DOWN TO THE WIRE
SUBSEA CABLES CAN SEND 3 840 GIGABITS OF DATA PER SECOND
THE INTERNET IS a physical network connected on land and under the ocean by around 380 undersea cables worldwide that form the backbone of the internet. The more than 1.2 million km of submarine cables span entire oceans and take years to plan and build, and just as long to install.
Undersea cables are phenomenal pieces of networking infrastructure. They require state-of-the-art technology that combines the best engineering minds, advanced physics experts and marine biologists. Each cable has to be built for purpose, and the stretch of ocean it spans as well as where it lands on shore must be taken into account.
The standard design of fibre consists of send-and-receive components –
