A sea of cables: the future of the Internet is underwater

Although apparently abstract and immaterial, what we commonly call Internet exists in a concrete way: it is made up of gigantic servers, data centers and, above all, cables .they constitute the central nervous system of the planet, which connects computers around the world. Related

The widest distances are annulled by long submarine cables , some 300 in total, which bring the 7.5 billion inhabitants of the Earth and transmit 99% of the world's data.Increase in traffic (since Cisco estimates that it will increase by 24% in 2021), the capacity of the cables must also grow, so that large operators are investing in the first person to boost global infrastructure.

Google's 'giant octopus'

Starting in 2019, Google will launch the installation of three new submarine cables for intercontinental communications with fiber optic .The first cable, called Curie -a tribute to the scientist Marie Curie-is destined to connect Chile with the city of LosAngeles, and is the first case of a private company that is in charge of the integral management of the placement of an intercontinental cable .

The second cable, Havfrue , will be built by the namesake consortium and will connect the US with Denmark, while the third one will be part of the Hong Kong-Guam Cable (HK-G), which interconnects Asia's submarine communication hub.With this trio of cables, Google will also be able to extend its cloud offerings to five new regions: Holland, Montreal, Los Angeles, Finland and Hong Kong.

Google has already contributed to the placement of three intercontinental submarine cables and this new investment aims to substantially improve a network that is already the largest in the world and that manages 25% of the total traffic , according to data from the company itself.In 2016, the placement of 12,800 kilometers of fiber between LosAngeles and Hong Kong began, with an estimated capacity of 120 Tbps. Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) was born from the collaboration between Google and Facebook, which is also interested in directly managing the cable network.

SPAIN, neuralgic center of the future

In this framework, Spain has "something" to see.Last year the submarine cable Marea, the first one that directly connects the United States and southern Europe, arrived at the Basque coast.Marea has an extension of 6,600 km and connects Virginia Beach (Virginia) with Sopelana (Basque Country), is composed of eight pairs of fiber optic cable that allow 160 terabytes per second (Tbps) to be transmitted.

The companies that have been in charge of its implementation are Microsoft and Facebook, while the Spanish Telxius will take care of its management and operation.Marea will not only link the United States and Spain, since it will be linked to a fiber corridor already existing in Europe that links the main connection centers such as Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London.

Thus, Spain it becomes a crucial hub of communications between the two shores of the Atlantic Ocean , but not only because of its geographical location our country will be the connection point between the US, Latin America, Europe and Africa, but also for the storage of data.

From Latin America , in 2019, the EllaLink submarine cable will arrive that will connect Brazil and Spain, connecting data centers in Madrid and São Paulo, with 9,200 km long and a capacity of 72 Tbps, should reduce the data transmission time by 40%.

Finally, the new fiber optic submarine cable Orval , of the company Islalink and the operator Algerie Telecome, will link the cities of Oran (Algeria) and Valencia with an extension of 560 km.more likely, in the coming years, data from Africa will find storage in Spain.

The long history of submarine cables

The history of submarine cables is not recent.The first cable for telegraph transmission between Old and New World was placed in 1854 by the Atlantic Telegraph Company, between the Canadian island of Newfoundland and Ireland The first transmission took place four years later, but the connection stopped almost immediately.To achieve a stable transatlantic connection, it was necessary to wait until 1866, when some electrical signals in Morse code were interpreted by telegraphists.

The digital signal is currently transmitted by cables with a very complex structure: a core made of fiber optic is surrounded by several layers of material, including a copper sheath, which is used to transport the electricity needed for signal repeaters In fact, about 150 repeaters are required for a transatlantic cable .

The final result is a relatively small diameter structure, which varies depending on the depth of placement: in areas where a marine fauna is able to bite the cables or where they may be subject to other physical stresses, the diameter amounts to about ten centimeters; while sands where the cable is placed in depth, where these risks are less, the thickness decreases to less than two centimeters.

More economical and efficient

The costs of these facilities have decreased greatly over the years.The first transatlantic cables expressly designed for the transport of data through the Internet were created and placed in the early 2000s, by companies such as AT&amp ; T and Level 3, with costs that touched the two billion dollars.For the laying, special vessels were used/used.

With current technologies, costs have been reduced considerably and now we are in the order of a few hundred million dollars.Signal repeaters are the structures that need more maintenance, more or less every 25 years., the fiberoptic has proved to be a very profitable investment , since to increase its data transport capacity, you simply have to change the technology placed on the edges of the system, keeping the same cable operational.

That is why all the major operators of the communication move token.For example, in the second half of this year, a new 1,900km fiber optic submarine cable that will link the French overseas departments of Guyana should come into operation., Martinique and Guadalupe, in which the Orange group will invest 35 million euros.

Fiber is much more advantageous than satellite, both for its data transport capacity, and for the transmission speed.In the best case, a bit, to go through a telecommunications satellite, takes almost a quarter of a second; instead, the same data crosses the Atlantic Ocean in just over two hundredths of a second through the Marea cable.

With the current technological development, and as demonstrated by the huge investments of the large players of the sector, the future of the Internet is not in space but at the bottom of the sea .

Images | iStock-GoogleIn Nobbot | Quick guide not to get lost in the Google universe "

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