SLT rolls out SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable system and First Tier 4 ready data centre for Sri Lanka

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday virtually opened the new building of South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5) state-of-the-art undersea system’s landing station at Matara and laid the foundation stone to the new First Tier 4 internet data centre of the Sri Lanka Telecom.

President Maithripala Sirisena virtually opens the new building of SEA-ME-WE 5 cable landing station at Matara. Telecom and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando is also present

In 2014 SLT announced its partnership with 15 international telecommunication operators representing 17 countries, in the formation of a consortium in order to build the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5) state-of-the-art undersea cable system. Yesterday, 1 February, marked the arrival of this multi-regional superhighway in Sri Lanka by the opening of the cable-landing station building for the SEA-ME-WE 5 in Matara.

President Maithripala Sirisena lays the foundation stone to the new Internet Data Centre

The SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable system spans approximately 24,000 km whilst offering POP-to-POP (Point of Presence) solutions from Singapore to Europe via France and Italy. The system connects 17 countries and serves as a new platform for the future development in the ICT industry.

The conceptualisation of the new submarine cable system evolved around the capacity requirements of inter-continents to support the next generation of internet applications, which come from every part of the world. The SEA-ME-WE 5 is designed to provide upgradeable transmission facilities by adopting the latest state-of-the-art multiple 100 GBPS technology. When fully loaded, the SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system is capable of carrying a total 24 terabytes per second: the equivalent of transmitting around 4,800 high-definition movies every second.

Aside from being the leader in ICT solutions in Sri Lanka, SLT is also globally connected with a number of other countries including the members of the consortium. As such the organisation understands the importance of joining Sri Lanka to the new cable system since almost all international communications between nations are done through undersea cable networks, much like the SEA-ME-WE 5. The SEA-ME-WE 5 plays a valuable role in developing the country’s ICT industry as well as helping Sri Lanka join the ranks of advanced and developed nations around the world.

Sri Lanka Telecom started the New Year with yet another bang by laying the foundation stone to the first and only Tier 4 ready data centre in Sri Lanka on 1 February.

This new move by SLT will save enterprise customers and government organisations large sums of money by eliminating the need for maintaining their own data centres. The rental payment expected from the customers will far less in comparison to the amount they will be required to spend in order to have their own data centres. SLT intends to provide expert knowledge and bear all costs associated with space, protection, disaster management etc. All data at the data centre has been stored lawfully and is thus secure against any such vulnerability.

The new data centre to be introduced by SLT will have a capacity of 500 racks. Customers will be able to hire racks as and when they want and they need only pay for what they consume. Located in the newly-proposed Tech City area, the data centre will be completely dedicated towards operations as well as offering corporate customers’ access to convert it into their office if needed.

The functions of SLT are based solely on the needs of the consumer and as a major part of the backbone of Sri Lanka’s ICT industry SLT is dedicated to developing the country’s ICT infrastructure in every way possible.

– Pix by Upul Abayasekara