(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Trans-Atlantic submarine transport cable provider Hibernia Atlantic (www.hiberniaatlantic.com) has said its on track to complete its a multi-million euro cable build project, known as Project Kelvin, providing the island of Ireland with its first direct 40Gbps network, designed to provide capacity and redundancy for future business opportunities both globally and locally.

Announced at the beginning of the year, the €30 million Project Kelvin, a joint initiative of Northern Ireland's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and the the Republic of Ireland's Department Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, included both an undersea cable linking Hibernia Atlantic's most northern trans-Atlantic route directly to Ireland as well as a terrestrial cable linking 13 Irish towns. In June, Hibernia announced the landing of the underwater cable at Portrush, which links the island of Ireland with North America and Europe.

According to Hibernia's announcement this week, it is currently building the terrestrial route, linking Letterkenny, Drogheda, Castleblaney and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. When completed, there will be an extra route out of Dublin and an additional cable coming into and out of Ireland for exceptional capacity and back-up support.

"According to recent figures, American companies have already invested 100 million euros in the island of Ireland this year alone," EMEA sales vice president Fergus Innes said in a statement. "We are confident that on completion of Project Kelvin, the quality and capacity of available bandwidth will act as a further inducement for financials, broadcasters, Internet Service Providers and other large bandwidth consuming companies who need a diverse physical connection across the Atlantic for their secure communications networks to either continue to invest in Ireland or create a new presence on the Island." 

Once the build is completed in March 2010, businesses operating into and within Ireland will have direct, low latency connectivity to Canada, USA and mainland Europe at competitive pricing, according to Hibernia. Financial exchanges, content delivery networks and global media organizations are already considering Ireland for network deployments, and Project Kelvin will further ensure network capacity.

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