Equinix, Eastern Light Collaborate on New Submarine Cable
Equinix has started working with Eastern Light on its new international fiber optic cable route in northern Europe.
The new cable system is non-amplified and designed to let customers use their own equipment on their own dark fiber and will go from Stockholm in Sweden to Hanko, Helsinki and Kotka in Finland.
Along this route the cable will terminate in two Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers — HE6 in Helsinki and SK2 in Stockholm.
The main supplier of the cable system is NSW (Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH) and the system will be optimized to feature Ciena’s GeoMesh solutions as part of its dark fiber offering.
The Sweden–Finland portion of the cable is scheduled for completion in autumn 2017.
Svante Jurnell, CEO and founder, Eastern Light said: “We see a huge potential in connecting our system to Equinix’ data centers. Eastern Light’s focus is to build and provide efficient long-haul dark fiber routes in the Nordic region, and the new link between Equinix’ HE6 and SK2 data centers will be considerably more direct and cost-effective than existing routes.”
Eric Schwartz, president EMEA, Equinix said: “The vast majority of global data traffic is carried through submarine cables – this is critical infrastructure. A greater proliferation of these cables is essential in this digital age, when organizations depend on instant connectivity to markets and partners worldwide.”
