Google reveals plans to string a 4,000-mile-long undersea cable from France to Virginia by 2020 to speed up its network

  • Google says the new undersea cable will improve speeds for customers
  • The trans-Atlantic cable will land stateside in Virginia Beach
  • It will be the fourth private cable owned by Google, meaning the US search company can tap into the full bandwidth 

Google has announced plans to string a trans-Atlantic cable from France to Virginia, which will be fully-operational by 2020.

The US search company said in a statement that the 4,000-mile-long (6,400 km) undersea cable will land stateside in Virginia Beach, southeastern Virginia.

Internet traffic across the Atlantic is among some of the busiest worldwide, connecting Europe to technology firms based in the United States, like Google.

The company said the latest undersea data cable will be able to better serve customers with an expanded network.

Owning the entire cable allows Google to use all of the available bandwidth. 

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Google has announced that it plans to string a trans-Atlantic cable from France to Virginia that will be operational by 2020. The project is named after innovator Henri Dunant, the first Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Red Cross

Google has announced that it plans to string a trans-Atlantic cable from France to Virginia that will be operational by 2020. The project is named after innovator Henri Dunant, the first Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Red Cross

Subsea cables form the backbone of the internet, carrying more than 90 per cent of the world’s online traffic.

The proposed 4,000-mile-long cable will support growth of Google Cloud, which allows third-party companies to run their online services on the same infrastructure that Google uses internally for its consumer products, like YouTube. 

The cable will land in relative proximity to a planned Google data centre in northern Virginia.

The project is named after innovator Henri Dunant, the first Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Red Cross. 

'Dunant adds network capacity across the Atlantic, supplementing one of the busiest routes on the internet, and supporting the growth of Google Cloud,' the company said in a blog post.

TE SubCom is the contractor for the cable in this latest project, which will be almost 4,000 miles (6,400km) long. 

In January, the company announced that it would add five regions and build three new submarine cables as it expands its infrastructure for cloud customers. 

TE SubCom is the contractor for the cable in this latest project, which will be almost 4,000 miles (6,400km) long

TE SubCom is the contractor for the cable in this latest project, which will be almost 4,000 miles (6,400km) long

In January the company announced that it would add five regions and build three new submarine cables as it expands its infrastructure for cloud customers. Pictured is a complete list of Google's cable investments 

In January the company announced that it would add five regions and build three new submarine cables as it expands its infrastructure for cloud customers. Pictured is a complete list of Google's cable investments 

Google plans to commission three subsea cables in 2019, the internet company revealed in a blog post.

The companies setting up the cables include TE SubCom, a unit of NYSE-listed TE Connectivity, and Tokyo-listed NEC Corporation, Google said.

The company said it has direct investment in 11 cables, including those planned or under construction.

The announcement comes two years after the internet giant revealed 8,000 undersea cable connecting Los Angeles to Hong Kong would be built across the Pacific Ocean by 2018. It is due for completion in the last quarter of this year.

The subsea cables include: Curie, a private cable connecting Chile to Los Angeles; Havfrue, a consortium cable connecting the United States to Denmark and Ireland; and Hong Kong-Guam Cable system, a consortium cable interconnecting major subsea communication hubs in Asia

The subsea cables include: Curie, a private cable connecting Chile to Los Angeles; Havfrue, a consortium cable connecting the United States to Denmark and Ireland; and Hong Kong-Guam Cable system, a consortium cable interconnecting major subsea communication hubs in Asia

At the beginning of this year Google announced it would add five regions and build three new submarine cables as it expands its infrastructure

At the beginning of this year Google announced it would add five regions and build three new submarine cables as it expands its infrastructure

HOW MANY SUBSEA CABLES HAS GOOGLE INVESTED IN TO DATE?

So far, Google says it has directly invested in 11 subsea cables. This includes some that are currently under construction, and cables that have yet to be built, including three which the firm announced earlier in 2018.

The subsea cables include: Curie, a private cable connecting Chile to Los Angeles; Havfrue, a consortium cable connecting the United States to Denmark and Ireland; and Hong Kong-Guam Cable system, a consortium cable interconnecting major subsea communication hubs in Asia.

Cables stretching across the oceans carry more than 90 percent of the world’s traffic.

Back in 2016, Google announced it would be building an 8,000-mile undersea cable across the Pacific Ocean by 2018.

It has since adjusted this target to 2019. The PLCN will stretch from Los Angeles to Hong Kong.

It is an ultra high-capacity system, capable of 120-terabits-per-second. This is twice the capabilities of the Faster cable, which connects the US to Japan.

The team says it would be able to support 80 million simultaneous HD video conference calls between Asia and North America.

It has since announced that it plans to string a trans-Atlantic cable from France to Virginia that will be operational by 2020.

The web giant said in a statement that the 4,000-mile-long (6,400km) undersea cable will land stateside in Virginia Beach.

So far, Google says it has directly invested in 11 subsea cables. This includes some that are currently under construction, and cables that have yet to be built, including three which the firm just recently announced. Google's Cloud Network is shown above

So far, Google says it has directly invested in 11 subsea cables. This includes some that are currently under construction, and cables that have yet to be built, including three which the firm just recently announced. Google's Cloud Network is shown above

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For the project, Google teamed up with Facebook, Pacific Light Data Communication, and TE SubCom to construct a system. 

Plans for the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) were announced on the Google Cloud Platform Blog

The cable is set to be the highest capacity trans-Pacific system, with a capacity of 120 terabits-per-second.  

According to the researchers, the new ultra high-capacity system would be able to support 80 million simultaneous HD video conference calls between Asia and North America, and will bring faster speeds and increased security.

Last year, a cable between Virginia Beach and Bilbao, Spain, became operational. 

It was result of a joint project between Microsoft, Facebook and global telecommunication company Telxius.