60Tbps trans-pacific internet cable from Google and partners goes live today

Google’s spiffy new trans-pacific deep-sea internet cable is finally ready to use. Providing up to 60Tbps (Terabits per second) data speed, the cable will provide internet between USA and Japan.

The ‘FASTER’ cable was first announced as a project about a year ago, and has cost approximately US $300 million to set up. From Oregon in the US, and Chiba and Mei  prefectures in Japan, the cable will provide internet to major cities in both countries.

“The completion of the FASTER cable system will provide capacity to support the expected four-fold increase in broadband traffic demand between Asia and North America. By adding network redundancy and ultra-low latency to our existing trans-Pacific cable systems, it reinforces our leadership in international data services in the region and enhances our infrastructure to support our customers’ critical data traffic,” said Ooi Seng Keat, Vice President, Carrier Services of Singtel Group Enterprise (one of the collaborators) in a statement to the press.

FASTER uses six fiber-pair cables and uses “the latest 100Gbps digital coherent optical transmission technology.