Google inaugurated the underwater cable system with a length of almost 5,600 miles that will connect the west of the US with Japan.
The system is called FASTER and contains optimized fibers that can deliver a bandwidth of 60 terabits per second.
The global infrastructure for internet and communication services includes a few hundred submarine telecommunications cables.
The FASTER Telecommunication System
The name of the project was given by the team of engineers working on the project. One of them explained that at the beginning of the project, everyone hurried to get things done and to keep up with the tight schedule, so they repeatedly told one another to do it faster, everything needed to be done faster – and thus, the word became an emblem for the project.
The telecommunication system was an initiative of a consortium composed of Google, China Mobile International, Global Transit, KDDI, China Telecom Global, and Singtel.
The construction started in 2014, and it was managed by NEC Corporation. The total investment is estimated to value almost $300 million.
FASTER includes a 6-fiber-pair cable and transmission technologies that rely on 100 Gb/s x 100 wavelengths of optical cables.
The engineer responsible for NEC’s submarine network division said that the cable would bring benefits to the entire Asia-Pacific region. It seems that the construction involved many technical challenges.
The cable originating point is in Oregon and has two landing spots in Japan. On the American side, the FASTER system is connected with Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. Through Japan, the cable is linked to other Asian locations.
The cable will be ready for service during the summer of 2016.
Facebook’s MAREA Project
Earlier this year, Microsoft and Facebook announced their intention to build an underwater cable across the Atlantic. The project will be named MAREA, and it will connect Virginia Beach with Bilbao in Spain. It will ensure an improved data connectivity for Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
MAREA will have an open design that will allow future upgrades to better and more reliable technologies. The system will reduce the costs for customers and will guarantee a better quality of their services.
The bandwidth offered by the optical fiber technology will bring benefits to streamers and gamers all around the world.
In 2015, there were almost 300 underwater cables built around the world. Apart from the Trans-Pacific cable, there are six other systems categorized by their region: Trans-Atlantic, Intra-Asia, Intra-Europe, Asia-Europe-Africa, Asia-Australia, and Australia-USA.
Image Source: Wikipedia
