VDPC to Build Barracuda Submarine Cable System and Cable Landing Station in Alicante

Valencia Digital Port Connect SL (VDPC) has announced to build a new submarine cable system connecting Spain with France and Portugal, the Barracuda Submarine Cable System (Barracuda SCS), and the first subsea cable landing station (CLS) at the Port of Alicante in Spain.

The Barracuda SCS is designed to be a sub-system of the Medusa cable system. The Barracuda infrastructure will include a terrestrial backhaul which, together with WDM/WSS technology, allows direct routes to be established, without switching hops, spanning about 2,200km and connecting nodes: Lisbon in Portugal, Marseille in France and Madrid, Valencia and Alicante in Spain. The Barracuda SCS will terminate simultaneously in three Spanish cities.

The Barracuda SCS is expected to consist of 1 fiber pair connecting Alicante to Lisbon and 1 fiber pair connecting Alicante to Marseille, each with capacity of 20Tbps (40*500Gbps).  

VDPC will build a terrestrial network of 1,300km connecting the Alicante CLS to major data centers in Madrid and Valencia.

VDPC will build an open cable landing station and data center in Alicante (Alicante CLS).

The Alicante CLS will be a 2,500 sqm facility, with an initial construction budget of over €10mn (US$11mn), will have the capacity for up to four subsea cables and house a data center with 96 racks as well as a meet-me room. This facility will have a significant impact for data centres and data infrastructure across all regions involved.

The 2,500 sqm facility, with an initial construction budget of over €10mn (US$11mn), will have the capacity for up to four subsea cables and house a data center with 96 racks as well as a meet-me room.

With the Barracuda SCS and the Alicante CLS, VDPC is expected to offer the following product porfolios:

• Non-Illuminated Spectrum: Using WDM/WSS technology, the fiber optic bandwidth is "fragmented" in 500G lambdas that can be individually illuminated by different customers with their own transmission equipment, even using with third party technology. This lambdas will be sold in IRU modality, equivalent to a sale of a long-term asset for the whole life of the project (25 years).
• Capacity Lease: VDPC will illuminate portion of the available spectrum on the Barracuda SCS, implementing managed telco high-speed international circuits (100G/400G) that will be leased in monthly recurring fees during a 1-5 year contract.
• Open CLS Services: The Alicante CLS is capable of landing up to four subsea cables, with pre-built pipes across the Port of Alicante through Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD). The modules for each of the three additional cable owners will be fully customizable according to its cable system specifications, and will be provided with protected energy supply and security installations. These modules will be sold in IRU modality, equivalent to a sale of a long-term asset for the whole life of the project (25 years).
• Data Center Service: The Alicante CLS includes a Tier 4 Data Center with a 340 m² computer room (up to 96 racks) for colocation/cohosting services. 

Alicante is a port city on Spain’s southeastern Costa Blanca, and the capital of the Alicante province, being the second-largest city in the Valencian Community. With its unique geographic advantage, the Alicante CLS will offer a new option for subsea cables from Asia to Europe. The subsea cable infrastructure is expected to turn Alcante into a regional hub of digital communication.