newsminer.com

KENAI -- Alaska Communications Systems has begun building a link between Alaska and the Lower 48 that will feature a new cable capable of data transfer rates far in excess of current cable strength.

The project is called AKORN, short for Alaska Oregon Network.

The cable will travel between Anchorage and Florence, Ore., and will provide an eight-fold boost to the bandwidth, according to the telecommunications company.

"The bandwidth requirements for large enterprises and government is constantly expanding," said Stephen Gebert, an ACS official. "They are looking for more bandwidth all the time, and not only bandwidth, but also the resiliency, the redundancy, the robustness that can guarantee uninterrupted service. They need that reliability."

A small landing craft assisted by some local boat crews laid out about 2 1/2 miles of cable last week from a Homer beach into Kachemak Bay. Plans call for the cable to be tied into a new power station being built by ACS along the Homer Bypass.

The crew of the vessel Tyco Resolute, which arrived in Homer last week, will lay out roughly 3,000 miles of cable between Kachemak Bay and Oregon. An undersea cable will be installed between Nikiski and Anchorage. Nikiski and Homer will be linked overland.

When the job of connecting Anchorage and Oregon is complete, the cable will connect ACS customers to global broadband networks.

ACS said the project is part of a $175 million investment to advance Alaska's connectivity.

The company in April announced plans to purchase Crest Communications Corp., owner and operator of the Northstar submarine fiber optic cable, one of three linking Alaska to the Lower 48. The acquisition will give ACS control of two of the four cables currently connecting Alaska to outside links.

The completed Alaska-to-Oregon cable is expected to begin operating early next year. A splitter in the cable will allow a future connection to Southeast Alaska.