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Invited guests at today’s cable landing ceremony near Annie’s Bay included Governor Andrew Murdoch, other dignitaries and stakeholders from the business community
Annie’s Bay in St. David’s was the venue today for a landmark event in technological innovation.
Premier David Burt and representatives of Google hosted a Sub-sea Cable Landing Ceremony for ‘Nuvem’ and ‘Sol.’Sol is a major trans-atlantic sub-sea cable system connecting Palm Coast, Florida, to Spain with intermediate landing points in Bermuda and the Azores.
Once completed, Sol will be the only direct in-service fiber-optic cable between Florida and Europe. It is designed to inter-connect with Google’s other transatlantic cable, Nuvem and will support growing A.I. and cloud services. One of the cables will land at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.
Driving the development, VP of Global Infrastructure for Google Cloud, Brian Quigley said the arrival of the two sub-sea cables together establish a resilient stable point in Bermuda. The two new cables are being landed tomorrow, depending on sea conditions, will transfer into manholes through an underground conduit exchange port currently under construction.
Mr. Quigly said one of Google’s key focus is on sustainability. He said, “We measure watts per bits served and make sure that we have the lowest energy footprint that we can.
“As a matter of fact, the digital exchange port that we have here uses the same amount of water as a single family home. We recycke and have a close looped cooling system.”
He also said its not just about building infrastructure but also, fostering local partnerships and building the communities where Google serves traffic.
Premier Burt said, “We are not even fully aware of what this may represent in the future; the amount of data and connectivity…but the reality is that Bermuda, through these cables are going to be so well connected, that we will be able to actually participate in the global information economy in a better space.
“It will support our future jobs in international businesss. And so from that perspective, it is excellent.”
The Bermuda Zoological Society is one local organisation that stands to benefit from the project with the announcement of a new initiative with Google, marked by an investment to support the expansion of science and technology-enabled learning across Bermuda.
They said through this collaboration, BZS is already enhancing its education programmes with the introduction of 25 new tablets, 6 drones, underwater cameras, classroom monocular microscopes and projection technology, enabling students to engage more deeply in science, technology and emerging fields such as artificial intelligence.
“This initiative with Google represents a meaningful investment in Bermuda’s future,” said Philippe Bacon, BZS President.
“By integrating technology such as tablets and drones into our programmes, we are equipping students with the skills and curiosity needed to explore science and innovation in real-world settings,” he added.
Free Google courses are being offered through the Bermuda College that includes access to foundational Grow with Google Career Certificates in areas such as cybersecurity, data analytics, IT support, digital marketing and e-commerce, project management and user experience design.
The St David’s Island Historical Society (St DIHS) has formed an agreement with The Bermuda Land Management Company (BLMC) for permission to create a public park at Annie’s Bay including the beach and the memorial site, situated south of Orange Hole Road.
The Conservation Management Plan has approval of the BLMC, and the support of Google.
The bay is the only remaining natural bay of old Southside, St Davids out of 8 bays, the others destroyed by the construction of the US Base in 1941.
Richard Spurling, President of St DIHS said, “This park will join the many Parks and Nature Reserves in St Davids forming a continuous green belt full of history, views, beaches and nature trails.
“We are confident that the Islanders will join us with volunteer support to remove invasives and plant cedars and palmettos and other endemics/natives keeping the cost to a minimum.”
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