TyCom also opened a new office in Tokyo to manage its Japanese operations and support TGN capacity and system sales in the region, which will be directed by Dr. Yasuhiko Niiro, president of TyCom Japan Ltd. and former president and CEO of KDD Submarine Cable Systems Company.
"I am very pleased to be joining TyCom, the acknowledged industry leader in undersea optical networks," said Dr. Niiro. "The Japanese market represents a significant opportunity for our company, and this operator license for the TyCom Global Network is a milestone in project deployment. I look forward to working closely with our customers in Japan as we move ahead with our Asia-Pacific network construction."
Dr. Niiro was president and CEO of KDD Submarine Cable Systems Co. from 1995 to 2000. As a director at KDD he guided the construction of the first undersea fiber optic system in the Pacific (TPC-3) in 1989, and also carried out pioneering research and development at KDD Labs. His career with KDD began in 1964. He has a Doctor of Engineering degree from Tohoku University and an undergraduate degree from Musasi Institute of Technology. He has received many awards in his career, notably the Minister of Science and Technology Award, the Institution of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineer Award, and the Japan ITU prize for contributions in the development of transoceanic optical systems.
TyCom's Asia-Pacific networks, which will interconnect eight Asian countries and span the Pacific to link to the rest of the world, feature a designed capacity of up to 7.68 terabits per second. All segments are now being deployed and are on schedule for in-service dates in the second quarter of 2002. By the end of the third quarter of 2002, all of TGN Phase 1, including the Asia-Pacific systems, will be in service connecting a total of 30 cities in 24 countries spanning more than 90,000 kilometers.