In 2017, Microsoft and Facebook completed a record-breaking undersea Internet cable in collaboration with telecom infrastructure company Telxius.
It is the highest capacity undersea telecommunications cable to ever cross the Atlantic, it might actually be much faster than we previously thought.
Images courtesy: Microsoft
Marea (Spanish for 'tide') stretches across 6,400 km of ocean between Virginia Beach and Bilbao in Spain, approximately 17,000 ft below the surface of the Atlantic. It has the highest total capacity in the world, theoretically 160 terabits per second (Tbps), equivalent to streaming 71 million HD videos simultaneously.
Also Read:?Microsoft & Facebook's 6,400 Km Trans-Atlantic Internet Cable Will Have A Speed Of 160 Tbps
The cable has eight optic fibers, and each pair was previously estimated to be capable of transfer speeds of 20 Tbps But a recent experiment using 16QAM modulation achieved a new record of 26.2 Tbps. That's huge news.
For one, the experiment was carried out on an existing cable and not a prototype model, meaning it could be upgraded instead of spending millions laying new cables. Secondly, the speed improvement was also carried out over a long distance, meaning it's real world-viable.
Unfortunately, though it can hit 26.2 Tbps, the average data transfer rate on Marea is still about 9.5 Tbps, so it's going to be a while before we can actually see those kinds of speeds on a daily basis.
ALSO READ:?I Saw How India Connects To The Internet At 3.6 Tbps At An Undersea Cable Landing Station