Chapter 388 Difficulties
Japan, Tokyo.
May 11th.
Because of the influence of the Tokyo fungus, biological research institutions around the world are now conducting in-depth studies on the various characteristics of the fungus.
According to the information currently disclosed, Tokyo Fungi has relatively comprehensive data on various plastic products and the decomposition rates of various plastic products in different environments.
The three large companies that met in Tokyo today also got the data they wanted to know.
The three companies are: Tyco in America, Alcatel-Lucent in France, and NEC in Japan.
Perhaps many people don’t know what they do because their products rarely appear directly in daily life. However, anyone who has used a computer or a mobile phone has indirectly used the products of these three companies.
Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent and NEC are the three giants in the global submarine cable engineering industry, contracting almost 90% of the world's submarine optical cable and electrical cable construction projects.
However, this pattern is data from before Homo sapiens was officially established.
After the official debut of Sapiens last year, it established the Coral Cable Company, which is specifically responsible for the construction of submarine cable projects within the territory of Sapiens and its affiliated areas.
Although Europe and the United States are very hostile to Homo sapiens, they will basically not hand over submarine cable projects to Coral Cable, allowing the three major cable giants to barely maintain their basic base.
However, as soon as the assessment report on the Tokyo fungus came out, the top executives of Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent and NEC held a secret meeting in Tokyo in a hurry.
Inside NEC's headquarters building.
The atmosphere in the meeting room was solemn and depressing.
As the host, NEC President Nobuyoshi Takeda had a very serious expression: "Everyone, you have all seen the results of the assessment report. Although the rate at which fungi corrode the plastic protective layer of submarine optical cables is slower than in tropical areas, it is still not negligible."
The plastic protective layer of submarine optical cables they often use can only last for 6 to 8 years when they are completely exposed to the seabed.
If that were the case, Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent and NEC wouldn't be too nervous.
The problem is that the areas most susceptible to corrosion are not in shallow waters where replacement is easy, but on the seafloor at depths of more than 500 meters.
The reason for this situation is mainly related to the way submarine optical cables are laid.
In order to prevent the submarine optical cables in shallow waters from being easily discovered or being cut by the anchor plow of the ship, they are usually laid in a buried manner and covered with a layer of mud and sand.
It is precisely because of the existence of this layer of silt that the rate at which the submarine optical cable is corroded by fungi has been greatly reduced, and can last for about 20 to 30 years.
This time is close to the service life of the submarine optical cable, so there is no need to worry too much.
The real problem actually lies in the submarine optical cables in deep sea areas. Because the submarine optical cables in the deep sea are directly exposed to the seawater and are not buried by mud or sand at all, fungi can use the oxygen and minerals in the seawater to multiply in large numbers on the plastic protective layer.
Tyco's president, Thales, raised his glasses and said, "For submarine optical cables deeper than 500 meters, we have no way of burying them."
Even if we borrow the US military's nuclear submarines, the maximum operating depth is only about 1,200 meters.
Some submarine optical cables need to pass through ultra-deep waters such as the Luzon Trench, the Mariana Trench, and the Solomon Trench.
Unless they are willing to redesign the route and change it to shallow sea route.
The problem is that the consequence of doing so is a cost explosion and it will cause some areas to be unable to connect to submarine optical cables.
Nobuyoshi Takeda looked at others with a headache, hoping that they could come up with a solution, otherwise he would have no chance of getting the submarine cable order this year.
One of
"Haha, even if we have this kind of submarine, do you think Sapiens will sell it to us?" Thales asked with a sneer.
Suddenly the conference room fell silent.
After a while, Alcatel-Lucent President Henry Perrin tapped the table and asked, "Can the material of the plastic protective layer be improved to achieve antifungal effect?"
The head of NEC's scientific research department thought for a while and said: "Among the currently known chemicals, potassium permanganate and copper hydroxide can effectively inhibit the growth of this fungus. Potassium permanganate is soluble in water, while copper hydroxide is easily decomposed by heat. Neither is suitable as an antibacterial agent for submarine optical cables."
Thales gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it! This fungus appeared too suddenly."
The executives of the three companies discussed for a long time but still could not come up with a solution.
Engineering solutions either require a detour or a deep-diving engineering submarine.
As for the antibacterial plastic solution, there are currently no suitable antibacterial agents.
Now they can only watch the land-based cable and optical cable manufacturers eat the meat while they can't even get a sip of the soup. This is really painful.
Last year, Internet giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Facebook began to gradually develop submarine cable businesses, preparing to recover through self-operation and further expand their business territory.
These Internet giants do not have the ability to lay submarine optical cables themselves, so they can only outsource through bidding.
Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent and NEC set their sights on this piece of fat meat last year and frequently contacted Internet giants such as Google, hoping to win these submarine cable projects.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. The emergence of a Tokyo fungus directly destroyed the global plastics industry.
Coupled with the aftermath of the economic crisis, a number of Internet giants have become more cautious about the layout of submarine optical cables.
The plastic protective layer of deep-sea submarine optical cables can only last for 6 to 8 years. This situation makes the companies operating submarine optical cables very anxious and conflicted.
After all, if we want to repair it now, there is no solution to extend the service life of the plastic protective layer.
If we don't repair it, it will be more troublesome to repair it in a centralized manner after six or seven years.
Many areas have already found a solution for the transformation of land cables, which is to mix copper hydroxide and paint and then apply it to the surface of the cable. As long as the special paint is applied regularly, the plastic protective layer of the cable does not need to be replaced, thereby extending the service life to about 15 to 17 years.
Especially in mid- and high-latitude areas with cold weather, the service life can be extended to about 30 years.
As for why it does not exceed 30 years, it is mainly because the plastic itself will age. The plastic wire sheath that has been used for about 30 years can basically be scrapped.
However, submarine optical cables are different from land cables. Various components in seawater can easily decompose copper hydroxide, causing the antibacterial coating to fail.
This situation caused a lot of headaches for Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent and NEC. Even though they invested a lot of research and development funds, they still failed to come up with a cost-effective solution.
As long as they don’t solve the fungal corrosion problem, they won’t be able to get any projects. After all, the companies that operate submarine optical cables are not going to suck it up.
Now, all major submarine cable operating companies would rather wait than continue to build more submarine cables at this time.
This has resulted in Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent and NEC not signing a single engineering project in the past six months.
As private enterprises, they are not giant companies like Homo sapiens and cannot survive through internal circulation.
At this moment, an NEC employee hurried in and whispered a few words into the ear of President Nobuyoshi Takeda.
Suddenly, Takeda Nobuyoshi's face changed drastically.
