Transatlantic Telegraph Cable

The 1866 cable cut the time for business news to cross the Atlantic from more than a week by ship to minutes, which changed how merchants ordered, priced, and shipped goods. Cyrus Field's first cable of 1858 worked for only a few weeks, and an 1865 attempt snapped mid-ocean. In 1866 the Great Eastern, the only ship large enough to carry the whole cable, completed the link and then recovered and finished the 1865 cable as a second line. Order management systems and EDI are today's version: information moving ahead of goods so inventory buffers can be smaller.

• Order Management SystemOMSSoftware that routes orders from every channel
• Electronic Data InterchangeEDIStandard documents traded between partners
• Advance Shipping NoticeASNNotice sent before a shipment arrives

• SS Great Western Transatlantic Steam Service1838 · Brunel's steamer crosses to New York in about 15 days
• First Transcontinental Railroad1869 · Rails from east and west meet at Promontory Summit

1. Cyrus Field atlantic-cable.com
2. Transatlantic communications cable en.wikipedia.org
3. Heart's Content, Newfoundland and Labrador en.wikipedia.org