RNAL (cable system)

REACH North Asia Loop (RNAL) is a multi terabit intra Asia self-healing submarine telecommunications cable system connecting the principal cities in Asia.

The 10,000km cable network provides intra regional, city-to-city connectivity between Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, and Taipei. The cable network has been developed jointly by REACH and FLAG Telecom. REACH has constructed the eastern leg of the multi-terabit cable that connectsJapan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, while FLAG has built the western leg connecting Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea.

FLAG manages and operates the system on its own behalf and that of REACH under a developmental agreement. FLAG and REACH each own three of the system’s six fiber pairs. REACH markets its share of the system as REACH North Asia Loop (RNAL).

RNAL has the largest share of cable capacity in Asia with 29%. (second largest share of capacity: C2C with 25%) ⁽¹⁾

It has landing points in:
*Tong Fuk, Hong Kong
*Pusan, Korea
*Wada, Japan
*Toucheng, Taiwan

Technology

RNAL is a high capacity 6 fiber pair redundant loop system, upgradeable using Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM). REACH owns 3 fiber pairs. FLAG owns the other 3 fiber pairs.

Ultimate design capacity for REACH Services.

Service Availability and Configuration

The cable landing shore ends are buried through plough and jetting techniques to minimise the possible impact of fishing, large ship anchors andother ocean hazards that can occur in shallow water. Armored cable protection is also utilised in shallow water areas including the shore ends.

The RNAL is a self-healing loop cable with traffic restoration time of < 1 second in the event of a cable fault. Availability of 99.999% (5 minutes of downtime per year).

External links

* [http://www.kidorf.com/DBLandings.php Comprehensive list of the approximately 1000 cable landing sites globally]

⁽¹⁾ Source: Telegeography Bandwidth Report 2002