Facebook and Microsoft has finally completed laying the World’s most advanced sub-sea Internet connectivity cable through the Atlantic ocean.
The high-capacity cable that connects the US with Europe is a project by Facebook and Microsoft which started working on it a year ago. Known as the Marea sub-sea Internet cable, the link has been established between Virginia Beach to Bilbao in Spain.
The cable that weighs 10.25 million pounds stretches across the Atlantic ocean, with a length of measuring 4,000 miles. Being one of the most advanced cable developed and deployed, the Marea subsea internet cable would be able to transfer data at a massive maximum rate of 160 terabits per second. As the other cables that cross Atlantic go further north, experts believe that this cable is deployed mainly to add resilience to the Internet link in case natural catastrophe strikes on the sea.
“Marea comes at a critical time,” said Brad Smith, the President at Microsoft. “Submarine cables in the Atlantic already carry 55 percent more data than trans-Pacific routes and 40 percent more data than between the U.S. and Latin America. There is no question that the demand for data flows across the Atlantic will continue to increase and Marea will provide a critical connection for the United States, Spain, and beyond.”
The cable was built and laid as part of a joint project from Facebook, Microsoft and a telecommunications infrastructure company, Telxius. The cable will go operational next year.
