Monday Bytes: Nokia, GBI, Calix, Alianza, DE-CIX, Firstcolo

An optical upgrade, a technology partnership, a new IX, and some data center M&A:

Nokia has won a contract in the Middle East. Gulf Bridge International, which operates an international network based off of its original subsea cable system in the Persian Gulf, will be using Nokia’s PSE-V coherent optics to upgrade its infrastructure. The upgrade will give them more capacity with which to support the traffic demands of the upcoming FIFA World Cup next month, specifically between Doha, Qatar and Milan, Italy.

Calix is partnering up with Alianza to better serve their mutual service provider customers. The idea is to pair Alianza’s cloud communications with Calix’s optical gear to provide a more seamless approach to the needs of more rural providers. More specifically, Northern Lights Fiber, VARCOMM, and Choptank Fiber will be leveraging the combined technology stack in their footprints in Canada, California, and Maryland, respectively.  The two companies often target similar operators, and this will enable to streamline that approach.

DE-CIX has officially opened its latest internet exchange in the eastern German city of Leipzig. The first nodes will be in the data centers of envia TEL and PŸUR Business, from which they will be able to reach out to businesses in the Geran states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. It is DE-CIX’s sixth exchange in Germany, and is of course connected back to their flagship IX in Frankfurt, 400km to the southwest.

And there has been a bit of data center M&A this morning to start off the week. The investment firm Cube Infrastructure Managers has announced the purchase of Firstcolo from EMERAM Capital Partners. Firstcolo operates two energy-efficient facilities in the German internet hub of Frankfurt, and its founders Jerome Evans and Nicolaj Kamansek will stay on to continue to run the company. Their stated goal is to build more such data centers and triple in size.

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Categories: Datacenter · Interconnection · Telecom Equipment · Undersea cables · Unified Communications