I just posted this on the SDLI thread, but think it's valid here, as well, as it shows the magnitude of communications growth on a global scale.
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Global Crossing Plans $1 Billion South American Fiber Network
To link the major cities of South America with the US, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Europe, Global Crossing Ltd. (Hamilton, Bermuda) is unveiling South American Crossing (SAC), a $1 billion undersea and terrestrial fiber optic network project.
Scheduled to commence service in 2000, SAC will be built in three phases. The first two phases will connect Argentina and Brazil to the Global Crossing network in the fourth quarter of 2000. The final phase, completing a loop around the continent, will be finished in the first quarter of 2001.
Global Crossing maintains that SAC will increase South America's continent-to-continent capacity more than an order of magnitude. South America presently connects to North America, Europe, and Asia through satellites or a complex combination of cable and transit links.
SAC will be a four-fiber pair ring using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology. Landing sites connect to South America's terrestrial fiber optic links. Subsea portions of the ring will connect to landing sites at St. Croix (US Virgin Islands), Fortaleza (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Santos (Brazil), Las Toninas (Argentina), Valparaiso (Chile), Lurin (Peru), Buenaventura (Colombia), and Fort Amador (Panama).
Terrestrial segments will connect to most major South American cities, including Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, Cali, and Bogota. Global Crossing also plans to bring Caracas, Venezuela onto the network by linking that city with the previously announced Pan American Crossing (PAC), now under construction. In addition, other regional business centers will be connected to the network by terrestrial cables in Argentina (Mendoza, Cordoba, Rosario), Brazil (Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre), Colombia (Medellin, Cartagena), Ecuador (Quito, Guayaquil), Uruguay (Montevideo, Punta del Este), and Venezuela (Valencia, Maracaibo).
The ring will be completed on its southern-most end by a terrestrial link across the Andes between Las Toninas and Valparaiso. The PAC system from Panama to St. Croix will complete the ring. Initially SAC will have a capacity of 40 gigabits per second and will be fully upgradable, using DWDM technology. Half the capacity will be reserved for restoration on the self-healing ring system.
Network's worldwide total goes to more than 80 of world's top cities
With the addition of South American Crossing, the Global Crossing planned network connects more than 80 of the world's top cities, advancing the company's goal of connecting 100 of the top cities in the world. SAC will be the seventh segment to join the Global Crossing Network.
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