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Equiano, a subsea cable from Portugal to South Africa

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Re: Equiano, a subsea cable from Portugal to South Africa

#51

Post by sgt »

kimi wrote: post #37
Havoc wrote: post #19

This is great. SA feels quite far away from the rest of the Internet (think 200ms) so anything that helps improve connectivity is a possive. Especially since this might foreshadow a local data center there. Azure has tech there. Google doesn't. Yet

We run stuff in a datacenter in Cape Town, and the quality of the connection to our C&C systems in Switzerland is sometimes awful bad - very slow, or routing issues where you have total black holes for minutes. We run similar workloads in the US and Singapore, but international connectivity is nowhere that bad. In spite of this, SA has an excellent tech scene and plenty of talent. On the other hand, I feel younger se…

We run lots of DC stuff in Cape Town and the connection to Europe is excellent. Which data center are you using? Something does not sound right here - perhaps faulty hardware, dodgy datacenter or similar. If you want, I can refer you several reputable providers.

Re: Equiano, a subsea cable from Portugal to South Africa

#53

Post by adolph »

cheerlessbog wrote: post #36
tim333 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I googled and found this https://ore.catapult.org.uk/app/uploads/2018/02/Export-Cable... Costs between £5.3m and £15.5m Wikipedia has a nice gif of the repair process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable... Funny random thing from that. In 1959 the Americans got annoyed by a Russian trawler breaking their cable and complained they'd broken the Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegra…

“Britain's very first action after declaring war on Germany in World War I was to have the cable ship Alert (not the CS Telconia as frequently reported)[12] cut the five cables linking Germany with France, Spain and the Azores, and through them, North America.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cab...

I’d like to read more about the theory behind that decision. There are so many interesting possibilities if the cables were left in place.

Also, how did the Zimmerman telegraph happen if Germany to Mexico was cut off?

The telegram was sent to the German embassy in the United States for re-transmission to Eckardt in Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram

Re: Equiano, a subsea cable from Portugal to South Africa

#54

Post by _urga »

sgt wrote: post #51
kimi wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We run stuff in a datacenter in Cape Town, and the quality of the connection to our C&C systems in Switzerland is sometimes awful bad - very slow, or routing issues where you have total black holes for minutes. We run similar workloads in the US and Singapore, but international connectivity is nowhere that bad. In spite of this, SA has an excellent tech scene and plenty of talent. On the other hand, I feel younger se…

We run lots of DC stuff in Cape Town and the connection to Europe is excellent. Which data center are you using? Something does not sound right here - perhaps faulty hardware, dodgy datacenter or similar. If you want, I can refer you several reputable providers.

"If you want, I can refer you several reputable providers."

In Cape Town? I would have thought the best/only provider would be Hetzner South Africa? If you could recommend more, of similar quality, that would be appreciated.

Re: Equiano, a subsea cable from Portugal to South Africa

#55

Post by ujeezy »

mbreese wrote: post #29
FearNotDaniel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heartily recommend Andrew Blum's book Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet for any non-technical folks interested in the physical infrastructure that makes all that internet magic happen. It's more in the travel memoir/popular history genres than actual engineering, but a very atmospheric layman's introduction. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23047146-tubes And of course, if you're ever in SW England, the M…

My favorite Wired article of all time was the 1996 article written by Neal Stephenson all about undersea cables. I can’t believe I was able to find a link, but I may still have the physical copy someplace. That was an amazing example of long form writing and was my introduction to Stephenson. https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/

Thanks for sharing! I remember enjoying the undersea cable plot in Cryptonomicon.

Inspired by another recent HN post about subsea cables, I'm currently reading The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage which walks through the history of the telegraph. It blows my mind that North America and Europe were connected by undersea cable before the start of the Civil War.

Re: Equiano, a subsea cable from Portugal to South Africa

#56

Post by selimthegrim »

adolph wrote: post #53
cheerlessbog wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Britain's very first action after declaring war on Germany in World War I was to have the cable ship Alert (not the CS Telconia as frequently reported)[12] cut the five cables linking Germany with France, Spain and the Azores, and through them, North America.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cab...

I’d like to read more about the theory behind that decision. There are so many interesting possibilities if the cables were left in place. Also, how did the Zimmerman telegraph happen if Germany to Mexico was cut off? The telegram was sent to the German embassy in the United States for re-transmission to Eckardt in Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram

I believe they had enough wireless stations to get across the Atlantic or they could communicate via diplomatic bag through neutral countries/ones with intact cables

Re: Equiano, a subsea cable from Portugal to South Africa

#57

Post by selimthegrim »

ageofwant wrote: post #43
Havoc wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should. Amazon is hoovering up all the local talent currently

iirc a significant block of Amazon's tech was developed in Cape Town over the last decade or so.

Any examples?

Re: Equiano, a subsea cable from Portugal to South Africa

#59

Post by Theodores »

samstave wrote: post #35
Symbiote wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who'da thought this was going on in 1884? It's well-known in Britain, at least. It looks to be part of the science examination taken at age 16 [2]. On your Wikipedia page, the section "British dominance of early cable" [1] describes the early success in this technology. Last time I was at the Science Museum in London, they had an exhibition on transatlantic cables. I think it's part of the permanent exhibition. [0]…

You would probably be interested in looking into the USS Jimmy Carter submarine.... The one the NSA uses to pull up and splice spying equipment into undersea cables....

They don't do that with most of the cables, the cable just comes ashore and goes into the NSA/GCHQ box and that is it.

So I guess that Google have done a deal with the devil already with this, wherever that cable comes ashore will be the mystery room with mystery kit inside, much like what goes on in Sennen in Cornwall. Cable and Wireless operate the cable, it goes to the GCHQ box that then connects with GCHQ in Bude and then on to the doughnut in Cheltenham where the spying for the NSA is done. This is the 'special relationship'.

Nobody thinks Google is evil(!) so you have to wonder how much is done as per the 'Glomar Explorer', with the whole thing being a bit of a cover story. The race is on for Africa with the option being Google doing it or the dreaded Huawei doing it, which would really mean getting the USS Jimmy Carter out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glomar_Explorer

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