Last month, Pipe Network's PPC-1 cable from Sydney to Guam carried its first light. This time, tests run with early customer, Internode, has seen the cable carry its first data packets.
Pipe Network's PPC-1 fibre optic cable, set to be launched on 8 October, has sent its first packets to the US, according to a statement by Pipe Networks and internet service provider, Internode.
"PPC-1 has successfully demonstrated its performance by allowing Internode to send internet protocol (IP) packets end-to-end between Australia and the USA via Guam," Internode managing director Simon Hackett said in a statement.
Under the tests, the packets would have had done a round trip from Sydney to the western Pacific island Guam and on to San Jose before returning to Sydney via the same path. The PPC-1 cable itself runs for 6900 kilometres along the seabed between Sydney and Guam.
The new cable travels a slightly further distance to the US than the currently used Southern Cross Cable, which runs to the US west coast via Hawaii, while Internode's other cable, the Australia Japan Cable (AJC), also runs to a hub in Guam.
While the PPC-1 cable suffers slightly higher latency levels — the lag time as data travels between two points — Internode's managing director Simon Hackett has positioned its value as a redundant path should either Southern Cross or AJC fail.
The ISP, along with Telikom PNG and iiNet key supplier Tyco Telecommunications, stepped in to save the cable last December after finance for the project was withdrawn by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.
