Cologix announced that members of the Pacific Caribbean Cable System consortium have deployed Points of Presence (PoPs) in Cologix’s JAX 1 data center.

Until today, Internet and private network traffic destined for the Caribbean and most parts of South America had to traverse terrestrial networks down the Florida peninsula and across older subsea systems, primarily out of Miami. The PCCS cable system creates an alternate route for its customers and partners, which avoids the network congestion, risk and cost of routing through Miami before jumping on subsea express routes, the company said in a press release.

“We are including Jacksonville in our network design for strategic reasons, most notably that connecting into US fiber networks further north reduces hurricane risk and latency,” explains Carlos Pazmino Campos, Executive at Cable Andino and who also is Chairman of the PCCS Consortium. “Jacksonville’s location and position as a deep sea port made it a natural choice once we had determined that we wanted to create an alternative to Miami.”

“Cologix operates the Meet-Me-Room in Jacksonville,” adds Reginald Martes, Executive at UTS Netherlands Antilles. “Deploying our PoPs with Cologix provides us the broadest access to customers, partner networks and dark fiber providers, all of which will be central to the success of our cable system. These are important deployments for us and we trust Cologix’s operating reputation and ongoing investment in the region.”

“We are honored to welcome these PCCS members to the Jacksonville community,” says Grant van Rooyen, chief executive officer, Cologix. “As a neutral interconnection provider, we are dedicated to attracting the most important and unique networks, and buyers for those networks to our facilities. The vision of innovative networks like the PCCS members gives us confidences that Jacksonville will continue to serve as a disruptive force affecting how bits move across the global network map.”

The PCCS cable is currently operational and passing traffic.