Bombs away for Zayo's subsea cable project

Zayo Group VP James Ovel joined the podcast to discuss some unique challenges – such as safely moving World War II bombs – the service provider faced while planning its Zeus submarine cable project.

Kelsey Ziser, Senior Editor

July 19, 2023

James Ovel, VP of operations for Europe at Zayo Group, joined the podcast to discuss some unique challenges the service provider faced while planning for its Zeus submarine cable project. Some surprising relics from World War II and illegal fishing posed major operational challenges. Ovel explained how Zayo dealt with roadblocks to the subsea cable project and how customers are currently utilizing network connectivity via the Zeus cable.

Click on the caption button for a lightly edited transcript.

Here are a few topics we covered:

  • Ovel's background at Zayo and in subsea cabling (04:25)

  • Zayo's Zeus subsea cable project (07:01)

  • Challenges to designing and deploying a submarine cable project (08:18)

  • World War II bombs and other objects obstructing construction of the cable project (10:05)

  • How Zayo handled the bombs in the way of the cable (13:57)

  • Delays caused by unidentified subsea objects (17:39)

  • Monitoring and utilizing the subsea cable once installation was complete (18:56)

  • Dangers illegal fishing poses to the cable (19:40)

  • How customers are using connectivity from the Zeus cable (23:37)

Related stories and links:

— Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, Senior Editor, Light Reading

Read more about:

Europe

About the Author(s)

Kelsey Ziser

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Kelsey is a senior editor at Light Reading, co-host of the Light Reading podcast, and host of the "What's the story?" podcast.

Her interest in the telecom world started with a PR position at Connect2 Communications, which led to a communications role at the FREEDM Systems Center, a smart grid research lab at N.C. State University. There, she orchestrated their webinar program across college campuses and covered research projects such as the center's smart solid-state transformer.

Kelsey enjoys reading four (or 12) books at once, watching movies about space travel, crafting and (hoarding) houseplants.

Kelsey is based in Raleigh, N.C.

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