The Vendée is home to Google s submarine cable
Google's future private transatlantic submarine cable called "Dunant", a 6,600-kilometre long cable linking the United States and France, is due to come into service by the end of 2020. Orange, a partner of the Californian giant, laid the final section in the Vendée on 13th March.
To link up with the existing terrestrial network, the cable ends in a "landing station" near a beach in the commune of Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez. This underground installation was set up in a bunker more than 10 metres underground, originally built for a NATO cable. The bunker had been dormant since 2016, when it hosted its last cable, "Eurafrica", linking France, Morocco and Portugal. Similar work will soon take place at the other end of the cable, i.e. at Virginia Beach in Virginia.
As the first cable between the United States and France in 15 years, Dunant should make it possible to cope with the sharp increase in traffic expected between Google's data centres on either side of the Atlantic.
The fiber pairs will have a capacity of 30 Tbps each, compared with 3.2 Tbps offered by the previous transatlantic cable, which has been operational since 2001. Orange will benefit from two fiber pairs.
In addition, at the end of 2019, Google inaugurated a first cable, called "Curie", between the United States and Chile. A third, "Equiano", is planned between Portugal and South Africa.
Source : L'Usine Nouvelle