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Data lines: the backbone of the cloud

During cloud talks there are always a lot of discussions about the providers, their availability, reliability and service level agreements (SLA). What is often not discussed is the main dependence number one: The backbone of the Internet carriers. The Submarine Cable Map 2013 nicely illustrates where which cables run worldwide, which are responsible for the data transfer between the different continents.

Data lines: the backbone of the cloud

Submarine Cable Map 2013 – The global backbone under the sea

The “Submarine Cable Map 2013” shows the backbone of the global submarine cable in the ocean. It shows where most of the data transfer takes place and which countries have the best interconnection.

Overall, the map illustrates 244 lines. Among those who were laid between the period 1992 to 2012, or those which are taken up in 2014. Existing lines are color-coded, gray cable are planned. Another twelve lines to be laid in the next two years.

At the bottom of the card it can also be seen how quick the respective connections between the different countries and continents are and how much the workload is. It can be seen, for example, that the available data connections from the United States to Colombia and Venezuela are fast, but to France and the UK, they are slower. The weakest data line, the U.S. has to South Africa and India.

By Rene Buest

Rene Buest is Gartner Analyst covering Infrastructure Services & Digital Operations. Prior to that he was Director of Technology Research at Arago, Senior Analyst and Cloud Practice Lead at Crisp Research, Principal Analyst at New Age Disruption and member of the worldwide Gigaom Research Analyst Network. Rene is considered as top cloud computing analyst in Germany and one of the worldwide top analysts in this area. In addition, he is one of the world’s top cloud computing influencers and belongs to the top 100 cloud computing experts on Twitter and Google+. Since the mid-90s he is focused on the strategic use of information technology in businesses and the IT impact on our society as well as disruptive technologies.

Rene Buest is the author of numerous professional technology articles. He regularly writes for well-known IT publications like Computerwoche, CIO Magazin, LANline as well as Silicon.de and is cited in German and international media – including New York Times, Forbes Magazin, Handelsblatt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Wirtschaftswoche, Computerwoche, CIO, Manager Magazin and Harvard Business Manager. Furthermore Rene Buest is speaker and participant of experts rounds. He is founder of CloudUser.de and writes about cloud computing, IT infrastructure, technologies, management and strategies. He holds a diploma in computer engineering from the Hochschule Bremen (Dipl.-Informatiker (FH)) as well as a M.Sc. in IT-Management and Information Systems from the FHDW Paderborn.

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