SHEFA-2

SHEFA-2 is an undersea communication cable linking the Faroe Islands to mainland Scotland via the Northern Isles. It is named after the route on which it is being deployed (SHEtland-FAroes) and succeeds an earlier cable called SHEFA-1 on the same route.

SHEFA-2 runs from Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands to Maywick in Shetland, then from Sandwick in Shetland onwards to Ayre of Cara in Orkney, and from Manse Bay in Orkney to Banff in Aberdeenshire, on mainland Scotland. Establishing the SHEFA-2 cable took less than two years, from the planning of the project in June 2006 until March 2008, when the cable became ready for use.

SHEFA-1 was deployed from 1971 to 1994, when CANTAT-3 (the fibre-optic submarine cable between Canada and Europe, with branches to both Iceland and the Faroe Islands), was established. It was a coaxial cable with 120 channels, carrying 120 telephone conversations at a time.

SHEFA-2 is a fibre-optic submarine cable and the capacity with today’s technology is 57x10 gigabits per second. The total length of the cable is around 1000 km. SHEFA-2 includes the world’s longest purely passive optical fibre cable link (390 km), entirely without amplifiers. With no submarine repeaters and no power feeds, repair and maintenance of the submarine cable is minimized. At the same time, the solution is future proof, as the end-point technology is the only item in need of change to increase the capacity.

Shefa

Shefa may refer to:

Ohr

Ohr ("Light" Hebrew: אור‎; plural: Ohros/Ohrot "Lights" Hebrew: אורות‎) is a central Kabbalistic term in the Jewish mystical tradition. The analogy of physical light is used as a way of describing metaphysical Divine emanations. Shefa ("Flow" Hebrew: שפע‎ and its derivative, Hashpoah "Influence" Hebrew: השפעה‎) is sometimes alternatively used in Kabbalah, a term also used in Medieval Jewish Philosophy to mean Divine influence, while the Kabbalists favour Ohr because its numerical value equals Raz ("mystery"). It is one of the two main metaphors in Kabbalah for understanding Divinity, along with the other metaphor of the human soul-body relationship for the Sephirot. The metaphorical description of spiritual Divine creative-flow, using the term for physical "light" perceived with the eye, arises from analogous similarities. These include the intangible physicality of light, the delight it inspires and the illumination it gives, its apparently immediate transmission and constant connection with its source. Light can be veiled ("Tzimtzum"-constrictions in Kabbalah) and reflected ("an ascending light from the Creations" in Kabbalah). White light divides into 7 colours, yet this plurality unites from one source. Divine light divides into the 7 emotional Sephirot, but there is no plurality in the Divine essence. The term Ohr in Kabbalah is contrasted with Ma'ohr, the "luminary", and Kli, the spiritual "vessel" for the light.

Shefa Province

Shefa is one of the six provinces of Vanuatu, located in the center of the country and including the islands of Epi and Efate and the Shepherd Islands.

The province's name is derived from the initial letters of SHepherd and EFAte.

It has a population of 78,723 people and an area of 1,455 km². Its capital is Port Vila, which is also the capital of the nation.

History

In the 1860s, Havanna Harbour, north Efate, was the centre of development in Shefa, with cotton plantations the focus. With dwindling prices for cotton, agricultural administrators turned to maize and coffee, before settling mainly with coconuts and cattle which are the main agricultural products today.

The French and British continued to have conflicting interests in Vanuatu (then known as New Hebrides) and decided upon a Joint Naval Commission, or Condominium, in 1887, with the Joint Court opened in 1910, it is still used today.

Shefa Province was a strategic location during World War II for the mainly American troops. Major instalments were placed on northern Efate along Havanna Harbour including Tanaliou, Siviri and Saama, and some outer Efate Islands including Moso Island.