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Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

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Re: Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

#41

Post by maxmcd »

This might be an absurd question, but I can't think of a better place to ask it.

In my mind there's a huge mental disconnect between computers (servers/personal computers) and infrastructure like this.

Could someone provide insight on when/how these types of high-throughput cables are used? How the process is managed, by who, and how on earth all those bits are lined up at such a high speed.

I understand they're core to the structure of the internet, but I couldn't explain how information ends up in them to my grandmother.

edit: looks like the linked wired article is a good place to start

Re: Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

#42

Post by mayanksinghal »

rasz_pl wrote: post #38
vantagepoint wrote: post #20

On a slight offtopic note, I wonder why Japanese websites are still stuck in the mid 90s to early year 2000 style. One example of this is the imageboard type of websites, which interestingly enough has caught on here in the US. I wonder if these better connectivity will bring more cross culture web designs or applications to both places.

Japanese are very egocentric and insular. There was a story on Hackaday about Japanese Hackers simply ignoring English speaking part of the internet. Those are Hackers hacking on something in a Hackerspace, people on the forefront of open minded thinking.

>Japanese Hackers simply ignoring English speaking part of the internet.

Internationalization seems to be something that hackers rarely invest time on. It is not like hackers in Silicon Valley build their products while worrying about supporting users who speak Mandarin/Cantonese/Japanese/Hindi etc. I really don't think it is close-mindedness at play here.

Re: Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

#43

Post by pchristensen »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #28
pchristensen wrote: post #13

Obligatory link to "Mother Earth, Motherboard" whenever submarine cables are mentioned: http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass.html Best 50 page article you'll read this year.

> by Neal Stephenson Well ok then

'Nuff said.

Re: Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

#44

Post by pchristensen »

ender7 wrote: post #14
dchuk wrote: post #4

That seems really cheap for such a crucial piece of infrastructure that has to wrap a quarter of the way around the earth

While manufacturing the cable is expensive, actually laying it (in that particular part of the ocean) is not that challenging. They essentially just drive a ship along that path while slowly spooling out the cable from the rear. They have the advantage that that stretch of ocean doesn't contain much of anything to plan around.

Anyone interested in the process (or just loves captivating writing about technical subjects), read http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass.html. Can't recommend it enough.

Re: Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

#45

Post by jpmattia »

btoptical wrote: post #39
jpmattia wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nope this will be 100G per wave not 40G. Do you have a link for this? Interesting news if true. Also: Things running at 50G used to be OC768 with error correction, ie 40G of data + 10G of overhead. Has this changed? At some point, the framers have to deal with standardized bitstreams, so is the 50G one part of an inverse mux or combined up from 10G? Edit: It's been a while. Sorry for the bazillion questions, but cu…

See for example: http://newswire.telecomramblings.com/2013/01/telstra-global-... So you have to separate the "wet" plant from the terminal gear. The speed of the terminal gear is completely disconnected from the wet plant these days. Nobody replaces wet plant to upgrade capacity. They run Ciena, Infinera, Alcatel gear over Tyco's old line system. Essentially the issue with upgrading over the wet plant is basically th…

> See for example:

Thanks for the link. I confess I'm a little amazed that Infinera is the basis for running 100G coherent single wavelengths. That's great progress. (Edit- See below)

> Essentially the issue with upgrading over the wet plant is basically the presence of nonlinearities on the fiber

Yes, and there's great incentive to utilize legacy fiber if possible.

(BTW I managed to screw up my comment above when I edited. I had written: Usually the undersea guys are a generation behind, partly because of the need to send a destroyer-looking ship out for any repairs.)

> BTW, I also worked at BBN

Hello! and hope all is well, whoever you are. :)

Edit: The infinera 500G PIC in the PR from Telstra is running its basic bitstreams at 25G and muxing them up - http://www.lightreading.com/optical/dwdm/infinera-unleashes-...

Re: Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

#46

Post by pchristensen »

notatoad wrote: post #7
dchuk wrote: post #4

That seems really cheap for such a crucial piece of infrastructure that has to wrap a quarter of the way around the earth

It does, especially in comparison to the other number referenced in the article. Running a cable from Singapore to Japan cost $400mm, but running one from America to Japan costs $300mm?

Shallow waters, shipping channels, and landings cost way more than deep sea sections.

Re: Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

#48

Post by btoptical »

jpmattia wrote: post #45
btoptical wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See for example: http://newswire.telecomramblings.com/2013/01/telstra-global-... So you have to separate the "wet" plant from the terminal gear. The speed of the terminal gear is completely disconnected from the wet plant these days. Nobody replaces wet plant to upgrade capacity. They run Ciena, Infinera, Alcatel gear over Tyco's old line system. Essentially the issue with upgrading over the wet plant is basically th…

> See for example: Thanks for the link. I confess I'm a little amazed that Infinera is the basis for running 100G coherent single wavelengths. That's great progress. (Edit- See below) > Essentially the issue with upgrading over the wet plant is basically the presence of nonlinearities on the fiber Yes, and there's great incentive to utilize legacy fiber if possible. (BTW I managed to screw up my comment above when I…

Yes. It's a 100G service though. Infinera runs on 25G spacing so at 25G dual wave dual polarization is 100G in the same spectral efficiency as single wave.

Re: Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

#49

Post by sanoli »

Following the tip to Stephenson's article, here's also a really good book, 'The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers'.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Victorian-Internet-Remarkable-Nine...

Re: Google Invests in $300M Submarine Cable to Improve Connection Between Japan, US

#50

Post by dmix »

sithadmin wrote: post #17
pchristensen wrote: post #13

Obligatory link to "Mother Earth, Motherboard" whenever submarine cables are mentioned: http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass.html Best 50 page article you'll read this year.

This really makes me nostalgic. I miss the days when Wired actually had decent content.

Well, journalism was also a good middle-class job back then. Magazines don't pay like they used to. Like upfront budgets to write a high-quality long piece.

Reading Hunter S Thompsons letters from the 60s as a freelance journalist you can tell he was able to spend time writing quality articles, with the odd hack job thrown in for extra cash. I highly doubt there are many full-time journos left like that.

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