Internet Maps, Submarine Cables
Internet Maps and Submarine Cables
In actuality, the Internet is essentially a network of networks. A formless collection of interconnection of networks.It started as ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Networks) in the year 1969.
By then, it interconnects just few sites. It is predicted that by 2020, the internet will inter-connect 50 billion device. Each of us connects to the Internet using a physical cable or through wireless media.
Underneath this network of networks lies a very real backbone of connections that bring the world to our personal computing devices.
Number of Submarine Cables
As of early 2018, there are approximately about 448 service cables all around the world. The total number of service cables is constantly changing as new service cable are deployed to replace the old service cable.
Submarine Cables Path or Route
The design approach makes it easier to follow different cables path to understand their terminal point. The cables path on the map do not reflect the actual paths taken by the systems.
In real life, cables that cross similar areas on an ocean follow similar paths.
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these paths are chosen after detail marine survey that selects best routes for the cables to avoid hazardous conditions that can affects the performance of the cables and to prevents the cables from damage.
Myths or factors that can damage submarine cables
- When sharks bits few cables, but this is not the major threats.
- Human activities, primarily fishing and anchoring.
Life span of submarine Cables
Cables generally, are usually design with a minimum life of 25 years. Cables may remain operational longer than 25 years, but they are often retired because they become economical obsolete. Reason is due to transfer speed and bandwidth capacity.
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They can’t just provide the capacity as newer cables provide higher capacity with comparable price and obsolete technology are expensive to manage, lesser upgrade capability support and lesser data transfer capacity.
Capacity of Submarine Cables
Cable capacities vary a lot. Typically, newer cables are capable of carrying more data than cables laid 15 years ago. The new MAREA cable is capable of carrying 160 Tbps (terabits per second, equal to 1 million megabits per second).
Two principal ways of measuring a cable’s capacity
- Potential capacity: is the total amount of capacity that would be possible if the cable’s owner installed all available equipments.
- Lit capacity: is the amount of capacity that is actually running over a cable. Cable owners rarely purchase and install the transmission equipment to fully realize a cable’s potential from day one. Because the equipment is expensive, owners instead prefer to upgrade their cable gradually, as customer demand dictates or increase.
The link below, is an oversimplified map of global Internet traffic; however, it depicts how countries and continents are connected. Click: Submarine cables maps, This telegeography map depicts the location of submarine cables.
After you have opened the telegeography map, click any cable on the map to highlight that cable and see the points at which it connects with land.
(Alternatively, you can select any cable from the list to the right of the map.) Click any city on the map to see a list of all the cables that connect to that city.
A great amount of engineering effort, and money goes into the planning and deployment of each of these cables, because they are very expensive.
