Microsoft has announced that it will be joining forces with Facebook to build "MAREA", an internet cable that will be put under the Atlantic Ocean.
This they say is to help meet the growing demand for Microsoft's various online services.
Microsoft stated In a blog post,
"We're seeing an ever-increasing customer demand for high speed, reliable connections for Microsoft cloud services, including Bing, Office 365, Skype, Xbox Live, and Microsoft Azure. As the world continues to move towards a future based on cloud computing, Microsoft is committed to building out the unprecedented level of global infrastructure required to support ever faster and even more resilient connections to our cloud services. This robust, global infrastructure will enable customers to more quickly and reliably store, manage, transmit and access their data in the Microsoft Cloud."
The cable is said to be over 4,100 miles long (That's really long) and will stretch from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Bilbao, Spain. It will also have eight fiber pairs that can handle as much as 160Tbps of data.
The duo od Microsoft and facebook will partner with Telxius, Telefónica's telecommunications infrastructure company, on the contruction of "MAREA" . Telxius will be in charge of the cable once it is complete.
Construction kicks off in August 2016 and is scheduled to be finished in October 2017.
