Aqua Comms, the Dublin-based provider of carrier neutral infrastructure services, has struck two major deals that leverage its advanced subsea cable assets as well as extend its own international reach.
In October it was announced that PacketFabric, which operates a ground-breaking SDN platform in the US, would be extending its European footprint with Aqua Comms’ AEConnect subsea cable system.
AEConnect delivers connectivity from New York to Ireland, with diverse backhaul fibre to numerous PoPs in the US and the UK. It is the most-advanced ‘next-generation’ undersea cable system linking the two continents.
PacketFabric, which specialises in enabling real-time connectivity services between major carrier-neutral colocation facilities at terabit-scale, will now be able to offer near-instantaneous access to transatlantic capacity on AEConnect from any location on its private and secure network.
“Leveraging AEConnect to establish end-to-end high-capacity transatlantic connectivity extends the reach of our network to provide more customers with scalable, reliable and secure access to network and cloud environments in the US as well as internationally,” says Jezzibell Gillmore, SVP Business Development & Co-Founder of PacketFabric.
The partnership also gives Aqua Comms access to the PacketFabric platform, allowing it to extend the reach of its service footprint across the US. PacketFabric’s scalable network facilitates coast-to-coast connectivity between more than 150 premier colocation facilities across 17 US metro markets.
On-demand connectivity
Back in May, Aqua Comms and international wholesaler Epsilon joined forces to provide on-demand connectivity to NJFX, a carrier neutral colocation facility located in Wall, New Jersey. NJFX is the only colocation campus to sit at a cable landing station and offer Tier 3, carrier neutral data centre capabilities. NJFX customers will now be able to strategically diversify their connectivity options to key European hubs, bypassing legacy chokepoints within the US.
Aqua Comms is deploying a PoP within the campus, allowing NJFX customers to directly access the carrier’s suite of services without incurring cross connect fees. The arrangement between Epsilon and Aqua Comms will see the deployment of Epsilon’s Infiny on-demand connectivity platform within the NJFX facility.
Aqua Comms will use the Cloud Link eXchange (CloudLX) module of Infiny to interconnect new services in and out of the NJFX campus. Aqua Comms’ customers can thus benefit from interconnecting with NJFX’s growing ecosystem of global carriers, network operators, enterprises, cloud providers, and internet exchanges.
“What makes NJFX unique is its carrier neutral subsea capabilities, so customers have options when choosing which cables move their data from our campus to key landing points in Europe,” says Gil Santaliz
Founder and Chief Executive Officer at NJFX. “Having Aqua Comms at our colocation campus enables customers to further diversify and plan their international connections with certainty and accuracy, eliminating any transport uncertainty.”
New plans
Aqua Comms is underway with plans to extend its own footprint. It already owns and operates CeltixConnect-1, a 72-fibre pair subsea cable connecting Ireland and the UK. Now it has begun to develop CeltixConnect-2, a subsea cable system that will cross the Irish Sea from Dublin to Manchester and connect to the Isle of Man. CeltixConnect-2 is designed to complement the reliability of CeltixConnect-1. The new cable system, which will provide onward connectivity to New York and London through AEConnect, will utilise the most advanced fibre-optic technology to support the highest transmission capabilities, including 8QAM, 16QAM and beyond.
Aqua Comms is also in preliminary stages of development with North Sea Connect, which will be the first modern, high capacity subsea cable system crossing the North Sea from Newcastle UK to Denmark.
It additionally has plans to expand available connectivity to AEConnect at its Point of Presence (PoP) at 1025Connect in Westbury, New York, a critical subsea cable launch point on Long Island. It will also soon increase the system’s footprint by opening service capabilities in Ashburn, Virginia to better serve expanding and new customer requirements.
