[kictanet] TEAMS and Open ended circuit

[McTim]

Hi Robert,

On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 8:48 AM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> For a while I wondered why the TEAMS cable has not gone hot yet it landed over 2 weeks ago, yesterday I got the answer.
>
> The headline in the newpaper story indicated that Jamii, a partner in the TEAMS project had finally connected to Europe from Fujaira, which sounded a little strange.  Where did  the fibre cable terminate to when it got to Fujaira?
>

SEA-ME-WE-3 and SEA-ME-WE-4 and FLAG all land in Fujiarah.  I assume
there is a central landing station, with links to EMIX at that
physical location.


>
> What this statement would suggest is that the termination in Fujaira does not actually connect into the Internet backbone but is actually an "open end" from where the providers must find a carrier, read IPOP, to get them onto the Internet.
>

That's what I got from the newspaper articles as well.


>
> Maybe I do not understand this Internet connectivity issue, but taking an analogy that if Kenya Power connect electricity to my house (before which hopefully I had already wired the inside of the house for lights, sockets and cookers) the minute then the minute I flick a switch a light will come on (subject to power rationing schedule and having bought and installed an energy saving bulb).

The analogy is flawed.  The power company is a service provider, the
submarine cables are not providing Internet connectivity as such.

Power flows down a power line to your house,that's what you consume.

light flows down glass (Layer 1 and 2).  Internet Packets (Layer 3 and
higher) are encoded in this light.

>
> Can someone out there familiar with fibre optic cable termination shade some light on this issue for my benefit and also many others out there.

TEAMS cable carries light waves.  The investors in TEAMS have the
right to this capacity.  ISPs have to buy transit (their Internet
access) from other providers(or peer with lots of other players).  As
an ISP on TEAMS, one has to either buy transit at some location
(London, Amsterdam, New York, Hong Kong, wherever) and haul it to
Fujairah, OR buy it in the UAE.

Have no coffee in the house, so this might be confusing, sorry.

--
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel