Google finishes 3,900-mile Grace Hopper cable linking US to UK and Spain

Google’s newest subsea internet cable has landed in the UK. The Grace Hopper cable stretches 3,900 miles, connecting New York, the UK and Spain. The cable reached Bude, England, on Tuesday. Another end of the cable had reached Bilbao, Spain, earlier this month.

“Grace Hopper represents a new generation of trans-Atlantic cable coming to the UK shores and is one of the first new cables to connect the US and the UK since 2003,” said Jane Stowell, strategic negotiator of global infrastructure for Google, in a blog post.

This isn’t Google’s only subsea cable. Earlier this year, the company announced the Firmina subsea internet cable that will stretch from the US East Coast to points along the eastern seaboard of South America. And in July, Google announced a partnership with Sparkle to create the Blue and Raman subsea cable systems.

The Grace Hopper cable is designed to send up to 350 terabytes of data per second and to reduce internet outages with fiber switching, Google said.

The internet cable is named after computing pioneer Grace Hopper. She created the first computer compiler and helped create the Mark I Computer. She also coined the word “bug” to describe computer malfunctions.

The contract to build the cable was signed earlier this year with SubCom, a New Jersey cable provider. Google and SubCom are using novel optic fibers designed for better internet connectivity and reliability. A Google spokesperson told CNET that the Grace Hopper internet cable will be fully functional next year. CNET