I can tell you that living overseas would be entirely different if it wasn’t for the Internet. I not only wouldn’t be able to have the jobs that I have, but staying connected with friends and family (old and new) would not be nearly as easy as it is with the web. With the web, we can enjoy sending photos, following on one another on Facebook, video chatting with one another—I even attended a wedding with live streaming video!
But how does the world actually connect? Is it in the air? Satellites? Unicorn dust mixed with fairy wings?
Nope.
A worldwide undersea cable network:
This infographic outlines all the technical details, but you can also learn more with this really cool, interactive map.
Did you know that overseas satellite links only account for 1% of International traffic? Everything else is riding on these cables, connecting the world at terabits per second.
Here’s one of the ships that lays down the cable:
And what the cable looks like:
For scale, it’s 1.25 inches in diameter.
It’s amazing that this is the framework and infrastructure that makes the World Wide Web possible.
[via Twisted Sifter | Infographic via The Guardian]
James Cooper says
My dad was one of the people that worked in the first days of fibre optics! 🙂
Eric Dye says
Awesome! 😀