Those that have followed the Bach Seat for a while, know that I am fascinated by maps. A well-done map can say so much more than a written description. One of my favorite things to do at work is to work on maps; network maps, rack elevations, logical diagrams, they just make it so much easier to discuss how to get from A to B if you can see it.
The BusinessInsider published some cool maps from telecom data company TeleGeography of the submarine cables that hold the Internet together around the world. The maps are interesting to me for a couple of reasons, first, is the engineering wonder of how all those cables get installed, and the mind-boggling amount of information they enable, and the small number of places where they all come out of the water. My first thought looking at some of these maps was I wonder what the no such agency is doing at those sites.
The main map charts out all the undersea fiber optic cables that send Internet communication from country to country. There are more fiber optic cables that are land-based, but they’re not charted here. Here is a map of the current undersea fiber connections on the US eastern seaboard.
Paul Brodsky, an analyst at Telegeography explained to BI how data gets around the world.
The vast majority of Internet traffic travels on fiber optic cables … Many people think Internet connections go through satellites … but that’s not the case. They run through these undersea cables.
This map shows the undersea cables that link China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia to the Internet. It also shows that North Korea does have a dedicated direct connection to the rest of the world, the Hermit Kingdom, indeed. The picture is kind of awkward because China is in blue, which you would expect to be water.
TeleGeography’s Brodsky explained to BI how the cables get installed. The companies that lay these cables have giant spools of fiber optic cable on their ships. The ship goes from country A to country B and literally lays it on the bottom of the ocean. Close to the shore, they trench it out, but at a certain distance from the coast, it just lies on the bottom of the ocean.
The biggest risk to the cables are trawlers, and ships dragging anchors. Sometimes there are natural disasters like earthquakes. But if one cable breaks, Internet traffic can be redirected to another cable.
Mr. Brodsky says the companies that lay the cables can track problems. If they spot something, they can go out to the middle of the ocean, pull up the cable and cut out the damaged section, and splice in a new segment of cable.
In the future, expect more cables, Mr. Brodsky told BI. Now that the world is connected, the next step is to add more connections. Any country with just one cable will want two or three.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.