Google is teaming up with several other companies to build a trans-Pacific cable system called FASTER. The project is meant to bring faster internet speeds to the U.S west coast and Japan.
The news was announced on the Google+ page of Urs Hölzle, Google’s vice president of technical infrastructure. It was stated that the project is looking at speeds of 60 Tb/s to start. Google’s stake in FASTER is to accommodate users of their products in Japan and developers.
As for how the connections would go about, the cable would use Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle as hubs on the U.S side. On the Japan side, it will have hubs in Shima, Mie Prefecture and Chikura, Chiba Prefecture.
This project is only the newest in a line of trans-Pacific cable projects Google has been a part of that connect to Japan. Earlier projects include Unity in 2008 and South-East Asia Japan Cable (SJC) in 2010. Working with Google are China Mobile International, Global Transit, SingTel, China Telecom Global and KDDI. NEC will be the system supplier and also worked on the Unity and SJC projects along with Google.
The FASTER cable is looking to deliver speeds greater than both prior projects combined. The goal is for the cable to go live in 2016.
