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'Under the Sea'

Tech Spaces

The internet is something which we’ve come to treat as somewhat of a given in always being available in some capacity. Any outages are typically brief and only affect a single service, so we’re still able to use our other devices to score our social media fix. There exists however a major component of internet connectivity which remains quite fragile, even in this age of near-global satellite and cellular connectivity. Under our oceans, down there in the deep, murky depths, lay thousands of miles of cable. It dutifully handles around 95% of international data transmission, is made of glass and is quite difficult to fix if a break occurs. So what happens in the event Sebastian takes a disliking to it?

Communicating via cables laid deep underwater isn’t actually a new technology. The running of the first transatlantic telegraph cables took four years to complete back in the mid 1850s, and this first attempt only functioned for a grand total of three weeks. It wasn’t until 1866 that a reliable connection was run between Europe and North America, forever transforming long distance communication. Modern fiberoptic undersea cables are much more durable than their historic, copper counterparts as you might expect, but the cost and complexity remain as a theme. Routing and installing in such a difficult environment invariably runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The reason we still use cables in a world of satellite technology comes down to one very crucial factor: speed. Put simply, we can send lots of data over a cable in a very reliable manner. The issue with replacing this method with satellites (which are also incredibly expensive) comes down to both latency and packet loss. The time it takes for data to travel from point A, up through the atmosphere to the satellite and back down again to point B is palpable. This worsens when you add clouds, birds and other foreign objects into any part of that journey.

These undersea cables however aren’t completely without their drawbacks. When observed as part of the larger picture, the more than 400 cables currently in use today provide enough redundancy as to protect against the occasional breakage. Should an earthquake or a wayward anchor sever something, we’d be unlikely to notice the slowdown. That’s not to say high profile breakages don’t happen though. Back in 2013 Egypt had its internet speeds axed by as much as 60% after one of their cables was intentionally cut. While of course these things are built to withstand the harsh underwater environment, they’re not invulnerable.

Skip forward to now and the country of Tonga which lies around 1,000 miles off the coast of New Zealand is learning about the fragility of underwater internet. After the recent eruption of a submarine volcano, communications via both phone and the internet to the islands are totally down. While other global traffic hasn’t been affected, it has shone a light on how natural disasters can impact connectivity. With Tonga’s break being around 23 miles offshore, they’re liable to be without reliable internet for at least another couple of weeks.

How then do we protect against such breakages causing more widespread disruption due to natural, or indeed man-made threats? An awful lot of risk can be mitigated with research into route planning. Today’s technology allows better mapping of the ocean floor to avoid potentially laying cable too close to hazardous locations such as Tonga’s troublesome volcano. As satellite and other wireless solutions improve, we’ll also see less reliance on single points of failure for internet connectivity. While we absolutely live in a connected world, it’s the robustness of that connection which perhaps occasionally needs work.

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Richard Noble is the founder of Want for Tech, an IT company in Glasgow.

 

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