The Internet’s Undersea World
Written on 8th January 2009
20 COMMENTS 
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
You would think that the Internet would be mobile now. That all connections travel from east to west, and back, via satellites and radio waves. That isn’t how it works. The Internet is visible, tangible, breakable, and wet.
As you can see in this beautiful illustration (click it for a larger image!) the main continents are connected by less than 10cm thick Fiber Optic cables.
Those cables are generally 69 mm in diameter and weigh over 10.000 kilograms a kilometer. In deeper waters, lighter and less insulated cables are used. The capacity for these combined cables is more than 7 million bits per second.
That capacity is rarely used though. In general only 29% is in use. Of that 29% more than 70% is for Internet Traffic.
So, feel free to download more and bigger files from those transatlantic servers. The capacity is there so why not use it?
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
Eens iets anders dan een gewone verlengkabel http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b
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Blub blub… toch grappig om je dit te realiseren: http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b
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[...] TheNextWeb gibt es ein nettes Bild unserer Erde, dass die Kabel unter Wasser zeigt, durch die unser Internet funktioniert. Diese sind im [...]
海底ケーブルが切れた時しか意識しないけど、飛行機ですら10時間以上かかる距離を結んでるんだよなぁ。http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b
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das Internet im Meer: http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b
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RT @cbqma: das Internet im Meer: http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b #nice
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The Internet’s Undersea World – how oceanic cables keep it all together http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b
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[...] din capacitate este utilizata si ~ 70% din cei 29% sunt folositi pentru internet. [Sursa: thenextweb.com] Sa intrebat cineva cum se repara aceste cabluri in caz de [...]
The Internet’s undersea world – Amazing!! – http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b
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Should maybe “Cloud Computing” be referenced to as “Wave Computing” instead… http://bit.ly/HvYy … ;-)
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Cool picture! RT @inforganic Should maybe “Cloud Computing” be referenced to as “Wave Computing” instead… http://bit.ly/HvYy … ;-)
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Great depiction of the reaches of fiber optic across the globe: http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b
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[del.icio.us] The Internet’s Undersea World « TheNextWeb.com: 海底で繋がっている世界のインターネット地図 http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b
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The internet hidden under the sea! Really interesting http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b
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Retweeting @microedge: The internet hidden under the sea! Really interesting http://tinyurl.com/7n8t2b – I love maps, & this one real cool
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