Laying fibre optic cables down on the ocean floor is a massive undertaking in its own right. But now, Google actually has to go back and reinforce some of its thousands of miles of undersea cable, because hungry sharks keep mistaking the world’s data lines for lunch.
The reinforcement initiative, announced just last week at a Google Cloud Roadshow event, is no small feat. Google owns over 100,000 miles of private fibre optic routes around the world. And while Google cloud team project manager Dan Belcher did reveal that Google has been wrapping its trans-Pacific submarine cables in "Kevlar-like material" to protect against shark attacks, that’s about all he was willing to divulge.