Submarine internet cables, big players choose Genoa

Why did the choice fall on Genoa and not Marseille? "First of all,' Brunetti explains, 'to serve southern Italy it is more logical to go straight. The route in the Sardinian Sea to go to Marseille is about 50 per cent longer than the one in the Tyrrhenian Sea and the length of the cable is not just a question of cost, but has to do with latency, i.e. the time it takes for the data to arrive compared to the distance they travel, a fundamental parameter in the world of communications. The shorter the cables, the shorter the path and the better the result'. And starting from Sicily to get to Genoa is the shortest way to reach the heart of the European internet. 'About ten cables arrive in Mazara del Vallo,' Brunetti continues, 'from Italy, North Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, because they come from Suez and then generally stop in Sicily because they have to be fed. The probability is that they end up in the quadrilateral and so a diversion to Marseille and then back east to reach it would lengthen the route'.

But that is not the only element. There is the fact that the presence of other cables creates the possibility of synergies in the 'landing' stations and there is also a question of resilience. 'If there is a place, such as Marseille,' Brunetti goes on to explain, 'with a very strong concentration of cables, if it were to come to a standstill today due to an accident or sabotage, it would mean very big problems for the European and even global internet. Resilience, which is a fundamental factor, is usually done by duplicating everything, both the cables and the places where they arrive'.

The Ligurian capital, in short, can also play a role as a backup to Marseille, so that there is no single route for the flow of data. In this sense, an ecosystem is being created in Genoa, from cables to Internet exchange points. And Luca Beltramino himself, who, as president of Ge-Dix, is working to ensure that the city becomes a crucial node for global internet traffic, confirms that a 'second way' to Marseille is important for operators.

Brunetti goes on to explain the state of the art: 'The Unitirreno project started more than a year ago and next month the laying begins, so there is the whole phase of design, bottom echo sounding, environmental and archaeological assessments in some parts, and administrative. The cable is produced and we are preparing the landing stations: in Mazara del Vallo we bought a building and are building it ourselves, new, and the same near Rome. While in Olbia we are using the infrastructure of a local operator and in Genoa that of Sparkle, which two years ago built a board pipe, which is a sort of large pipe that goes into the sea for about a kilometre and in which several submarine cables can pass. Two of their cables already go through there and this means that you can also create a synergy, because if customers want to go on to other cables, you just have to make very simple connections'. The journey, in short, can take new directions.

Today, around 90% of internet data passes through submarine structures, which are considered reliable, less exposed to risks (although there is no shortage of them, as the Red Sea testifies) and with more direct routes than land networks that normally follow roads, railways or power lines. A network under the sea that extends at a rapid pace.

For Unidata, founded in Rome in 1985, which provides broadband connectivity, wireless connectivity, cloud services and other dedicated solutions to over 16 thousand customers, with a fibre optic network over 5,450 kilometres long that it is extending, Unitirreno submarine cable system is a new bet, but only one of the activities.

"In addition to communication networks and data centres, one of the things we are doing, and which complements ongoing projects, is on the IOT front," says Brunetti. There is still water in the middle, but this time the fresh water of the aqueducts, to avoid dispersion by applying the innovations of the internet of things to measure consumption and leakage, thanks to a wireless network developed to enable low-speed data transmission communications, over long distances, by means of sensors and actuators for the IOT, which makes it possible to avoid having to go and collect data by physically moving from one point to another. One of the initial tests for this technology was carried out in Genoa, as well as in Piedmont, from where the project started, although today the contracts are mainly in the south'.

Still on the subject of networks, on the other hand, Unidata through Unifiber, a joint venture with the Cebf infrastructure fund, has started work to extend fibre coverage in the less-served areas of Lazio, with an ongoing investment of around EUR 80 million.