Yesterday was a busy day for international connectivity news, with announcements from Level 3, Tata, Telstra, TeliaSonera and Infinera.
Level 3 is turning an eye toward the eastern hemisphere again. This morning they launched two new PoPs in Singapore, colocating at Equinix SG1 and Global Switch 2. With the tw telecom deal really shoring up its US market, I expect we’ll be seeing more of Level 3’s capital investment dollars go after the multinational enterprise market over the next few years. With Telstra’s purchase of Pacnet, perhaps Level 3 will decide the time is ripe and go after GCX or Tata’s international footprint.
It seems that New Jersey will be getting a new carrier neutral data center next year courtesy of the New Jersey Fiber Exchange. As for why this is in an international news roundup, the facility will be focused on submarine cable access to Europe and South America and is in partnership with Tata Communications. Tata has a data center on the Jersey shore in Wall Township of course, near where its own cable and several others come ashore. NJFX is developing some 52,235 square feet of Tier III space, and while they didn’t say precisely where in their announcement today, their website suggests a ‘meet-me-room at sea-level’ and that it is 60 miles from both Philadelphia and NYC, so I’m guessing it’s also in or around Tata’s location pending more information. NJFX is led by former 4Connections veteran Gil Santaliz.
Telstra isn’t waiting for the Pacnet deal to boost its APAC connectivity. This morning they unveiled 100G wavelength services across the region. The bigger pipes will be delivered across the Asia America Gateway, the Reach North Asia Loop, Telstra Endeavour, the Australia-Japan Cable, and of course UNITY. Telstra is gearing up on multiple fronts for a greater global presence.
Teliasonera International Carrier continued its North American push this morning. They’ve extended their 100G reach with some help from 365 Data Centers. The gives them reach into tier 2 cities including Buffalo, Tampa, Nashville, St Louis, Cleveland, and Indianapolis — places not many international carriers tend to put much effort. At least, not so far.
And Infinera picked up a customer for its DTN-X in Egypt. The Middle East and North Africa cable system, part of Orascom, will be using their gear to upgrade the terrestrial Egyptian leg of their network. That’s not a very long stretch of fiber, but it’s certainly one of the world’s key fiber bottlenecks. Infinera has been enjoying a good year or two after the long wait for 100G to come of age.
This article was authored by Rob Powell and was originally posted on Telecomramblings.com
Rob Powell is founder & editor of Telecom Ramblings, which was set up in 2008. The website is dedicated to discussing trends and developments in the telecom industry.