Via a blog by Bikah Koley, vice president and head of Google global networking and head of technology and strategy, Google has announced Topaz, a submarine cable system that will run between Canada and Japan. The subsea cable will have 16 fiber pairs and a total capacity of 240 Tbps. The company expects Topaz to be ready for service in 2023.
Topaz will land in Vancouver and Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in British Columbia to the east and the prefectures of Mie and Ibaraki in Japan on the west. In addition to Google’s use, the company says it plans to make capacity available to other users. To aid in this process, Topaz will be equipped with wavelength-selective switch (WSS) technology that will enable spectrum slicing. Koley writes that Google also will swap fiber pairs with partners who operate submarine systems along similar routes.
Topaz is the 20th submarine cable in which Google has invested, joining such other undersea systems as Curie, Dunant, Equiano, Firmina and Grace Hopper, and consortium cables like Blue, Echo, Havfrue, and Raman.
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