TAT-14 was the 14th consortium transatlantic telecommunications cable system. In operation from 2001 to 2020, it used wavelength division multiplexing. The cable system was built from multiple pairs of fibres—one fibre in each pair was used for data carried in one direction and the other in the opposite direction. Although optical fibre can be used in both directions simultaneously, for reliability it is better not to require splitting equipment at the end of the individual fibre to separate transmit and receive signals—hence a fibre pair is used. TAT-14 used four pairs of fibres—two pairs as active and two as backup. Each fibre in each pair carried 16 wavelengths in one direction, and each wavelength carried up to an STM-256 (38,486,016 kbit/s as payload). The fibres were bundled into submarine cables connecting the United States and the European Union (United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark) in a ring topology. By the time this cable went into operation, the expected '' long boom'' (term coined by ''Wired'' magazine) was already ending in the '' dot-com death''. The overinvestment in transcontinental

optical fiber An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

capacity led to a financial crisis in private cable operators like

Global Crossing Global Crossing Limited was a telecommunications company that provided computer networking services and operated a tier 1 carrier. It maintained a large backbone network and offered peering, virtual private networks, leased lines, audio and vid ...

. In the diplomatic cables leak, it is revealed that the landing point in Katwijk, the Netherlands is included in a

US Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

list of

critical infrastructure Critical infrastructure, or critical national infrastructure (CNI) in the UK, describes infrastructure considered essential by governments for the functioning of a society and economy and deserving of special protection for national security. ...

susceptible to

terrorist attack Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war a ...

. Use of the cable was ceased on December 15, 2020, shortly after the Havfrue cable, whose main trunk also lands at Blaabjerg, was lit in November 2020. In 2021 the permanent dismantling of the system was begun.

Cable failure

In November 2003, TAT-14 suffered two breaks within weeks of each other, first on the southern link between the US and UK, then on the link between France and the Netherlands which had been providing redundant service to the UK via the northern link through Denmark, resulting in disruption to Internet services in the United Kingdom. On May 19, 2014, preliminary reports from hosting provider

Digital Ocean Digital Ocean, Inc. was a maker of wireless products from 1992 until it was disbanded in 1998. History The company was founded in May 1992 by Jeffery Alholm and headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas. The company had several contracts with Apple Inc ...

suggested that TAT-14 was the cause for the disrupted services between the EU and the US.

Decommissioning of the TAT-14

Subsea Environmental Services has removed and recycled the cable shore-ends in the U.S., U.K., France, Denmark and The Netherlands as well as the deep-water segments in the North Atlantic.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tat-14 Transatlantic communications cables Infrastructure completed in 2001 BT Group buildings and structures AT&T buildings Deutsche Telekom Vodafone buildings and structures Verizon Sprint Corporation KPN Orange S.A. Telenor Level 3 Communications KDDI SoftBank Group Telus Telefónica Rostelecom Science and technology in Cornwall Tata Communications 2001 establishments in Europe 2001 establishments in New Jersey 2020 disestablishments in Europe 2020 disestablishments in New Jersey