Sparkle and Fincantieri join forces to protect critical subsea infrastructure

December 18, 2024 08:58 AM

Sparkle and Fincantieri leaders shake hands after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop subsea cable monitoring solutions

Sparkle has partnered with shipbuilding giant Fincantieri to develop advanced solutions for detecting and monitoring subsea cables.

Under a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding, the two companies will collaborate to identify technologies that enhance the operational resilience of vital subsea infrastructure.

Fincantieri, which specialises in surveillance and protection systems for subsea assets, will draw on Sparkle’s industry expertise to create solutions aimed at safeguarding critical undersea networks.

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Enrico Maria Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle, said: “The agreement with Fincantieri represents a fundamental step in our mission to protect subsea infrastructures, which are pillars of global connectivity and national security.

“Our collaboration will combine outstanding expertise in the shipbuilding and telecommunications sectors to develop advanced technological solutions able to address the increasingly complex challenges of an interconnected world.”

Through shared, specialist work teams, Fincantieri and Sparkle will analyse the requirements for improving the security of undersea telecom infrastructures, aiming to identify technologies capable of ensuring operational resilience.

The agreement is the latest in a growing list of collaborations for Sparkle. Most recently, the Italian firm agreed to work with the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology to see if its subsea fibre optic cables can help detect seismic events.

Other recent Sparkle collaboration agreements saw the cable giant partner up with Mobily to enhance connectivity solutions via Sparkle’s submarine cable systems, adding to an earlier agreement between the pair signed at Capacity Europe 2024.

Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO and general manager of Fincantieri, said: “The agreement with Sparkle marks an important step in our technological development path in the protection of critical submarine infrastructure.

“Thanks to this collaboration, in addition to strengthening our commitment to digital security, we concretise the development of civilian submarine alongside the military one, and project the role of Fincantieri and Italy as an industrial leader on an international scale, through synergies between national excellences.”