We are now moving from sci-fi to reality with the launch of many AI services that are poised to transform industries and reshape our daily lives.
While data centers are expanding rapidly to support AI requirements, there is less clarity on how AI might impact long-haul network infrastructure, especially submarine cables.
This is exactly what I delved into during my keynote at Submarine Networks World 2024.
For the last eight years, we've posted submarine cables owned by content providers over here. (Shout-out to the readers who had this one bookmarked.)
When we first published this list in 2017, we had 20 cables listed. Fast-forward to today, and our list has grown to 59—a sizable markup.
With such an uptick in content provider cables to track, we figured it was worth starting a fresh new list for you to bookmark.
Last week, I joined Ciena’s Brian Lavallée and Colt’s Laurent Taieb for a live webinar all about submarine cable route diversity and sustainability.
For my part, I covered why diversity matters for submarine cables—a very timely topic in light of recent events around the world.
Worldwide bandwidth demand continues to grow at a steady pace.
Annual demand growth has decelerated slowly, but according to new data from TeleGeography’s Transport Networks Research Service, aggregate demand more than tripled between 2019 and 2023 to reach an eye-popping 5 Pbps.
As if three cable faults in the Red Sea weren’t enough of a headache, a series of West African cables were damaged on March 14.
The precise location and cause of all of these faults are not known at this time, but let’s look at what we do know.
Wouldn't it be great to be fully retired before your 30th birthday?
Because they are engineered with a minimum design life of 25 years, it's common for the submarine cables that keep our world connected to experience this luxury.
Let’s talk about why, and what happens to cables after they reach retirement age.
The age of generative AI is certainly exciting. The ability to quickly access answers to complex questions is poised to revolutionize the world. However, with great power comes great responsibility.
When using these tools, it’s important to be mindful of some of the risks. Deep fakes are a growing concern for society at large and may have found their way to market research.
As we mentioned earlier this year, when it comes to submarine cable facts, AI may get some stuff right, but not everything.
In fact, you may be wondering, “does this mean there’s no need to subscribe to TeleGeography research anymore?” After all, can’t you just ask your favorite AI tool—whether it’s ChatGPT, Bard, etc.—to provide you with TeleGeography data?
I thought I’d ask Bard to show me some TeleGeography data. Are the results real or deep fakes?
At SubOptic 2023, my colleague Tim Stronge and I brought back the Telecom Mythbusters to test a new series of myths.
I already covered my first two myths from our presentation: the cable lifespan myth and the 99% myth.
My third and final myth—the exponential growth myth—is based upon a quote that I found.
“The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” –Albert Allen Bartlett
“Submarine cables account for over 99% of intercontinental data traffic” is regularly quoted in the press with no source given.
It’s time for some fact-checking.
