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Microsoft and Facebook Just Built a 4,000-Mile Cable Across the Pacfic Ocean (popularmechanics.com)

An anonymous reader quotes Popular Mechanics: Microsoft, Facebook and global telecommunication infrastructure company Telxius have completed the Marea subsea cable, the world's most technologically advanced undersea cable. The Marea crosses the Atlantic Ocean over 17,000 feet below the ocean's surface, connecting Virginia Beach with Bilbao, Spain. Over 4,000 miles (6,600 kilometers) long and weighing nearly 10.25 million pounds (4.65 million kilograms), the Marea can transmit up to 160 terabits of data per second, which Microsoft notes is "more than 16 million times faster than the average home internet connection, making it capable of streaming 71 million high-definition videos simultaneously."
The undersea cable -- about 1.5 times the diameter of a garden hose -- contains eight pairs of fiber optic cables encircled by copper, a protective layer of hard plastic, and then waterproof coating. Its 4,000-mile route had to avoid everything from earthquake zones to active volcanoes.

Cables under the Atlantic Ocean carry 55% more data than cables under the Pacific, Microsoft writes, adding that "the project highlights the increasing role of private companies in building the infrastructure of the future."

11 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Diameter in "garden hose?" by king+neckbeard · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is that in hogsheads?

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    1. Re:Diameter in "garden hose?" by Zemran · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is that a metric garden hose or an imperial garden hose?

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  2. Re:Pacfic or Atlantic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, the cable needs to be rerouted.

  3. Re:Pacfic or Atlantic by Zemran · · Score: 3, Funny

    Or we could relocate Spain?

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    I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
  4. Taking the long way round? by MiniMike · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...4,000-Mile Cable Across the Pacfic Ocean ... connecting Virginia Beach with Bilbao, Spain

    Microsoft maps claims another victim!

  5. FTFY by Cornwallis · · Score: 3, Funny

    Microsoft writes, adding that "the project highlights the increasing role of private companies in hobbling the infrastructure of the future."

  6. Here it is deniers!!! by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1, Funny

    More evidence of man-made "continental shift" and "ocean change". Unless the UN quickly acts, 97% of scientists think the Bering Sea will surround Tahiti in 15 years.

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  7. Re:Pacific or Atlantic? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pacfic

    Blinky looked at PacMan, gazing at his wide mouth and unblinking eye. They'd been on opposite sides for so long, but now, as he watched the yellow circle swallowing the pills, he felt a fluttering in his sheet...

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  8. Re:Atlantic? Pacific? WTF by flopsquad · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think the summary was pretty clear. The Marea cable is a highly advanced undersea cable that connects West Virginia Beach to Billings, Montana, crossing the Indian Ocean at a depth of 16,000mi (7km). It weighs a ton (1.09 nautical tons) and has the capacity to transmit 180 tibibytes of data across the Arctic Ocean—roughly equivalent to 1 billion "likes", 64 million unrequested Windows 10 updates, 14,000 librarians of congress, or infinity SMS messages. Geez RTFS.

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  9. Re:Pacfic or Atlantic by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's a Quantum Mechanics type question:

    Schrödinger's Ocean is Atlantic and Pacific at the same time . . .

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  10. Re:Atlantic? Pacific? WTF by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think it's to do with the Earth's rotation. In the Atlantic the data is moving with the spin, whereas in the Pacific it's against it, or something.

    Obviously this doesn't apply in Australia.

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