[photopress:fiberunity.jpg,full,right]

I can’t stand the name—Unity—but I recognize its worth. Kinda.

Six international companies have signed up to create a new Trans-Pacific Internet fiber optic cable that may (the numbers aren’t finalized yet) increase the bandwidth capacity by 7.68 Terabits/s. The companies, of which Google is most recognizable ’round these parts, said that with the expected increases in Trans-Pacific Internet traffic, such a cable is a necessity.

Construction starts right now! and it’s expected to be completed by 2010 for the cool price of $300 million. Physically it links Los Angeles to Chikura, which is just outside of Tokyo.

One quick thought I had: how often do you, average American Internet user, connect to Asian servers? Unless YouTube or Wikipedia has servers there, it does seem weird to me to suggest all this Trans-Pacific Internet activity when I’m mainly browsing CNN and Drudge and other U.S.-based sites. Some guy brought this up in The Economist last year, too, so I’m not the only one thinking like that.

Presser [Google]