FEATURE PART 1
SUBMARINE CABLE SYSTEMS: CAPACITY, CONNECTIVITY AND BANDWIDTH BY DEREK CASSIDY
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ubmarine cables have a long history, from the early days of the mid 1800s right up to present day. The technology has undergone a huge transformation with one underlying theme: capacity, connectivity, and bandwidth. As submarine cables extend their tentacles across the seabed in search of far-off distant lands, the 1s and 0s that flow through their optical fibres like blood flowing through veins. It is not hard to think of this submarine network as a web of communication reaching out and connecting the various Cable Stations and Data Centres, keeping society connected. With the world finally coming through a change that effectively put the industrial and digital revolution into overdrive with increased internet demands, yet also nearly putting society into a suspended animation and separation from the workforce. The world as we know it has changed so much that the interaction between industry and society has evolved new rules of communication and cooperation in the commercial and working space. Critically needed change is needed in
the team and collaborative working communication space as the interpersonal interaction between peoples, groups and colleagues has taken a huge setback. Team interaction, due to the lack of face-to-face collaboration effectively went off a cliff edge in 2020. But teamwork and collaboration have been identified as a very effective way to cross-pollinate ideas and develop solutions, it has been seen that these face-toface interactions, responsiveness and “water cooler” moments do in fact deliver the game changing ideas that push industry, society, and innovation forward. Many national and international technology driven industries embraced the working at home philosophy, but it soon became apparent that this was not the solution and a new hybrid version that encompassed both the working at home and office environment, when teams and colleagues interact, was needed and quickly. However, during this world changing event, that was Covid, it was noticed that the internet and its network were not ready when it came to the huge demand that was trust upon it and soon network operators were tearing up their NOVEMBER 2023 | ISSUE 133 59