CSnet International, Inc. announced the formation of a strategic partnership to develop its modular, expandable Offshore Communication Backbone (OCB) concept. Contracts have been awarded to Maritime Communication Services (MCS) for the overall system design and to Ocean Specialists Inc (OSI) to oversee its procurement and installation.

Subcontracts have also been awarded to Ocean Works International to provide the seafloor nodes and to Tyco Telecommunications (US) for supplying and deploying the seafloor cable and couplings. Contract values and terms were not disclosed. According to Dr Andrew Clark, President and CEO of CSnet, “We have assembled a team of the premier players, benefitting from their decades of experience in designing and operating many of the most complex networks already operating in the world today. The end product will be a robust and reliable system, pre-engineered and tested, that is capable of being deployed anywhere there is a need for seafloor power and bandwidth”. According to CSnet, Several locations are being considered for deployment of the first system, currently planned for late 2010.