Google is planning to lay a cable from Vancouver to Japan. The cable the width of a garden hose will carry 16 pairs of fibre-optic wires
According to a blog post from Bikash Koley, Google’s head of Technology and Strategy, the sub-sea cable will be the first to connect Canada to Asia and will be called Topaz.
The cable will travel from Vancouver to Port Alberni, West Vancouver Island and then cross the Pacific ocean to two points in Japan – the Ibaraki and Mie regions.
Koley wrote that the cable will be ready for service in 2023.
He said the cable isn’t just to deliver quick service and access to all of google services such as its search engine, Gmail, YouTube and Google Cloud but will also be used by other network operators to increase capacity. Previous cables have only been able to hold eight pairs of fibre-optic wires.
“With Topaz we will exchange fibre pairs with partners who have systems along similar routes,” Koley wrote.
“This is a long-standing practice in the industry that strengthens the intercontinental network lattice for network operators, for Google, and for users around the world.”
The cable station in Vancouver will be located at the site of a now defunct copper undersea cable that once linked Vancouver to Hawaii and Sydney and was used for telephone service.
The project is supported by the Tseshaht First Nation, Hupacasath First Nation and Maa-nulth Treaty Society, who have consented to the cable travelling through their traditional territories.
