Tomislav Topic reveals his technological vision of the future, thanks to the Csn-1 Submarine Cable to Diario El Universo

Tomislav Topic reveals his technological vision of the future, thanks to the Csn-1 Submarine Cable to Diario El Universo

With a casual style and a broad smile, Tomislav Topic, General Manager of Telconet S.A., welcomed us at his offices in northern Guayaquil on June 20th. We climbed several steps to enter a conference room.

In this space, Topic turned on his laptop and projected his new investment on a digital whiteboard:

the new submarine cable (Carnival Submarine Network – 1, CSN-1).

"It will allow us greater speed than we have now, and we implemented it for redundancy. It’s better to have two separate submarine cables on different routes. (For example), if a tsunami hits Manta and damages the cable, we already have the other one," Topic said while showing its path on the whiteboard.

He immediately raised his eyebrow at the thought of that possibility and assured that the damage to these cables would last weeks or even months, making it necessary to have two. "The internet is so important, you can go without water, but not without the internet," he said, smiling slightly.

Topic detailed that the submarine cable starts in Ecuador, continues to Panama, then forms an inverted "Y" connecting to Colombia, and the other end extends to the west coast of Florida. It is a private investment of 300 million dollars and is being manufactured in France. It measures 4,500 kilometers.

It is expected that in the first quarter of 2025, the deployment will begin laying the cable on the seabed or burring it in the case of swallow waters. "It's a custom-made cable the armor is designed based on the characteristics of the seabed," he mentioned, adding that this work is carried out by Alcatel Submarine Networks' ships.

Its Relation with Artificial Intelligence

Ecuador is one of the countries already venturing into Artificial Intelligence (AI), with universities offering courses that teach students how to handle this tool; companies are automating tasks, and even ordinary citizens have learned to use ChatGPT to clear any doubts.

The new submarine cable will facilitate that agility, Topic assured, seeing it as a great opportunity. "If Ecuador takes the leap and gets into Artificial Intelligence, we will no longer depend on foreign companies selling systems or software because we will be able to develop it ourselves supported by AI, we won't have to pay anymore," he remarked, also mentioning the possibility of selling internet to other nations: "because this cable could interconnect the entire Caribbean."

While discussing these advancements, Topic mentioned the Pacific Caribbean Cable System, the previous Fiber Optic cable, developed over 10 years ago by the PCCS Consortium (comprised of Telconet Latam, Cable & Wireless, Setar Servicio di Telecomunicazioni of Aruba, Telefónica Global Solutions, and United Telecomunications Services from Curacao), stating that its lifespan is 25 years, with approximately 15 years remaining lifespan.

Telconet is a Telecommunications operator providing telecommunication and digital services. It started almost 40 years ago with Telcodata selling computers, and by 2025, it would have two submarine cables.

Where Does the Information Go?

Telconet owns two Data Centers, one in Guayaquil and another in Quito. Topic showed to this reporter the servers of the data center in the port city. He explained that multiple layers of security are necessary, consisting of immense and resistant doors.

After passing through several of these, you reach the heart of the information. There is a large number of servers, each with the appropriate temperature to prevent malfunction.

"The power can never go out, if there is an earthquake, nothing can happen, communication cannot be lost, the air conditioning cannot go out," Topic said while opening a small transparent door connecting to one of the data storage equipment aisles where cold and warm air circulates.

"This is where Netflix movies are downloaded, (bank transactions) are made, and the NVIDIAs server operates consuming a lot of energy," Topic explained as he pointed to the equipment holding a large amount of information.

In that space, there were about 20 Nvidia devices, which are accelerated computing equipment, already displacing tech giants like Microsoft.

To read the full interview, click on the following link: Source: El Universo