News

Google Launches Its Dunant Subsea Cable Between The US And Europe

Published

4 years ago

February 9, 2021

Google

With Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites quickly filling up Earth’s orbit and promising low latency, broadband internet access to people living in the most remote corners of the world, it’s easy to forget that physical cables stretched across the ocean floor are still indispensable information super-highways.

Google, in partnership with telecommunications equipment company SubCom, has just announced the completion of one such super-highway between the United States and Europe. Called Dunant, this privately-owned subsea cable spans almost 4,000 miles (6,400 km) from Virginia Beach in the US to Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez, France, offering record-breaking data transfer capacity of 250 terabits per second (Tbps).

Submarine Cable Map

“We’re thrilled to say bonjour to the Dunant submarine cable system, which has been deployed and tested and is now ready for service,” writes Chris Ciauri, Google’s President for EMEA, in a blog post.

“The historic landing was made possible in partnership with SubCom, a global partner for undersea data transport, which engineered, manufactured, and installed the Dunant system on schedule despite the ongoing global pandemic.”

The two companies decided to name the subsea cable after Henry Dunant, a Swiss humanitarian, businessman, and social activist who received the first Nobel Peace Prize (together with Frédéric Passy) in 1901.

Google first announced the project in 2018 and expected to complete it in late 2020. The delay was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The tech giant, whose recent record quarterly revenues were largely caused by soaring cloud sales, is also working on a subsea cable between Portugal and South Africa, called Equiano.

Also Read: UAE Hope Probe To Go Into Orbit Around Mars This Week

“This new cable is fully funded by Google, making it our third private international cable after Dunant and Curie, and our 14th subsea cable investment globally,” stated Michael D. Francois, Tech Lead Manager of Global Network Infrastructure at Google. “Equiano will be the first subsea cable to incorporate optical switching at the fiber-pair level, rather than the traditional approach of wavelength-level switching.”

Both Dunant and Equiano are part of Google’s ongoing effort to improve its cloud network infrastructure and offer better reliability, speed, and security to its customers.

News

UAE Prepares To Launch Two Satellites: Thuraya-2 And MBZ-SAT

HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum chaired the first meeting of the Supreme Space Council yesterday.

Published

5 days ago

December 17, 2024

Nour Nasir

uae prepares to launch two satellites thuraya-2 and mbz-sat

HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, chaired the first meeting of the Supreme Space Council in Dubai on December 16, 2024. The session highlighted the UAE’s ambitious space plans and took stock of the sector’s economic progress.

The council emphasized the growing role of private companies in advancing space technologies, noting that their contributions are now equal to that of the public sector. Members also praised initiatives like the Space Economic Zones Programme, which are designed to fuel innovation and investment in the space industry.

خلال ترؤسنا الاجتماع الأول للمجلس الأعلى للفضاء، بحثنا الاستثمارات الوطنية والمشاريع المقبلة في قطاع الفضاء والذي يشهد تطوراً مستمراً… وجددنا التزامنا بدعم ومواصلة تنفيذ برامج طموحة لاستكشاف الفضاء الخارجي حيث وصل حجم الاستثمارات في هذا القطاع إلى 40 مليار درهم خلال السنوات… pic.twitter.com/etJ33OnuSu

— Hamdan bin Mohammed (@HamdanMohammed) December 16, 2024

Discussing the UAE’s space journey, HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum remarked, “The national space sector continues to grow and advance, and we take immense pride in the remarkable achievements we have accomplished over the years”.

Sheikh Hamdan also received updates on two upcoming satellite projects: Thuraya-2 and MBZ-SAT. Thuraya-2, developed by Space42, is slated for launch this December. Meanwhile, the MBZ-SAT, created by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), will soon follow. MBRSC, a major driver of the UAE National Space Programme, continues to lead the nation’s space-related developments.

Space42 took the opportunity to showcase its advancements, including ongoing collaborations between public and private entities. The company also outlined strategies to promote innovation, boost revenue streams, and create new opportunities for growth in the sector.

Also Read: IBM Opens New Doha Office To Support Qatar’s Digital Growth

The UAE’s current projects build on a growing legacy of space exploration. Back in 2020, the nation made headlines with its Mars mission, successfully sending a probe into the planet’s orbit in 2021. This mission, which is now in its second phase as of June 2024, has been collecting critical data to develop a comprehensive diurnal image of Mars.

The UAE also ventured into lunar exploration with an unmanned mission aimed at studying untouched regions of the Moon’s surface. While the probe ultimately crashed during its landing attempt after communication was lost seconds before touchdown, the effort represented a significant step in the country’s exploration ambitions.