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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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26May17
Microsoft and Facebook are building a giant cable across the Atlantic: 4,100-mile-long subsea network will provide faster services
Microsoft and Facebook are building a massive cable across the Atlantic Ocean to meet growing demand for high-speed cloud and online services.
Dubbed MAREA, the cable is initially designed to carry 160 terabits of data per second, which is around 16 million times the bandwidth of your home internet connection.
The construction of the MAREA cable will begin in August and it is expected to be completed in October 2017, the companies revealed today.
The 4,100 mile (6,600 km) cable, the first to connect the US with southern Europe, will be operated and managed by Telefonica SA's telecoms infrastructure unit Telxius.
It will be the highest-capacity subsea cable to ever cross the Atlantic, running from the data hub of Northern Virginia to Bilbao, Spain and then to network hubs in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
'[It will meet] growing global demand for our more than 200 cloud services, including Bing, Office 365, Skype, Xbox Live and the Microsoft Azure platform,' said Christian Belady, General Manager, Datacenter Strategy, Planning & Development, Microsoft Corp.
'The MAREA transatlantic cable we're building with Facebook and Telxius will provide new, low-latency connectivity that will help meet the increasing demand for higher-speed capacity across the Atlantic.'
The move comes nearly two years after Google, which is now Alphabet, agreed with five Asian companies to invest about $300 million to develop and operate a trans-Pacific cable network connecting the US to Japan.
Google also has another cable that connects the US and Brazil, and a network of cables that connect parts of Asia.
As well as building an undersea cable, Facebook is buying something known as 'dark fiber', the name given to unused terrestrial cables, according to an in-depth report in Wired.
We're starting to see more of the large internet content providers looking to build more of their own networks–whether they are leasing dark fiber or laying down new cables to build new routes,' Michael Murphy, president and CEO of telecom consultancy NEF Told Wired. 'It makes sense.'
The companies chose Virginia to start the cable network because it's a major hub for data centers that include facilities used by Facebook and Microsoft.
By connecting it to Spain, the cable will provide a better network for Europe as well as Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Typically, companies like Microsoft and Facebook join larger consortiums of technology companies to create cables.
The latest move means that the two technology giants can sell their excess capacity to third parties.
'We're always evaluating new technologies and systems in order to provide the best connectivity possible,' said Najam Ahmad, Vice President of Network Engineering at Facebook.
'By creating a vendor-agnostic design with Microsoft and Telxius, we can choose the hardware and software that best serves the system and ultimately increase the pace of innovation.
'We want to do more of these projects in this manner – allowing us to move fast with more collaboration.
'We think this is how most subsea cable systems will be built in the future.'
Marea Cable: Key Facts
The cable is initially designed to carry 160 terabits of data per second.
This is around 16 million times the bandwidth of your home internet connection.
It aim to meet growing demand for high-speed cloud and online services.
The 4,100 mile (6,600 km) cable will be the first to connect the US with southern Europe.
It will be operated and managed by Telefonica SA's telecoms infrastructure unit Telxius.
Construction will begin in August and it is expected to be completed in October 2017.
Typically, companies like Microsoft and Facebook join larger consortiums of technology companies to create cables.
The latest move means that the two technology giants can sell their excess capacity to third parties.
[Source: By Ellie Zolfagharifard, Daily Mail online, London, 26May17]
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 | This document has been published on 12Jun17 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |