwater cable “1728F MassLinkTM FlexRibbonTM Underwater”. Its first installation has been under the Sydney Harbour, in Australia.
The installation was the result of a request made by FibreconX, a dark fibre provider and part of its Dark Fibre Network roll out. FibreconX announced in January 2021 a dense Dark Fibre Network project in Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo and Singapore, committing to deploy over AUS$35 million in dark fibre rollout. The initial Sydney build includes a Dark Fibre Network that connects the city’s largest Data Centres, which will be connected by a primary and a redundant link with a total of 160km of fibre optic cables.
FibreconX has carefully tested and compared different products in the market, adopting the best option for the long-lasting network they are rolling out, and selecting Prysmian Group as the partner of choice for this exciting opportunity.
standard FlexRibbon 1728F cable
The new MassLinkTM with FlexRibbonTM cable will be installed through Sydney in the FibreconX network. Prysmian, with its local manufacturing plant located in the North of Sydney, will manufacture the initial 160km of 864F FlexRibbon™ cable required to be installed by March 2021 – and the 1728F Underwater cable is part of this rollout.
The Underwater cable installed last March in Sydney is a MassLinkTM FlexRibbonTM design which includes a double steel wire armour using phosphate coated steel wire, a moisture barrier and enhanced HDPE sheath to maximise mechanical protection.
Although this is the first FlexRibbonTM underwater cable, Prysmian Group has deployed this type of underwater cable construction using both loose tube and Flextube® cores for more than twenty years.
The installation presents a first for both companies; FibreconX’s first underwater cable deployment and Prysmian’s first FlexRibbonTM underwater cable.
The FlexRibbonTM is the first of its kind offering an underwater “ribbon” solution. This latest design combines Prysmian’s FlexRibbonTM Technology which applies a ZigZag bonding pattern between fibres to form the ribbons. This offers numerous advantages, such as a high bond strength between fibres, which ensures a full degree of flexibility and allows the cable to bend in any direction making it easier to haul. Moreover, MassLinkTM with FlexRibbonTM Technology offers ultra-compact and light outside plant cable design, packing fibres into the smallest cable possible, and is designed to maximise fibre density and duct utilisation, supporting major large-scale data centres worldwide.
