Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks Doug Madory, Senior Analyst Suboptic2013, Paris 25 April 2013
Visualizing Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks Cable failures are visible in Internet measurement data Cable cuts can actually improve Internet traffic latencies by eliminating suboptimal paths New cable activations are just as noticeable Global real-time measurements and sophisticated analytics make these observations possible 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 2
Global Measurement Infrastructure More than 100 locations, billions of measurements per day 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 3
Example: traceroute www.suboptic2013.org 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 4
Visualizing Cable Break Impacts: Bangladesh Bangladesh connected to Internet via a single submarine cable (SMW4) Historically, fall back has been satellite or nothing National outages have occurred with some regularity SeaMeWe-4 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 5
Visualizing Cable Break Impacts: Bangladesh SMW4 down for repairs (16 Nov 2012) Internet traffic flowing through Bangladesh Telecommunications Company (BTCL) ceases Country is almost completely offline Except for 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 6
Visualizing Cable Break Impacts: Bangladesh For the first time, a provider in Bangladesh stays online without SMW4 or satellite First observation of terrestrial Internet connection to India 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 7
Visualizing Cable Break Impacts: Bangladesh Planned SMW4 outages in Jan 2013 revealed four Bangladeshi providers using new Indian terrestrial route 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 8
Cable cuts can result in lower latencies Subsea cable breaks near Egypt take SEACOM offline (22 Mar 2013) Service restored via alternate paths (24 Mar 2013) Before restoration, Internet traffic must enter SEACOM at Mumbai instead of via Marseilles 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 9
Cable cuts can lower latencies With path from West unavailable, traffic enters SEACOM in Mumbai Traffic from Amsterdam goes around world to India (via Bharti Airtel) Traffic from Hong Kong is allowed to go shorter path across India Latencies significantly longer when circumnavigating the globe Via NYC, Mumbai Via Hong Kong, Mumbai 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 10
Cable cuts can lower latencies Quick work minimized downtime for customers Any change in providers can change latency distributions SEACOM maintained excellent communication during outages 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 11
Visualizing Cable Activations: ALBA-1 Cuba entirely reliant on satellite Internet due to lack of cable September 2007 Venezuela and Cuba state telecoms announce plans to construct a submarine cable, ALBA-1 Originally planned to be completed in 2009, but delayed February 2011 submarine cable construction is complete No noticeable change in Internet service in Cuba No mention of cable from Cuban government 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 12
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Confirmation from Cuba Communist Party News Since January 10, we have commenced quality testing Internet traffic over this communication channel. After completion of testing, the commissioning of the submarine cable will not automatically increase the possibilities of (Internet) access.
Internet Measurement can have Real Impacts
Conclusions Global measurements help companies optimize their customers experience over the Internet Internet services can be delivered more effectively along stable, low-latency paths Real-time data can identify, characterize, and visualizing the dramatic impacts of submarine cable breaks and activations 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 16
Thank You Questions? For more analysis: http://www.renesys.com/blog/ https://twitter.com/renesys 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 17
Extra Slides 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 18
ALBA-1 Outages in March 2013 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 19
EASSy / SEACOM Outages on 22 March 2013 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 20
SEACOM Outages on 14 February 2013 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 21
Caucasus cable cut 28 March 2011 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 22
Georgia-Russia cable cut 23 Dec 2012 2013 Renesys Corporation Visualizing the Impacts of Submarine Cable Breaks 23