Microsoft has announced the completion of the Marea subsea cable, a joint project with Facebook and global telecommunications infrastructure company Telxius, that took two years to install.
Suresh Kumar, Microsoft's corporate vice-president for cloud infrastructure and operations, said that the subsea cable was the most technologically advanced to cross the Atlantic Ocean and that it runs for more than 6600 kms and weighs about 4.65 million kgs – or "about the weight of 34 blue whales"
It was also the first to join the US state of Virginia with Spain, with the arrival being in Virginia Beach and Bilbao.
Kumar said the wire’s new “open” design would provide it to evolve with technology, as the estimate of Internet users doubled globally.
“And make no mistake, the market is growing. Just think of the multiple high-bandwidth applications and content you use now such as Skype and Facebook Live, and a number of streaming videos, movies and music consumed daily,” he said.
“This ability to interoperate with many various kinds of networking devices brings significant benefits including lower costs and easier machine upgrades, leading to faster growth in bandwidth rates."
The title of the cable, Marea, means “tide” in Spanish.The title of the cable, Marea, means “tide” in Spanish.
Microsoft’s Deborah Bach said: “Situating the wire many miles south of the modern connection points on both regions helps to safeguard against common disasters or other major events disrupting connectivity across the Atlantic.”
Bach said that the plan required charting a course with normal depths of almost 11,000 feet (3352 meters) and hazards traveling from active volcanoes and earthquake zones to coral reefs.
“The cable, which is about 1.5 times the diameter of a garden hose, includes eight pairs of fiber optic cables enclosed by copper, a hard-plastic protective layer and a waterproof layer. Some portions like to shore are buried to preserve the cable from fishing and ship traffic, but for most of its route, the wire lays on the ocean floor,” she added.
