Google Deploys 42nd Submarine Cable Sol to Connect Four Locations across the Atlantic

Google has officially launched its new transatlantic submarine cable system, Sol. This communication backbone network connecting the United States, Bermuda, the Azores, and Spain will focus on meeting the growing demand for artificial intelligence and cloud services.

As a supplement to the “Nuvem” submarine cable, Sol marks Google’s completion of its investment in transatlantic network redundancy construction. The two systems will be interconnected on land in the United States mainland, the Iberian Peninsula, Bermuda, and the Azores. The optical cable will be manufactured in the United States and, once put into operation, will provide stronger capacity and stability for Google’s 42 global cloud regions.

Within the United States, the Palm Coast of Florida will serve as the landing anchor for Sol fiber optic cables. Google has partnered with DC BLOX to not only establish fiber optic cable landing stations here, but also create a brand new network hub. At the same time, Google will build a terrestrial fiber optic cable line that will directly connect Palm Coast with cloud areas in South Carolina. After the completion of the project, Sol will become the only operational direct submarine cable between Florida and Europe.

In Spain, Google announced a partnership with Telxius to provide the login infrastructure for Santander city. This deployment will further integrate the Madrid Cloud Region into Google’s global network system.

Brian Quigley, Vice President of Global Network Infrastructure at Google Cloud, stated in his blog that Sol will increase bandwidth capacity, enhance reliability, and reduce latency for Google users and cloud customers worldwide. Together with cable systems such as Nuvem, Firmina, Equiano, and Grace Hopper, it forms a transatlantic communication hub that not only promotes regional economic development but also brings the dividends of artificial intelligence to global users and businesses. “

It is worth noting that Sol is the second transatlantic line deployed by Google after the Nuvem fiber optic cable in 2023. Its naming continues Google’s tradition of focusing on natural phenomena (Sol means “sun”), echoing the use of cloud terminology to name Nuvem (Portuguese for “cloud”). The location of the Azores relay station for this system will significantly improve network latency in Europe and southern North America.

Industry analysts point out that Google has invested in building 12 private submarine cables in the past five years, and Sol’s deployment further consolidates its leading position in cloud service infrastructure. With the surge in demand for data transmission from AI applications, the annual growth rate of global submarine cable capacity may remain above 30% by 2026.