A Dive Into the Digital Deep: A Look At The Undersea Cables That Connect Us
Posted in: Internet Use/New Technologies at 28/05/2012 14:54
When next winter's storms subside, a specialized ship will begin a slow crossing, lowering a skinny cable into its wake along a precisely prescribed path: the shortest distance between New York and London. Owned by Summit, N.J.-based Hibernia Atlantic, the $300 million wire will bring the two financial capitals 5.2 milliseconds closer together -- a boon to high-speed electronic traders.
Four thousand miles to the south, a second ship owned by a different company will move in parallel, laying a cable that will link -- for the first time -- Brazil and Angola. And in 2014, it will happen again, twice: from Virginia Beach to San Sebastián, Spain, and from Brazil to Nigeria. For those with memories of the global cable-laying spree that helped to drive telecommunications companies into bankruptcy in the 1990s, this will raise eyebrows. But all those cables are nearly full now. And there are other parts of the world demanding direct connections.
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