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Google to build new undersea cable to connect Latin America and the U.S.
- ishtanbul 5y agoHow much do these cables cost?
- bingidingi 5y agoThe Unity cable from Japan to the US cost $300 million (~10,000km) in 2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(cable_system) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(cable_system)
- bombcar 5y ago$30k a kilometer is not bad all things considered.
- mschuster91 5y agoOr 30$ a meter. Cheaper than Thunderbolt cables, I'm really amazed especially how much actual human effort is required in cable-laying.
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoThats very surprising inded, i shluld switch to using marine cables in my setup
- bombcar 5y agoThe cable may be cheap but the adapters are gonna kill ya. :)
- missedthecue 5y agoWow I would have guessed 10x that
- TaylorAlexander 5y agoThat would make that single cable 1/3 the price of the LHC. I’m glad it doesn’t cost that much!
- elevenoh 5y agoIf this were government doing it, it would've been 10x that ;)
- analyte123 5y ago>Firmina will improve access to Google services for users in South America...giving users fast, low-latency access to Google products such as Search, Gmail and YouTube, as well as Google Cloud services When companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft build cables do they ever let people besides themselves use it for a price? It would be unfortunate if millions of people had no choice but to use Google etc services because they were the only ones that performed well enough.
- plerpin 5y agoIt's vertical integration. As long as we're wishing for fairness I wish Apple would share those tasty M1 processors with the rest of the non-Mac world.
- walterbell 5y agoSome former M1 designers are now at Qualcomm, working for PC OEMs: https://medium.com/silicon-reimagined/performance-delivered-a-new-way-8f0f5ed283d5 https://medium.com/silicon-reimagined/performance-delivered-... https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2021/03/16/qualcomm-completes-acquisition-nuvia https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2021/03/16/qualcomm-c...
- pkaye 5y agoIsn't peering a key part of how the Internet works? I can also see any company using Google Cloud Services would benefit with connecting to users in South America.
- toast0 5y agoPeering won't get non-Google traffic on a Google cable. But as a sibling points out, Google moving traffic to its own cable may free up room on existing cables. Most of these cables are built in partnership with other companies, often including major transit providers.
- skybrian 5y agoThere is competition. Businesses that aren't large enough to fund their own cables buy bandwidth from large ISP's, which are likely to invest in more undersea cables when they anticipate selling more bandwidth. Meanwhile, the big content providers are using two thirds of the bandwidth. It seems like if everyone suddenly switched to something else then that would cause a lot of disruption, but not if the change is gradual.
- jonbaer 5y agoThe cable for context: https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-05-24-at-10.46.44-AM.png https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Sh...
- surround 5y agoDon't use url shorteners https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-05-24-at-10.46.44-AM.png https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Sh...
- PaywallBuster 5y agothe source without paywall: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/announcing-the-firmina-subsea-cable https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/announ...
- spurgu 5y agoOr bypass paywalls: https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywalls-firefox/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywal...
- dep_b 5y agoSo this is a private cable only used for Google services? I noticed connections to the US are so much better from Europe than in Argentina, would be a shame only the Googlenet gets a decent speedboost.
- xpe 5y agoSince Google Cloud service are included, others may pay to use Firmina 'indirectly' ... > the cable will carry traffic quickly and securely between North and South America, giving users fast, low-latency access to Google products such as Search, Gmail and YouTube, as well as Google Cloud services. See also: Internet transit agreements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_transit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_transit
- xpe 5y agoThe Reuters article made a mistake: > The cable, called Firmina, will be the longest cable in the world, Google said in a blog post, adding that it will run from the East Coast of the United States to Las Toninas, Argentina, with additional landings in Praia Grande, Brazil, and Punta del Este, Uruguay. This is a misquote from the original https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/announcing-the-firmina-subsea-cable https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/announ... : > Firmina will be the longest cable in the world capable of running entirely from a single power source at one end of the cable if its other power source(s) become temporarily unavailable—a resilience boost at a time when reliable connectivity is more important than ever. As you would expect, TRANSPAC is much longer: > 1995 No.5 Trans-Pacific Cable Network(TPC-5) (Laid cable length: approx.2,958 km) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpac_(cable_system) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpac_(cable_system)
- kevincox 5y agoWhat exactly does "additional landings" mean here. I usually think of a cable as connecting two places. Is it basically multiple cables that connect to the same exchange onshore? Or is there a router "at sea" where the cables fork? Or does some of the cable from the US terminates in Brazil, some terminate in Punta del Este, ...
- sithadmin 5y agoDepends on the cable. In some cases, the fiber bundle will be fully terminated at the landing, which serves as a junction point where the logical path for the cable system then resumes via a different cable to the next landing in the path. In other cases, a fraction of the fiber bundle will be split (either physically or with a subsea multiplexer device) and directed to a nearby landing, with the remainder of the fiber continuing onwards.
- virtuallynathan 5y agoOn these newer cables they tend to use wavelength-selective switches at BUs.
- loloquwowndueo 5y agoJust note that those three countries are hardly all of Latin America and are usually best described as part of South America (and southern South America at that).
- SantiAchi 5y agoThat's about 245~ million people and almost all of SA's Atlantic coastline. It might be more appropriate to say it's Eastern South America rather than 'all of Latin America' OR 'southern South America' for that matter..
- hulitu 5y agoSo NSA needs more involvement in South America. Fear the greeks when they bring you presents.
- batmansmk 5y agoI find surprising that Brazil, Urugay accepts US-based infrastructure between their countries. It is surrendering their data sovereignty.
- hulitu 5y agoEverybody loves US. Especially when they have military bases on their soil or an aircraft carrier in the harbour. They are very nice. They borrow you money, they help with the economy. The only thing they ask is that you not restrict american companies in doing "business".
- randomopining 5y agoYour sarcasm would be funny except for the fact that almost all serious US partners are doing fine and have vibrant democracies. Regardless of continent or history, race, etc. Japan Europe SK Colombia etc.
- Qem 5y agoAt least in case of Brazil, it helps that the FBI assisted the Car Wash operation arrest a relatively autonomous front-runner presidential candidate on trumped up charges, to empower the puppet rainforest burner, negationist chloroquine peddler that rules there now, stacking a pandemic body count close to five hundred thousand in the process, and counting up. See https://theintercept.com/2020/03/12/united-states-justice-department-brazil-car-wash-lava-jato-international-treaty/ https://theintercept.com/2020/03/12/united-states-justice-de...
- gkanai 5y agoobligatory link to the canonical Neal Stephenson article on undersea cables: https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/
- boltzmann_brain 5y agoIt's amazing to me that internet ad company is laying undersea cables.
- swiley 5y agoWe generally assume the internet is empowering but part of that assumption expects personal computing and an understanding of the web (IMO.) Getting your android phone a better connection to Google/Facebook is probably more empowering to Google than you.
- sergiomattei 5y agoGoogle does wonders for access to information in developing countries. It empowers a whole generation to tap into the world's knowledge efficiently and learn new skills and ideas. Facebook does wonders as well for connecting people together and empowering small business owners. The glass half-full. Of course there are problems with what they're doing and they're definitely not being altruistic. But IMO the benefits outweigh the costs. Faster internet access for developing countries? Sign me up. I'm flabbergasted - I come to expect more nuance from HN, and all I'm seeing in this thread is "to hell with this potentially great thing, because fuck the great evils Google and Facebook".
- macspoofing 5y agoSomething something ... Net Neutrality ... something something.
- inshadows 5y agoOff-topic: How do / Where can I learn about world network infrastructure? I'll use Google, Obi-wan. I just seek wisdom of local wizards. Thanks!
- abrowne 5y ago"Mother Earth Mother Board" (1996) by Neal Stephenson is great narrative nonfiction on the subject: https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- imw 5y agoThis is a pretty fun starting point: https://www.submarinecablemap.com/ https://www.submarinecablemap.com/
- throw0101a 5y agoNANOG has presentations on low-level stuff. A comment of mine from a few days ago links to some videos: * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27412527 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27412527 I'm sure you'll get a bunch of "related" videos on YouTube after watch them.
- jollybean 5y agoImagine if Ford and GM started building roads and tolling who gets access ... Given the strategic importance of such things, I hope there are good regulations in place.