Toei, Tokyo.

May 11th.

Because of the influence of the Tokyo fungus, the various properties of the fungus were being studied in depth by biological research institutes around the world.

According to the information disclosed so far, Tokyo fungus has a relatively comprehensive data on various plastic products and the decomposition rate of various plastic products in different environments.

And 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 Dongying.

Maybe many people don't know what they do, that's because their products rarely appear directly in daily life, but as long as people who have used computers and mobile phones, they have indirectly used the products of these three companies.

Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent and NEC are the three giants of submarine cable engineering in the world, and have contracted almost 90% of the world's submarine optical fiber optic cable and cable construction projects.

However, this pattern is the data before Homo sapiens was officially established.

After the official debut of Homo sapiens last year, the Coral Submarine Cable Company was established, which was specifically responsible for the construction of submarine cable projects in the territory of Homo sapiens and affiliated areas.

Although Europe and the United States are very hostile to Homo sapiens, they will basically not hand over the submarine cable project to the Coral Submarine Cable, so that the three submarine cable giants can barely keep the basic disk.

But this time, as soon as the assessment report of the fungus in Tokyo came out, the executives of Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent, and NEC held a secret meeting in Tokyo.

Inside the NEC headquarters building.

The atmosphere in the conference room was solemn and depressing.

As the host NEC president Nobuyoshi Takeda, his expression was very serious: "Ladies and gentlemen, you have all seen the results of the assessment report, although the corrosion rate of the plastic protective layer of the submarine fiber optic cable by fungi is slower than that in the tropics, but it still cannot be ignored. ”

At present, the plastic protective layer of submarine fiber optic cables that they often use can only last for 6~8 years when the seabed is completely exposed.

If that's all there is, Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent, and NEC won't be too nervous.

The problem is that the areas that are prone to corrosion are not in the shallow seas, which are easy to replace, but in the seabed at depths of more than 500 meters.

The reason for this situation is mainly related to the way submarine fiber optic cables are laid.

In shallow waters, submarine fiber optic cables are usually laid in a buried manner to avoid being easily discovered, or to avoid being cut by the anchor plough of ships, and the fiber optic cable will be covered with a layer of sediment.

It is precisely because of the existence of this layer of sediment that the speed of fungal corrosion of submarine fiber optic cables has dropped a lot, and it can be maintained for about 20~30 years.

This time is close to the service life of submarine fiber optic cables, so naturally there is no need to worry too much.

The real problem is actually the submarine fiber optic cable that appears in the deep sea area, because the submarine fiber optic cable in the deep sea is directly exposed to the seawater, and there is no sediment to bury it at all, and the fungus can use the oxygen and minerals in the seawater to multiply on the plastic protective layer.

Tyco's president, Thales, raised his glasses: "We can't use buried cables with a depth of more than 500 meters. ”

Even if it is borrowed from the US military's nuclear submarine, the maximum working depth is only about 1,200 meters.

Some submarine fiber optic cables need to pass through ultra-deep waters similar to the Luzon Trench, Mariana Trench, and Solomon Trench.

Unless they are willing to redesign the route, all change to a shallow sea route.

The problem is that the consequence of this is that the cost will explode and that some areas will not be able to connect to submarine fiber optic cables.

Nobuyoshi Takeda looked at the others with a headache, hoping that they could come up with a solution, otherwise this year's submarine cable order would not be considered.

One of the NEC executives said with some uncertainty: "I heard that Homo sapiens has developed an engineering submarine that can go about 3,000 meters deep into the bottom of the sea. ”

"Hehe, even if there were such submarines, do you think Homo sapiens would sell them to us?" Thales asked rhetorically with a sneer.

Suddenly, the conference room fell silent.

After a while, Henry Perran, president of Alcatel-Lucent, knocked on the table: "Is it possible to improve the material of the plastic protective layer to achieve an antifungal effect?" ”

The head of NEC's scientific research department thought for a while: "Among the currently known chemicals, which can effectively inhibit the reproduction of the fungus, are potassium permanganate and copper hydroxide, potassium permanganate is soluble in water, and copper hydroxide is easy to decompose by heat, so it is not suitable as an antimicrobial agent for submarine fiber optic cables." ”

Thales gritted his teeth: "Damn! This fungus appeared too suddenly. ”

The executives of the three companies discussed for a long time, but still did not come up with a solution.

The engineering scheme either made a detour or required a deep-diving engineering submarine.

As for the antimicrobial plastic program, there is currently no suitable antimicrobial agent.

They can now only watch a group of land-based cable manufacturers eat meat, but they can't even drink the soup themselves, which is really uncomfortable.

Originally, last year, Internet giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Die Indispensable began to lay out the submarine fiber optic cable business one after another, preparing to recover with the help of self-operation and further expand their business territory.

These Internet giants themselves do not have the capacity to lay submarine fiber optic cables, so they can only bid for outsourcing.

Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent, and NEC were eyeing this piece of fat last year, and frequently contacted Internet giants such as Google, hoping to win these submarine fiber optic cable projects.

However, the appearance of a Tokyo fungus directly exploded the global plastic industry.

Coupled with the sequelae of the economic crisis, many Internet giants have become more cautious about the layout of submarine fiber optic cables.

The plastic protective layer of the deep-sea submarine fiber optic cable can only be maintained for 6~8 years, which makes many companies operating submarine fiber optic cables very anxious and very entangled.

After all, if you want to repair it now, there is no solution to extend the service life of the plastic protective layer.

If you don't fix it, after six or seven years, it will be more troublesome to concentrate on repairing it at that time.

For the transformation of cables on land, many areas have already had a solution, that is, to use copper hydroxide and paint mixture, and then apply the surface of the cable, as long as the special paint is applied regularly, you can not replace the plastic protective layer of the cable, so as to extend the service life to about 15~17 years.

Especially in the middle and high latitudes where the weather is cold, the service life can be increased to about 30 years.

As for why it is not more than 30 years, the main reason is that the plastic itself will also age, and the plastic wire sheath that has been used for about 30 years can basically be scrapped.

However, submarine fiber optic cables are different from terrestrial cables, and various components in seawater are easy to decompose copper hydroxide, resulting in the failure of the antimicrobial coating.

This situation has caused a headache for Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent, and NEC, and even though they have invested a lot of scientific research funds, they still have not come up with a cost-effective plan.

If they don't solve the problem of fungal corrosion for a day, they won't want to get the project, after all, the companies that operate submarine fiber optic cables are not wronged.

At present, the major submarine fiber optic cable operating companies would rather wait than continue to build submarine fiber optic cables at this time.

As a result, Tyco, Alcatel-Lucent, and NEC have not signed a single project in the past six months.

As a private enterprise, they are not a giant enterprise like Homo sapiens, and there is no way to sustain it through internal circulation.

At this moment, an employee of NEC hurriedly walked in and whispered a few words in the ear of President Nobuyoshi Takeda.

Suddenly, Takeda Nobuyoshi's face changed greatly.

Thank you for your support (ω'), and thank you for the reward of the book friend "Big Cat Bear".

(End of chapter)