MAREA

MAREA is a submarine communications cable that connects the United States to Spain, crossing the North Atlantic Ocean and passing near the Azores Islands, a Portugal-administered archipelago. The cable was developed by Facebook, Microsoft, and Telxius, a subsidiary of Telefónica, to provide high-speed Internet connectivity between the East Coast of the United States and Western Europe. This project involved collaboration with Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, now part of Nokia, and Orange Marine, a subsidiary of Orange S.A., to design and deploy the cable. The MAREA cable also has connections to Africa, specifically to Morocco and other parts of the continent through the Africa Coast to Europe cable, operated by France Telecom.

Introduction

The MAREA cable is one of the most advanced submarine communications cables in the world, with a total length of approximately 6,600 kilometers, stretching from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Bilbao, Spain. The cable has a design capacity of 200 terabits per second, making it one of the highest-capacity cables in the world, comparable to the Asia-America Gateway and the TAT-14 cables. The project was announced in 2016 by Facebook and Microsoft, with Telxius joining as a partner later, and was completed in 2018 with the help of Prysmian Group and Nexans. The MAREA cable is part of a larger network of submarine communications cables that connect the United States to Europe, including the TAT-14 and the AC-1 cables, operated by AT&T, BT Group, and Level 3 Communications.

History

The development of the MAREA cable was a response to the growing demand for high-speed Internet connectivity between the United States and Europe, driven by the increasing use of cloud computing services, such as those provided by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. The project was also motivated by the need to provide diverse and redundant connectivity between the two continents, as existing cables, such as the TAT-14 and the AC-1, were nearing capacity, and new cables like the AEConnect and the Hibernia Express were being developed by Hibernia Networks and TE SubCom. The MAREA cable was designed to be more resilient and reliable than existing cables, with a unique route that avoids the traditional North Atlantic Ocean cable routes, which are prone to damage from North Atlantic hurricanes and sea mounts, and instead passes through the Azores Islands, a Portugal-administered archipelago. The cable was laid by the Ile de Batz, a cable-laying ship operated by Orange Marine, and the René Descartes, a cable-laying ship operated by Nexans.

Technical Specifications

The MAREA cable is a state-of-the-art submarine communications cable that uses the latest technology to provide high-speed Internet connectivity. The cable has a total of eight fiber pairs, each with a capacity of 24.5 terabits per second, making it one of the highest-capacity cables in the world, comparable to the Jupiter Cable System and the SJC2 Cable System, operated by PLDT and Singtel. The cable uses wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technology to multiplex multiple signals onto a single fiber, allowing for a total capacity of 200 terabits per second, and is designed to be upgradeable to even higher capacities in the future, using space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology, developed by Nokia and Corning Incorporated. The cable is powered by repeater stations located at regular intervals along the cable route, which are designed to be highly reliable and efficient, using solar panels and fuel cells to reduce the carbon footprint of the cable, and are monitored and controlled by submarine network management systems, developed by Ciena and Infinera.

Route and Landings

The MAREA cable has a unique route that avoids the traditional North Atlantic Ocean cable routes, which are prone to damage from North Atlantic hurricanes and sea mounts. The cable starts in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and passes through the North Atlantic Ocean, near the Azores Islands, a Portugal-administered archipelago, before landing in Bilbao, Spain. The cable also has connections to Africa, specifically to Morocco and other parts of the continent through the Africa Coast to Europe cable, operated by France Telecom, and to the Middle East through the Europe-India Gateway cable, operated by BT Group and Orange S.A.. The cable route was carefully planned to avoid areas of high seismic activity, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and to minimize the risk of damage from fishing gear and ship anchors, using cable burial and cable protection techniques, developed by Prysmian Group and Nexans.

Ownership and Operation

The MAREA cable is owned by Facebook, Microsoft, and Telxius, a subsidiary of Telefónica. The cable is operated by Telxius, which is responsible for the day-to-day management and maintenance of the cable, using submarine network management systems, developed by Ciena and Infinera. The cable is also connected to the Telxius network, which provides access to a wide range of Internet exchange points and data centers in Europe and the Americas, including the DE-CIX and the AMS-IX, operated by Deutsche Telekom and KPN. The MAREA cable is an open cable system, which means that it is available for use by other telecommunications companies and Internet service providers, such as AT&T, BT Group, and Level 3 Communications, on a dark fiber basis, using wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technology.

Impact and Significance

The MAREA cable has had a significant impact on the global telecommunications industry, providing a new and diverse route for Internet traffic between the United States and Europe. The cable has also helped to increase the resilience and reliability of the global Internet infrastructure, by providing a redundant and diverse connection between the two continents, using submarine network management systems, developed by Ciena and Infinera. The MAREA cable has also enabled the development of new cloud computing services and data centers in Europe and the Americas, such as those provided by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, and has helped to support the growth of e-commerce and online services in the region, using content delivery networks (CDNs), developed by Akamai Technologies and Verizon Digital Media Services. The cable has also been recognized as one of the most significant submarine communications cables in the world, and has won several awards, including the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Award, presented by Global Telecoms Business, and the Submarine Cable Innovation Award, presented by Submarine Telecoms Forum. Category:Submarine communications cables