International fibre carrier Tampnet is opening a Norway-UK fibre network so data centers can now use a resource which was previously exclusive to oil companies.

In December 2014, Tampnet acquired a subsea fibre connection to Aberdeen from oil company BP. The network link was being used by oil platforms in the North Sea, but had a greater potential providing a faster route between the two countries, for data centers, minimizing both distance and hops on the network.

Without this network, many routes have been used for communications between the UK and Norway, but most user cable that runs through Sweden and Finland. This creates greater distance, more bridging hops and greater legal technicalities.

Fjord focus

The reduction in latency means data could conduct a Norway-UK round trip in 10 milliseconds.

Norwegian data center operator Green Mountain, which last year opened a second data center, uses the Tampnet circuit. The new route could technically cut from 17 percent  to 50 percent off the journey time (and latency) of an exchange between data centers in Norway and the UK for companies that don’t use the direct fibre circuit.

Tampnet is aiming for businesses that want to operate their own private connections. Data center operators in Norway, who are increasingly targeting UK businesses with fixed cost deals, are a target market, according to Tampnet CEO Per Helge Svensson.

“We’re offering a managed service with high performance and high quality, for clients who [want] low latency and redundancy,” said Helge Svensson.

The service range extends from dedicated laser light frequencies - at the top end - to an MPLS-based private subnet for less demanding customers. Tampnet said it offers 10Gbps connections at least, with the option for easy upgrades.

“Since our cable system is passive we can upgrade the termination equipment as new technologies become available,” said Helge Svensson. In contrast, many existing transatlantic connections have built the transmission technology into their cables, making them impossible to upgrade easily.

Avoiding data transit through Sweden obviates another potential bottleneck as the legislation there allows the government to eavesdrop on all passing data traffic.

Even without the new fiber link, Norway is already becoming an attractive location for data centers thanks to its abundance of renewable energy. In 2014, developer Bulk announced plans for  a four square kilometre data center park near Kristiansand in the south of the country.