4 ms·

A deep-sea 'emergency service' keeps the internet running

80 points by rdl 2y ago

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
stanski 2y ago
I saw an episode of "Mighty Ships" just this weekend, which followed such a ship around as they were working on splicing one of these cables. Very cool stuff.
pchristensen 2y ago
If you find this at all interesting, you must read Mother Earth, Mother Board by Neal Stephenson - https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/. It's long but so, so good, both in the content and the writing.
- r2_pilot 2y ago
  So good and so long that I have a printed paper copy from around the early 00's. Younger Me must have bought a ream of paper to justify the expense of printing it lol
- walterbell 2y ago
  https://archive.is/cMW2Q https://archive.is/cMW2Q
- ambarp2 2y ago
  Gave away my original print copy but it was such an amazing read for 23-yr-old me. It changed the wiring in my brain to think about truly global-scale infra problems differently.
xd1936 2y ago
The Verge also did a big set of stories about this last April, it was an excellent read. The Piece: https://www.theverge.com/c/24070570/internet-cables-undersea-deep-repair-ships https://www.theverge.com/c/24070570/internet-cables-undersea... The Podcast episode: https://www.theverge.com/24131941/undersea-cables-pc-chips-qualcomm-elite-vergecast https://www.theverge.com/24131941/undersea-cables-pc-chips-q...
- ChrisArchitect 2y ago
  Discussion then: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40075402 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40075402
thecosas 2y ago
After reading this, I don’t know if I can rightly describe myself as being in infrastructure engineering.
rascul 2y ago
> Ninety-nine percent of the world's digital communications rely on subsea cables. I'm skeptical of this claim. It seems way too high to me, and the reference is a paper about "Fast and destructive density currents created by ocean-entering volcanic eruptions" which I'm unable to view but seems unrelated.
- pxeger1 2y ago
  I have access - that paper says: > Such an incident has wider implications because subsea cables carry >99% of all international data traffic, including the internet and trillions of dollars per day in financial transactions and in turn cites "L. Carter, R. Gavey, P. J. Talling, J. T. Liu, Oceanography 27, 58–67 (2014)", which I can't find a working link for. So it's actually talking about international traffic. Although even then, that's a little hard to believe.

80 points by rdl 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

I saw an episode of "Mighty Ships" just this weekend, which followed such a ship around as they were working on splicing one of these cables. Very cool stuff.

pchristensen 2y ago

If you find this at all interesting, you must read Mother Earth, Mother Board by Neal Stephenson - https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/. It's long but so, so good, both in the content and the writing.

r2_pilot 2y ago
So good and so long that I have a printed paper copy from around the early 00's. Younger Me must have bought a ream of paper to justify the expense of printing it lol
walterbell 2y ago
https://archive.is/cMW2Q https://archive.is/cMW2Q
ambarp2 2y ago
Gave away my original print copy but it was such an amazing read for 23-yr-old me. It changed the wiring in my brain to think about truly global-scale infra problems differently.

xd1936 2y ago

The Verge also did a big set of stories about this last April, it was an excellent read. The Piece: https://www.theverge.com/c/24070570/internet-cables-undersea-deep-repair-ships https://www.theverge.com/c/24070570/internet-cables-undersea... The Podcast episode: https://www.theverge.com/24131941/undersea-cables-pc-chips-qualcomm-elite-vergecast https://www.theverge.com/24131941/undersea-cables-pc-chips-q...

ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Discussion then: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40075402 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40075402

thecosas 2y ago

After reading this, I don’t know if I can rightly describe myself as being in infrastructure engineering.

rascul 2y ago

> Ninety-nine percent of the world's digital communications rely on subsea cables. I'm skeptical of this claim. It seems way too high to me, and the reference is a paper about "Fast and destructive density currents created by ocean-entering volcanic eruptions" which I'm unable to view but seems unrelated.

pxeger1 2y ago
I have access - that paper says: > Such an incident has wider implications because subsea cables carry >99% of all international data traffic, including the internet and trillions of dollars per day in financial transactions and in turn cites "L. Carter, R. Gavey, P. J. Talling, J. T. Liu, Oceanography 27, 58–67 (2014)", which I can't find a working link for. So it's actually talking about international traffic. Although even then, that's a little hard to believe.