wiredinUSA September 2014

Subsea specific protection At a recent Google Cloud event in Boston, product manager Dan Belcher revealed that the company will be armoring its trans-Pacific undersea fiber optic cables in a Kevlar or similar material, to protect them from shark bites. According to the technology news website Network World, Belcher said the covering is part of Google’s work to protect its infrastructure.

of glass and so are extremely fragile, requiring them to be wrapped in several layers of protective material. Shark attacks on undersea cables have been reported since the 1980s. It is thought that sharks may mistake them for prey because of the electrical fields emitted by the cables, or it may simply be through curiosity.

The individual fiber cables, part of the infrastructure for Google Fiber, are made

Compound expansion

Miltec appointment

Michael Hughes has assumed the position of regional sales manager for Miltec UV, covering the US northeast and eastern Canada.

Prysmian Group will invest in a new compounding facility

for medium voltage cable insulation and add a second vertical continuous vulcanization line (VCV) to its Abbeville plant. Construction will start later this year, with production anticipated to begin during the second half of 2015. The Abbeville plant is celebrating 50 years of production and continuous improvement and expansion. The addition in 2009 of the vertical continuous vulcanization process, housed in a 373-foot high tower, was the first of its kind to produce extra high voltage power cables in North America.

Michael lives in Bolton, MA, where he had been vice president and general manager for the Gotham Inks division of Superior Inks in Marlborough, MA. Fred Beu, Miltec’s director of global sales and marketing, said: “Michael brings exceptional expertise developed over 20 years within the graphics printing and coatings industry, and we are pleased and proud to have Michael representing Miltec.”

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