According to a blog post over at Microsoft, the Marea transatlantic cable has been successfully installed.
It's been a joint project between Microsoft, Facebook and Telxius, and it's taken just two years to bring to fruition.
The MAREA cable takes a more southerly route than most other cables across the Atlantic. With landing stations in Virginia Beach in Virginia in the US and Bilbao in Spain, the system spans some 6,600km and adds diversity to an ecosystem that was a bit spooked by hurricane Sandy's impact on the New York metro area five years ago.
With 8 fiber pairs and the latest optical gear to power it, MAREA will start out with a theoretical capacity of some 160Tbps.
The arrival of the MAREA cable has been hotly anticipated by the fiber sector down in Virginia, and has been preceded by buildouts by many network operators to strengthen backhaul options between Virginia Beach to the data centers of northern Virginia.
This article was authored by Rob Powell and was originally posted on Telecomramblings.com
Rob Powell is founder & editor of Telecom Ramblings, which was set up in 2008. The website is dedicated to discussing trends and developments in the telecom industry.