The ongoing undersea cyber plans aim to deploy biological, chemical and seismological sensors linked to shore via fiber-optic networks. It seeks to make information accessible in real-time to both scientists and the public through the Internet by way of an innovative cyber infrastructure that controls it.

It is critical to the success of ocean observatories for instruments on the seafloor to have the ability to communicate with users on shore automatically and seamlessly. Ocean-observatory networks will need to be implemented in remote and hostile environments in the ocean so that Internet access to the sea will hopefully become routine. The plan will require participating institutions to collaborate on experimental wireless, optical networks and grid technology.