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Google, others to build massive under-sea Internet link to Asia

By Michael Hatamoto, BetaNews

February 26, 2008, 1:02 PM

A new group comprised of six companies including Google publicly revealed plans to build an undersea fiber-optic cable that will link Japan to the west coast of the United States.

The ultimate aim of the cable is to be able to allow companies to send large amounts of data across the world at a lower price. Consortium companies will utilize a five fiber pair cable system, which can be upgraded to eight fiber pairs later down the road.

Each individual fiber pair will be able to transport 960 Gbps of data - the equivalent of 15 million simultaneous phone calls.

The trans-Pacific cable system, called Unity, will span 6,200 miles and has an estimated price tag of $300 million. The cable will allow Los Angeles and other west coast cities in the United States to stay connected with the Japanese city of Chikura, which is located off the coast of Tokyo.

A trans-Pacific phone line and other data links between the United States and Japan are already located in Chikura. It is expected that other Asian nations will also be able to connect to the line from the Chikura access point.

"The Unity cable system allows the members of the consortium to provide the increased capacity needed as more applications and services migrate online, giving users faster and more reliable connectivity," Unity spokesperson Jayne Stowell said in an official press statement.

Along with U.S.-based Google, telecommunication companies Sing Tel and Bharti Airtel, based in Singapore and India, will work with Pacnet, a Chinese company specializing in deep-sea fiber-optic technology. Google is the only consortium member that does not specialize in telecommunications.

The six companies have chosen NEC Corporation and Tyco Telecommunications to construct the new system, with construction scheduled to begin immediately. Unity expects the system to be usable in two years.

Rumors began circulating regarding Google's participation in a new undersea cable spanning the Pacific Ocean last year, but the Mountain View-based search company remained silent. Working with the consortium will allow Google to have access to lower-priced bandwidth to send data to Asia and other locations.

The need for trans-Pacific cable systems offering high-speed connections has been steadily increasing since 2002, and is expected to continue to increase from 2008 through 2013.

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By fiber-optic-cables

posted Jul 16, 2008 - 5:32 PM

Saying Google doesn't specialize in telecommunications isn't exactly fair. Most certainly they have a specific business reason to expand bandwidth across the pacific, and that they intend to be a massive source of the content that will utilize that bandwidth.

Timbercon - Fiber Optic Cables
http://www.timbercon.com/

Score: 0

By Rachel

edited Feb 27, 2008 - 9:13 AM

Well, Google just keeps on making all the right moves! Will be interesting to see how many companies try and jump in on this.

Score: 0

By utomo

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 9:58 AM

They need to consider other country, such as China (the biggest user soon)
India
Indonesia

They have many people in the country. and it can be a good target in the future.

and currently the bandwith still expensive in those countries

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 4:49 AM

This is good for Internet as a whole and for Japan specifically as well-- their internet local is so fast that it bogs down when it goes international.