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the cable.

In fact, Cuccio considers the advent of dynamic positioning to be arguably the technology that has most dramatically enhanced his ship's ability to operate efficiently. "Dynamic Positioning, cou- pled with the very high accuracy of

DGPS, enables us to plot a very specific route, to put the ship on station and to keep it on station in almost all weather conditions," Cuccio said. The company can repairs in up to Sea State 7, and can install in up to Sea State 8 or 9. (See

Table 1 for reference). "DP enables us to make quick, efficient repairs, as once we have the cable onboard for splicing, it helps ensure that we're not dragging these cables all over the seabed."

Business in Change

Cuccio began his career in the busi- ness of subsea cable laying nearly two decades ago, starting with AT&T

Submarine Systems in 1988 when fiber optic cabling was still in its infancy.

Thus he has a broad perspective of the changing nature of the business, watch- ing demand soar through the 1990s, powered by the dot.com explosion that saw Tyco Telecommunications employ more than 3,000 around the world.

When the dot.com bubble burst, so too did the corresponding bubbles in many related industries, and there was a sub- sequent downsizing at Tyco

Telecommunications to the 650 it employs today.

While painful, Cuccio notes that the company was able to retain its core of top-tier talent, and he said that today the business is in recovery mode, with the company slowly starting to increase its numbers to meet demand.

An area of growth of particular inter- est to the company is the burgeoning offshore market, which demands high- bandwidth communication capabilities at locations increasingly further off- shore. Cuccio believes that Tyco

Telecommunications is well-positioned to capitalize, as he notes it is the only

U.S. company with its breadth of prod- uct, service and engineering expertise.

The offshore Oil & Gas market, par- ticularly domestically in the Gulf of

Mexico region, has recently undergone its own metamorphosis, both planned, with the expansion of operations further from shore in increasingly deep waters, and unplanned via the one-two natural disaster punch of Hurricane's Katrina and Rita late last summer. "We look at the offshore industry as an emerging market, as we have the capa- bility to provide a quality of service and are in a position to connect to the off- shore environment with a high availabil- ity, high bandwidth communication pipeline," said Cuccio.

The company broke into the market nearly six year ago with a submarine system installation for a Brazilian deep- water facility, and today's push further out in the Gulf of Mexico with semi- submersible, floating platforms and sta- tionary drill ships presents a significant opportunity. "Unplanned events (due to hurricanes) cost the Oil & Gas industry millions each year," as major hurricanes can take an offshore facility off-line for days, weeks, and in some cases, months,

Cuccio said. With a robust, secure and reliable high-bandwidth fiber optic link from shore, companies can evacuate crews, control operations from the beach, and maintain a wider operating window. Once the storm passes, the fiber optic link will allow a status assessment and a re-start in a more time- ly fashion. "Currently, it takes about five days to get a rig back up, the industry wants to get it down to three days,"

Cuccio said.

May 2006 31

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