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TechFading · day 3

Meta announces Petal, first petabit-capacity transoceanic subsea cable

The US-France cable will deliver 1 petabit per second, double today's most advanced transoceanic systems, using dual-core fiber technology.

newest coverage 12h agosummary written 2d ago9 pieces8 likes & upvotes NewswiresMastodonHacker NewsReddit

What to know

  • Petal is the first transoceanic subsea cable to achieve petabit-per-second capacity, connecting the US and France with 7,000 km of dual-core fiber, doubling current leading systems.
  • The cable uses novel dual-core fiber technology and a specialized repeater design to overcome the Shannon Limit, the physical boundary that single-core fiber approaches had reached.
  • By consolidating petabit capacity into one cable instead of two, Petal reduces materials and carbon footprint while delivering unprecedented connectivity for global data traffic.
  • The system is expected to be operational in 2029, representing a step change in subsea infrastructure that carries 99% of intercontinental data.

Meta Cable developer and investorNEC Subsea cable systems specialistSumitomo Electric Industries Fiber production partnerOrange French telecommunications company

Meta announces Petal, first petabit-capacity transoceanic subsea cable
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How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts

Peak 2 pieces in one hour at Sep 21, 7 AM; 9 pieces over 3 days (3 articles · 6 posts) Sep 21, 7 AM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 post — Mastodon 1, Newswires 1Sep 21, 8 AM — quietSep 21, 9 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Hacker News 1Sep 21, 10 AM — quietSep 21, 11 AM — quietSep 21, 12 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Hacker News 1Sep 21, 1 PM — quietSep 21, 2 PM — quietSep 21, 3 PM — quietSep 21, 4 PM — quietSep 21, 5 PM — quietSep 21, 6 PM — quietSep 21, 7 PM — quietSep 21, 8 PM — quietSep 21, 9 PM — quietSep 21, 10 PM — quietSep 21, 11 PM — quietSep 22, 12 AM — quietSep 22, 1 AM — quietSep 22, 2 AM — quietSep 22, 3 AM — quietSep 22, 4 AM — quietSep 22, 5 AM — quietSep 22, 6 AM — quietSep 22, 7 AM — quietSep 22, 8 AM — quietSep 22, 9 AM — quietSep 22, 10 AM — quietSep 22, 11 AM — quietSep 22, 12 PM — quietSep 22, 1 PM — quietSep 22, 2 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Sep 22, 3 PM — quietSep 22, 4 PM — quietSep 22, 5 PM — quietSep 22, 6 PM — quietSep 22, 7 PM — quietSep 22, 8 PM — quietSep 22, 9 PM — quietSep 22, 10 PM — quietSep 22, 11 PM — quietYesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 1 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Hacker News 1Yesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 3 AM — quietYesterday, 4 AM — quietYesterday, 5 AM — quietYesterday, 6 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Yesterday, 7 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Hacker News 1Yesterday, 9 AM — quietYesterday, 10 AM — quietYesterday, 11 AM — quietYesterday, 12 PM — quietYesterday, 1 PM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 3 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — quietYesterday, 5 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — quietYesterday, 7 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Reddit 1Yesterday, 9 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — quietYesterday, 11 PM — quietToday, 12 AM — quietToday, 1 AM — quietToday, 2 AM — quietToday, 3 AM — quietToday, 4 AM — quietToday, 5 AM — quietToday, 6 AM — quietToday, 7 AM — quietToday, 8 AM — quiet 1
Sep 22yesterdaynow · 9:44 AM ET
  1. 1

    Petal partners include NEC, Sumitomo Electric, and Orange

    Meta is partnering with NEC, a specialist in subsea cable systems, and Sumitomo Electric Industries, a leading fiber producer, to develop Petal. French telecommunications company Orange will manage the landing of the cable on France's Atlantic coast.

    “Petal will connect the US and France, spanning 7,000 km (over 4,300 miles) and doubling the capacity of today's most advanced transoceanic cables.”
    — Meta · source
    1. 2 outlets Meta Plans 7,000-Kilometer Subsea Cable Between US and France

      first by TechRepublic, 1d ago · also Tom's Hardware

      1 more headline

    • Meta is building a subsea cable with petabit capacity. The subsea “Petal” cable will connect the US and France across 4,300 miles when it comes online in 2029. Meta says it will be the first transoceanic subsea cable to deliver 1 petabit of data per second using a multi-core fiber technology. “That’s roughly the network capacity required for 75%…

      emma_roth@theverge.spaceMastodon3d ago1▲view on Mastodon ↗
  2. background

    Petal reduces materials and carbon footprint versus dual-cable approach — By carrying a petabit through a single cable rather than building two 0.5 Pbps systems, Petal significantly reduces the materials, resources, and carbon footprint required to deliver the same capacity across the Atlantic.

  3. background

    Petal addresses dual-core fiber challenges with novel repeater design — Meta's engineering team solved two main challenges in deploying dual-core fiber: maintaining low attenuation while preserving the outer fiber's 125 μm width, and minimizing crosstalk between cores. They developed a 96-amplifier repeater using a Fan-In/Fan-Out interface to handle the transition between 2-core and single-core fiber within each repeater unit.

  4. background

    Petal uses dual-core fiber technology to overcome Shannon Limit — Meta engineered Petal using 2-core fiber technology in a 24 fiber-pair system (equivalent to 48 fiber pairs) to achieve the 1 Pbps capacity at transatlantic distances. The approach was necessary after the industry hit the Shannon Limit with previous single-core fiber advances, forcing a pivot to spatial division multiplexing.

  5. background

    Meta announces Petal petabit subsea cable project — Meta announced Petal, the first transoceanic subsea cable designed to deliver petabit-class capacity at scale. The cable will connect the US and France across 7,000 km, delivering 1 petabit per second (1,000 terabits per second) using multi-core fiber technology—double the capacity of today's most advanced transoceanic cables.