Google hopes Kevlar cabling can avert sharks' fiber-optic Internet feast
Jan. 8, 2015
If you live in Southeast Asia and can't stream YouTube videos or access Facebook, sharks may be to blame.
Google hopes Kevlar cabling can avert sharks' fiber-optic Internet feast
As recently reported by Australia's The Daily Dot, "If you live in Southeast Asia and can't stream YouTube videos or access Facebook, sharks may be to blame...Whatever the explanation, there are undoubtedly issues with sharks attacking undersea Internet cables.
A surveillance camera attached to equipment reinforcing one of Google's cables captured video of one such attack in August.
To prevent sharks from chomping through fragile and expensive fiber-optic wires, Google, which has pledged to collaborate on a similar $300 million undersea cable to Japan, has started wrapping its cables in Kevlar. It's a smart plan, but it offers little in the way of comfort to frustrated Southeast Asians battling slow load times and month-long service outages...."
