The NEPTUNE scientific submarine cable system will “wire” the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate and turn it into an interactive ocean sciences laboratory. NEPTUNE will provide 30 seafloor nodes distributed over a 500 by 1000 km area to which many scientific instruments may be attached. The nodes will supply power at the several kW level and data communications at a Gb/s rate. NEPTUNE will utilize an unconventional parallel power distribution system and industry-standard Ether- net data communications hardware.