Cutting edge Google subsea cable links US with Europe through UK, Spain
Bilbao, Sep 9 (EFE).- Google on Thursday latched a subsea cable onto northern Spain that will connect the United States, the United Kingdom and continental Europe through cables laid across the Atlantic Ocean, boosting the American firm’s tech capabilities.
The installation, a first for the company in the Iberian country, took place during an event attended by Google delegates and regional government representatives, who praised the infrastructural project uniting Shirley (New York, USA), Bude (UK), and Sopela (Spain).
The cable, named Grace Hopper and equipped with 16 fiber pairs, is expected to reach Cornwall in southwest England by the end of the year, making it one of the first cables to connect the US and the UK since 2003.
Google plans to have the new infrastructure operational in the first half of 2022.
The Grace Hopper cable covers some 7,000 kilometers with “great capacity,” transmitting some 340 terabytes per second, enough to supply “17.5 million people watching 4,000 videos at the same time,” said Google Cloud Iberia representative Maria Alvarez.
The infrastructure will reduce latency and significantly increase speed, as well as provide “extra security” with safety specifications above international standards, she said.
Arturo Azcorra, director-general of telecommunications for the Basque regional government, said his administration intends to promote more similar projects to turn Spain into “a data hub, one that facilitates the connectivity of several regions of the world,” taking advantage of the country’s strategic location as a “bridge” between America, Europe, and Africa.
Today, close to 95% of information traffic on the internet flows through subsea cables, he said. EFE
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