Apr 09 (cheknews.ca) - Google has announced it will be installing a first-of-its-kind undersea fibre-optic cable to connect Canada and Asia, running through Vancouver Island.
Google says the investment into the first-ever subsea fibre-optic cable between Canada and Asia is to allow faster access to services such as Gmail and YouTube when it ultimately begins service in 2023.
The cable, which is called Topaz, will run from Vancouver to Port Alberni and then across the Pacific Ocean to the prefectures of Mie and Ibaraki in Japan.
Google is spearheading the construction of the project but will also be linking up with a number of local partners on either side of the Pacific Ocean in order to complete the task. Once finished, the tech giant says that other network and internet service providers will be able to benefit from the additional capacity of Topaz, whether for their own use or to provide to third parties.
The undersea fibre cable is about the width of a garden hose and will house 16 fibre pairs that will stretch across the floor of the Pacific Ocean, offering a total capacity of 240 Terabits per second.
