| TAT-14 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Owners: [1][2]
| |
Landing points
| |
| Total length | 15,428 km (9,587 mi) |
| Topology | Self-healing ring |
| Design capacity | 9.38Tbit/s |
| Currently lit capacity | 3.15 Tbit/s |
| Technology | Fiber optics withEDFA repeaters |
| Date of first use | 21 March 2001 (2001-03-21) |
| Decommissioning date | 15 December 2020 (2020-12-15) |
TAT-14 was the 14th consortiumtransatlantic telecommunications cable system. In operation from 2001 to 2020,[3] it usedwavelength 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 anSTM-256 (38,486,016 kbit/s as payload).[4] The fibres were bundled into submarine cables connecting the United States and the European Union (United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark) in aring topology.[5]
By the time this cable went into operation, the expectedlong boom (term coined byWired magazine) was already ending in thedot-com death. The overinvestment in transcontinentaloptical fiber capacity led to a financial crisis in private cable operators likeGlobal Crossing.
In thediplomatic cables leak, it is revealed that the landing point inKatwijk, the Netherlands is included in aUS Government list ofcritical infrastructure susceptible toterrorist attack.[6]
Use of the cable was ceased on December 15, 2020, shortly after theHavfrue cable, whose main trunk also lands at Blaabjerg, was lit in November 2020.[7] In 2021 the permanent dismantling of the system was begun.[8]
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.[9][10]
On May 19, 2014, preliminary reports from hosting providerDigital Ocean suggested that TAT-14 was the cause for the disrupted services between the EU and the US.[11]
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.[12]
the TAT-14 submarine cable will be retired from service on December 15, 2020
