Last week, on February 26, Google and 5 other international companies announced the Unity consortium. This group has agreed to run a 5 pair, 10,000 kilometer fiber optic communications cable connecting the United States and Japan. According to a Google press release, each fiber pair will be capable of handling up to 960 Gigabits pers second (Gbps) and the cable system will allow expansion up to eight fiber pairs.
Global Transit - A South Asian IP Transit network provider
Google - You know who they are!
KDDI - A Japanese information and communications company offering all communications services, from fixed to mobile.
Pacnet - An Asian company that owns and operates EAC-C2C, Asia's largest privately-owned submarine cable network at 36,800 km with design capacity of 10.24 Tbps.
SingTel - Asia's leading communications group providing a portfolio of services including voice and data services over fixed, wireless and Internet platforms.
It's interesting to see competing Asian market providers partnering in a system within a system, with each having ownership and management of individual fiber pairs - a testament to the power and influence Google has.
NEC Corporation and Tyco Telecommunications will build and install the system with completion by the first quarter of 2010.