QLoop is a 40+ mile hyperscale fibre ring connecting Quantum Loophole’s 2,100+ acre Quantum Frederick data centre development site in Maryland to Northern Virginia’s data centre ecosystem.
QLoop is one of the largest middle-mile conduit fibre systems ever to be constructed as is designed to hold 34 conduits with full capacity of more than 235,000 strands of fibre.
When complete, the system is designed to be capable of connecting Quantum Frederick to the Ashburn internet ecosystem in under one-half millisecond round trip time (RTT).
The first Potomac River crossing to the South from the Leesburg, Virginia area to Maryland, which began in August 2022, was 3,900 feet long and was completed in December 2022.
The second Potomac River crossing, which began in December 2022, between the Leesburg area and the Point of Rocks Bridge was 3,000 feet long and was completed on May 3, 2023.
Both bores under the Potomac River go more than 90 feet below the river bedrock.
“This has been by far one of the most challenging projects I have done in my entire career, with each river crossing taking about six-months to complete,” said Josh Snowhorn, founder and CEO of Quantum Loophole.
“Now we continue with the terrestrial conduit built deep underground, placing our colour coded 34x2” ducts, designed to hold 6,912 fibre trunks for a total capacity of over 235,000 strands of fibre. When complete, QLoop will be one of the largest capacity systems ever installed on a middle-mile metro network.”
In parallel developments, civil construction at the Quantum Frederick site is underway.
At the 2100+ acre site, construction of roads, water, sewer and grading for a number of areas including the first substation are in motion.
The substation site, taking up to 20 acres on the campus is being graded for the first phase of power which will offer up to 240MW.
Power at the development site is scheduled to become available in April 2024.
Soon thereafter, the second phase of power will be underway bringing an additional 336MW of power to the site with additional tranches of power to follow in short order.
