The BELLA Consortium (Building the Europe Link to Latin America), announced the formalization of agreements for the construction of a direct submarine cable that will connect Europe and Latin America. The entry into the European area will take place in Sines.
The connection through the new submarine fiber optic cable – EllaLink – will enable the creation of a research and education network between the two continents throughout the system's lifetime. The deployment of the fiber optic infrastructure that will connect the two regions between the connecting points of Sines (Portugal) and Fortaleza (Brazil) will begin in the first months of 2019.
The process will begin with a study of the ocean floor to determine the cable's length. Then, the fabrication of the cable system will begin. According to forecasts, the first data packets will begin broadcasting at the end of 2020.
According to GÉANT CEO Erik Huizer, this is “an important milestone of the BELLA Program (initiative for building a direct link between Europe and Latin America)”. This cable system will increase communication capacity between the research and education communities of Europe and Latin America. Thus, Huizer added, this project will enable the promotion “open science and knowledge exchange, with a strong impact on Earth observation services, especially Copernicus.”
According to Erik Huizer, the benefits of this joint initiative will not be limited to research and education. “I believe that the positive repercussions of the program will reach not only the scientific research and education sector globally, but society as a whole.”, he reinforced.
The same opinion is shared by RedCLARA CEO Luis Eliécer Cadenas, who believes the new connection will also have positive impacts on the economies of both regions. “This is an achievement very important within this project to enhance cooperation between Latin America and Europe”The new connection, he emphasized, will strengthen "research activities for both continents and, from a broader perspective, has the potential to impact the economic growth of both regions through innovation," he celebrated.
For this reason, highlights GÉANT's head of purchasing and responsible for purchasing for BELLA, Paul Rouse, this is a project "emblematic", when being “the result of an entirely new model for providing strategic intercontinental connectivity for the research and education sectors”Among the benefits highlighted by Rouse are "the flexibility, profitability, and capacity needed to meet the needs of researchers and academics in their regions."
About Project Bella
THE BELLA (Building the Europe Link with Latin America) is a project that aims to meet the long-term connectivity needs of the European research and education communities and Latin American. In this way, the project guarantees the Irrevocable Right of Use (Indefeasible Right of Use – IRU) of a direct submarine cable between the two regions, as well as the implementation of a research and education network with 100Gbps capacity, throughout Latin America.
This is a project implemented by a Consortium of Regional Research and Education Networks integrated by GÉANT (Europe) and RedCLARA (NREN of Latin America), and by the National Academic Networks (NRENs) of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal (FCCN Unit) and Spain.
The BELLA project is being funded by the European Union through Horizon 2020, along with CEDIA (Ecuador), REUNA (Chile), RENATA (Colombia), and RNP (Brazil). Together, these networks contribute 30% towards the cost of access to the EllaLink transatlantic cable, in addition to contributing significantly to the upgrade of RedCLARA's regional network in South America.
For more information, visit: http://www.bella-programme.eu
