A group of six international companies has announced plans to build an ultra-high speed, undersea, fiber-optic cable under the Pacific Ocean, between Japan and the United States. The project is meant to improve Internet and other telecommunication traffic between the U.S. and Asia, and comes as several other companies have begun similar ventures.

六家公司宣布計(jì)劃在日本和美國之間敷設(shè)橫跨太平洋的超高速光導(dǎo)纖維海底電纜，以改善美國和亞洲地區(qū)的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)和電訊交通。與此同時(shí)，好幾個(gè)其他的公司也開始進(jìn)行類似的項(xiàng)目。

Singapore Telecommunications, Internet search company Google, and four other companies plan to spend $300 million on the underwater communications link. They say it will be ready for use by 2010. The new cable network, called Unity, will link Chikura, Japan, with the western U.S. city of Los Angeles, a distance of about 10,000 kilometers. The system will also connect to other Asian telecommunications cable systems.

新加坡電訊公司、專營互聯(lián)網(wǎng)搜索的谷歌公司以及其他4個(gè)公司計(jì)劃投資3億美元鋪設(shè)海底電纜。這些公司表示，這條海底電纜將在2010年投入使用。這條名為“UNITY”的電纜網(wǎng)絡(luò)的兩端，一端是日本的千倉，另一端是美國的洛杉磯，長(zhǎng)度大約為1萬公里。這條電纜通訊系統(tǒng)將跟亞洲其他電訊電纜系統(tǒng)連接。

Fiber-optic cables are the lifelines for connecting Internet users on different continents. This latest project is part of a surge in new transpacific cable construction projects, driven primarily by increasing demand in Asia.

光導(dǎo)纖維是各大洲的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶相互聯(lián)絡(luò)的生命線。有關(guān)公司宣布的這個(gè)最新的光導(dǎo)纖維電纜建設(shè)工程，是跨越太平洋之間的電纜建設(shè)熱潮的一部分。這股熱潮主要是亞洲地區(qū)不斷增長(zhǎng)的需求推動(dòng)的。

Martin Gutberlet is the Vice President for Technology and Research at Gartner's Singapore office. He says within two to three years, Internet traffic between the United States and Asia could double.

馬丁.古特伯賴特是加德納技術(shù)和研究咨詢公司駐新加坡辦事處的副總裁。他說，在兩到三年內(nèi)，美國和亞洲地區(qū)之間的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)通訊量可能翻番。

"And lots of traffic will be actually generated in Asia, so therefore there is simply more capacity needed between the U.S. and Asia," he said.

他說：“互聯(lián)網(wǎng)通訊量很多將是在亞洲產(chǎn)生的，因此美國和亞洲之間需要更大的通訊容量。”

Gutberlet says that, based on current forecasts, now is the best time for companies to supply additional capacity between North America and Asia.

古特伯賴特說，按照目前的預(yù)測(cè)，現(xiàn)在是有關(guān)公司興建增容工程的最好時(shí)機(jī)。eMarketer是一個(gè)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)和電子商務(wù)研究公司。

eMarketer, an Internet and e-business research company, predicts that by 2012, almost 50 percent of the world's Internet users will live in the Asia Pacific region.

該公司預(yù)計(jì)，到2012年，全世界將近50%的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶在亞太地區(qū)。

But, investments in undersea cable links are not without risk.

但是，在海底的光纜鋪設(shè)投資并不是沒有風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的。

In December 2006, a strong earthquake near Taiwan damaged four large offshore cables, disrupting Internet service for millions of people across Asia. Service was not fully restored for weeks.

在2006年，臺(tái)灣附近發(fā)生強(qiáng)烈地震，損壞了4條海底電纜，中斷了亞洲地區(qū)成百萬的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶的通訊服務(wù)。過了好幾個(gè)星期之后，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務(wù)才完全恢復(fù)。

Earlier this year, communications in large parts of the Middle East and Southeast Asia were affected after two undersea cables were damaged in the Mediterranean Sea.

今年早些時(shí)候，中東和東南亞地區(qū)許多地方的通訊因?yàn)榈刂泻：５纂娎|受損而受到影響。

Gutberlet says, aside from avoiding seismically unstable spots on the ocean floor, it is impossible to forecast such problems.

古特伯賴特說，在鋪設(shè)電纜的過程中，除了避免太平洋洋底的地質(zhì)不穩(wěn)定的地點(diǎn)之外，人們不可能預(yù)測(cè)地震會(huì)造成什么問題。

"So that is simply something which you can't plan for. And of course, if you have an earthquake, or if someone is, you know, hitting your cable with a boat, or a ship, then you simply have bad luck," he said.

他說：“這種事情，人們是無法計(jì)劃預(yù)防的。當(dāng)然，假如發(fā)生地震，或者假如船只碰壞了電纜，那你就只好自認(rèn)倒霉。”

And in 2000, during the dot-com bust, several telecommunications companies went bankrupt when too many competitors entered the market.

在2000年，在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司紛紛倒閉的時(shí)候，好幾家電訊公司因?yàn)榇笈��?jìng)爭(zhēng)者進(jìn)入市場(chǎng)而破產(chǎn)。

Gutberlet says one of the reasons most underwater cables are laid by consortiums is to lessen the risks for a single company. At the rate the Asia Pacific's telecommunications market is forecast to expand, Gutberlet says the financial attraction of such ventures far outweighs the potential risks.

古特伯賴特說，海底電纜通常是一些公司聯(lián)合鋪設(shè)的一個(gè)原因，是他們力圖減少一個(gè)公司所承受的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。他說，按照目前亞太地區(qū)電訊市場(chǎng)預(yù)測(cè)增長(zhǎng)的速度來看，從事這樣的基本建設(shè)的盈利前景大大超過可能的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。