The Asia-America Gateway (AAG) is the first submarine cable system linking South East Asia directly with the USA, provides connectivity between Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Hong Kong SAR, Philippines, Guam, Hawaii and the US West Coast . The AAG submarine cable system spans 20,000km and uses the latest Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technologies with a minimum design capacity of 1.28 terrabits per second.The AAG submarine cable system has significant advantages over the traditional trans-Pacific routes (via the North Pacific) as it avoids the areas most prone to seismic activity off the Taiwan region, which have previously resulted in damage to undersea cables and network disruptions. The AAG submarine cable system was ready for service on Nov. 10, 2009.