Infrapedia lets network and data professionals explore global internet infrastructure
Some of the biggest news in the data, IOT and telecoms industry this week include affordable underwater data centers, expansion of submarine internet cables and the Merea line, details on the worlds’ fastest underwater data connection – and the free map service that provides a global view to key players in the industry.
A 3D view of key internet infrastructure across downtown LA
Image source: https://live.infrapedia.com
Affordable underwater data centres
A data centre refers to a facility that put the information of an organization and the IT operations in one place. This central place serves to store, retrieve and distribute data as and when it is required. It also becomes the centre of managing the data stored. These kinds of centres are critical to the daily operations of a system as they create a link between critical systems of an organization. Microsoft’s idea of installing a data centre in the sea appears imaginary and grandiose. However, given the right effort and technology, it is bound to work. The project proponents state that the centre will be efficient in terms of energy usage in running the centre. This project has been on course since 2014 with prototype submerged at the Pacific Ocean for105 days. The team states that submerging the centre will help reduce the energy used in cooling as this will be done by the cold seawater. Further, the energy used to run the centre will be generated from renewable sources on land. The centre will also be attached to the internet cables on the shore. The technicians ay that it will be one of the powerful centres just like the other high-end computers on land.
Undersea internet cables
The first undersea internet cable was installed in the mid-17th century that linked the European and North America Continents through telegraph. The laying of this cable led to improved speed of transmission of telegraphs between these two regions. The effort to improve the internet transmission speed did not stop here; new cables were laid and by 1866, the speed had increased to 8 words per minute. A century later, the first undersea telephone cable was installed (TAT-1). By 1988, TAT-8 had an advanced transmission speed that was up to 280 megabytes per second. Presently, with the laying of the Merea cable, the speed has increased 16 million times faster than what it was three decades ago. These breakneck speeds have made the internet fast, efficient and reliable for communication and transmission of various forms of messages across the world. It allows for real-time transmission of both text, audio and video messages. At the current, there are about 380 underwater cables that are operational, across the world. These cables total to a length of about 1.2 million kilometres. These cables play an essential role in running the modern internet despite communication being seen as wireless. They are funded by giant internet companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft.
World’s fastest undersea data connection
Technology is fast advancing with data companies seeking faster means of transferring their data across the globe. This has led to efforts of laying cables undersea to facilitate the sharing of data between different regions. Many companies have made efforts to ensure faster transmission of data across the world. Google is also seeking to improve on its speed in transferring data. With the latest efforts of laying a cable that will connect from Virginia to France, and with a speed of 250 terabits per second, which will be the fastest in the world, Google is bound to improve on its transmission efficiency and speed. This new cable will be faster because of its more fibre pairs as compared to other earlier installed cables. Unlike the earlier cables that contain 6-8 fibre pairs, the new Dunant cable will contain 12 pairs, courtesy of new Technology by Google and SubCom. Similar efforts are underway by the NEC, a Japanese internet giant, to manufacture an undersea fibre optic cable that will have 16 pairs. This means that Google’s Dunant may not be the fastest for long. However, the completion appears to be taking the centre stage on who will have the fastest underwater cable as Google has revealed its idea of having a 24 fibre-optic pair cable.
Exploring key global infrastructure from the world’s leading map service
Now, Infrapedia perfected it’s one-stop solution for the industry where engineers, sales teams, planners and strategists can all converge to obtain a global view of all available network infrastructure: more than 3500 datacenters and 15 000 networks spanning the globe. The project is the brainchild of a renowned innovator: The, CEO Mehmet Akcin is a Turkish-American entrepreneur with several granted patents on DNS, security and CDN networks. He spent many years working for Microsoft, Yahoo, and ICANN. Recently he said: “my goal is to give people a global near realtime visibility and connect buyers and sellers directly to get the internet infrastructure at the best value possible and help connect next billions to the internet cheaper and faster”. With the global submarine cable market fast approaching $30Billion (anticipated by 2026) – Infrapedia serves as a vital link between service providers and business clients. The most prominent infrastructure providers in the world are already onboard with Infrapedia – since they collaborate on serving the world with realtime infrastructure data. Perhaps this high-level cooperation was possible since Infrapedia acts as the best lead-generation tool for major infrastructure providers to meet procurement representatives who are actively planning their next move.
Conclusion
With the rapid growth of the cloud industry and the explosion in AI, expect to see much more to happen in this space soon. Big Tech, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook have moved into global infrastructure at a remarkable speed. Now, with Infrapedia, it is possible to explore the global infrastructure and look beyond the four big players and also analyze the capabilities of other rising players, including Coresite (major dc), Flexential, Cyxtera, Colt, EUnetworks, ST Telemedia Datacenters, Iron Mountain, GBI (Gulf Bridge International) , Global Cloud Exchange, F8 Networks, Telecom Italia Sparkle, and Xfernet. Many more content providers are expected to follow their example soon.