Google Has A New Enemy: Sharks

Look, I don't know what it takes to lay thousands of miles of undersea cable, but I know there are some vicious animals under the surface. Google is finding that one out the hard way; it seems sharks are biting their various data cables laid under the sea.

Google announced the issue at a Google Cloud Roadshow event last week. The company owns over 100,000 miles of fiber-optic cable laid throughout the world's oceans (a number we were surprised at). Sharks, likely in trying to figure out just what these cables are, have been chewing and thrashing at them. They could also be confused by the electric pulse of the wires, which could be similar to those emitted by prey.

Google is now taking steps to protect the cables — or at least parts of the cables that are attractive to sharks — in a "Kevlar-like material".

We're not sure just what material they're protecting these cables with, but Kevlar offers limited protection against knife attacks and the like. A shark's tooth is both scary and knife-like. Take that, Google.

The Kevlar may not mask any of the electric impulses shark's may be confused by, but it will protect the cable better. Google may be missing out on an opportunity, though. I'd much rather have a shark with freaking WiFi on it's head that a shark with lasers.

Source: Network World

Via: Gizmodo