- Fastnet will connect the US to Ireland with a capacity of over 320 Tbps.
- AWS will bury it 1.5 meters below the seabed to protect it from damage
- Additional AWS Regions and Availability Zones are in development.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced plans to build a new transatlantic submarine cable that will connect the US to Ireland.
The route, called Fastnet, is expected to be operational in 2028. It will connect Maryland to County Cork and promises to provide a capacity of more than 320 Tbps, which equates to approximately 12.5 million HD streams or transmitting the entire digitized information of the Library of Congress three times per second.
AWS is looking at Fastnet as a new option for expanding its cable networks, primarily located on the East Coast, where it will act as a backup to reduce the risks of accidental outages or deliberate sabotage.
AWS “Fixed”
AWS explains that Fastnet will use an optical switch splitter to provide routing flexibility and add additional connection points in the future.
In light of ongoing geopolitical tensions and previous submarine cable threatsThe company will also bury it approximately 1.5 meters below the seabed. Fastnet will also be given additional armor near the shore. But the cable itself is compared in size to a garden hose.
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin welcomed the investment, saying: “By connecting County Cork to Maryland in the US, Ireland will become a true gateway to Europe for undersea telecommunications cables.”
Fastnet complements Amazon's extensive network of terrestrial and submarine cables, which span more than nine million kilometers. The company also used the announcement to remind us that there are 10 more Availability Zones and three AWS Regions in the works.
“The ability to maintain seamless connectivity across geographies isn't just about speed—it's about having secure, reliable paths to transfer data between continents,” Amazon writes.
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