What it takes to Connect the World
Enshrined in Facebook’s Mission Statement are the 3 words “Connecting the World”. They, along with household names like Instagram and Twitter have created platforms that afford us the ability to connect with people across the globe with unprecedented ease. Yet, it is important to remember that these social media giants that have come to dominate our social landscape have built themselves up by standing on the shoulders of other giants. In his talk last Friday, John Donovan, Chief Strategy Officer and Group President of AT&T Operations gave us a glimpse of the work that has enabled such companies to flourish, when he talked about the physical network of cables that underpins modern society.
The infrastructure required to support the day to day operations of society, as Donovan rightly pointed out, is often only noticed when it breaks or malfunctions, or in one case, when it gets attacked by sharks [1]. Yet, it seems prudent to be aware of the mammoth undertaking that enables us to achieve the connectivity we have today. If you think keeping your charging wires organized is hard, imagine laying a 39,000-kilometer cable. Now, imagine doing that underwater. That is the length of SEA-ME-WE3, an optical submarine telecommunications cable that spans 39 landing points, stretching from Norden, Germany to Geoje, South Korea [2]. It is supposed to have a capacity of around 4.6 Terabits per second [3]. This is but one example of the work that has gone into allowing us to access content across the world in less than a second. And yet, it seems that even this is not enough. The world of today demands more – more speed, more content, more connectivity.
In the past few years, Facebook, Microsoft and Google have taken things into their own hands, and have started laying their own undersea cables. Facebook and Microsoft have made plans to lay a 6,600-kilometer cable stretching from Virginia to Bilbao, Spain that will afford up to 160 Terabits per second of bandwidth [4]. Google, not to by outdone, is similarly partnering with Facebook to connect LA and Hong Kong with a 12,800-kilometer fiber cable that has an estimated cable capacity of 120 Tbps [5].
That Microsoft, Facebook, and Google handle tons of data is no secret. That they are prepared to go to such lengths and expense to do so, however, is testament to exactly how much the demand for data has ballooned. It seems that it now makes more economic sense for these companies to build their own cables, rather than lease capacity from telecoms.
It is tempting to think of the likes of Google and Facebook as software companies. Yet it would be a mistake to ignore the other side of the equation: the hardware that actually carries the bits, flying at the speed of light, from Hong Kong to Los Angeles. Such is the story of our modern age, that these companies have now started encroaching on traditional telecommunications providers. In an age where data is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe, this is what it takes to connect the world.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/its-official-sharks-no-longer-a-threat-to-subsea-internet-cables/
[2] http://www.smw3.com/smw3/SignIn/Background.aspx
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEA-ME-WE_3
[4] https://www.wired.com/2016/05/facebook-microsoft-laying-giant-cable-across-atlantic/
[5] http://gizmodo.com/google-and-facebook-are-laying-a-big-cable-1787718029
2 comments on “What it takes to Connect the World”
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I was also struck by John Donovan’s talk. Much of the hardware and infrastructure that enables some of the most impressive new technologies seems to be overlooked. I admit that I was dubious about how interested I could be about emerging technologies from the point of AT&T but left with a whole new appreciation for the unsung heroes who strive for “invisibility”.
One thing that really struck me is the idea that progress for hardware and infrastructure moves at a snails pace compared to software. In order to enable emerging groundbreaking technologies those who work in the background have to accurately predict markets and trends well before they are available. I found the accuracy at which this was able to be done extraordinary and it really changed how I view some more infrastructure related industries
Reading your article has made me realize that most of the connecticity ultimately relies on hardware, and that the wiring, unknown to many, are lying underneath the seas. As you have pointed, the interest that Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have in owning their own connectivity will not only allow for an overall development through faster connection, but it is also already generating the need for technological innovation.
Those three companies that are incorporating new directions in their areas of knowledge, are also generating competition among previous companies. Big companies see potential in markets with relatively small competition and innovation, and decide to delve in, with the notion of obtaining the most share. Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, as you say, are allowing to connect the world, by finding new ways of improvement, which will consequently allow for their own development, and that of the world at large. At the end, development will rely in these big companies, and at their own terms.