Choosing data centers - submarine cables!
In a follow up to my original article on choosing a data center I thought it worth pointing out that if you are thinking of world wide locations for your data center then checking the intercontinental connectivity is all important!
There are a number of submarine (under sea) cables that crisscross the globe providing connectivity from one continent to the next. These cables are commercially run and are laid by specialist ships literally from beach to beach (have a look on YouTube). A map of where the undersea cables run is available from here: SubmarineCableMap.com and clearly shows where they are in the world and where they land.
So the important bit; if there are a large number of cables terminating in a similar area then prices are going to be competitive, if there is a single cable then there is a monopoly and they can charge what they like. As an example if you look at India there are a number (around 13) of cables terminating in Mumbai which means there is going to be healthy competition there whereas Western Australia is only served by 2! Competition for the space on these cables could mean; higher prices, latency issues, capacity issues and in the event of a “problem” a business continuity issue.
Looking at the map throws up some interesting observations:
- Eastern Australia is connected by only 2 cables whereas Western has 10 (all into Sydney).
- All the connectivity from India to the UK runs through Egypt!
- Cornwall is pretty important in the UK connectivity to the rest of the World :)
