IRIS is a new high-speed undersea cable system, spans approximately 1,700 km in length and connects south west of Iceland to Ballyloughane Strand in Galway, Ireland.
The IRIS cable system is designed as a six-fiber pair trunk with a total system capacity of 108 Tbps with each fiber pair delivering 18Tbs.
The IRIS cable system is privately owned and operated by Farice. Farice is fully owned by the Icelandic Government and plays an important role in Iceland's infrastructure for the greater public good and economic life in Iceland. In additional to the new IRIS cable system, Farice owns and operates two submarine systems connecting Iceland to Europe, FARICE-1 and DANICE.
The IRIS cable system is supplied by SubCom.
SubCom annouced contract-in-force for IRIS cable system in April 2021. Manufacture of the cable and equipment will take place at SubCom’s manufacturing headquarters in Newington, NH, USA during 2021 and early 2022, with main lay installation operations scheduled for summer 2022. The system is expected to be ready for service by the end of 2022.