Friday Bytes: Ciena, KT, Sparkle, Arelion, center3, CMC

Four bits of network and interconnection infrastructure news from around the world before we head home for the holidays here in the US.  Ok ok, some of you have surely left already, but hey.

Ciena’s gear is getting a working in South Korea. They have been working with KT to construct a 600G nationwide transmission network in order to address demand from nextgen sources like AI, 5G and the cloud. The network spans 1,000km connecting the countries major cities including Seoul of course but also destinations like Busan, Gwangju, and Jeju Island. Ciena’s 6500 ROADMs, WL5e coherent optics, and MCP domain controller are all in the mix.

Sparkle is expanding its interconnection capabilities in Central America, unveiling a new partnership with InteRed. InteRed will be installing an IXP within Sparkle’s Panama Digital Gateway, a facility they just launched this past summer. The Panama Digital Gateway in Panama City’s Corozal neighborhood also hosts one landing of Google’s Curie cable system. The new IXP will address interconnection needs in both Central America and the Colombian region.

Arelion has added some depth to its California network footprint with a new PoP. They have expanded into LightEdge Solutions’ Lightwave Data Center in San Diego. From there they will take aim at both wholesale and enterprise opportunities throughout both southern California and the nearby Tijuana and Mexicali region across the border. It’s Arelion’s second PoP in the city.

And there was a significant piece of network M&A in the MEA part of EMEA. center3, a subsidiary of stc Group, has entered into an agreement to buy CMC Networks from the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund. CMC operates a footprint covering most of Africa and a good fraction of the Middle East. The deal follows an early investment by center3 in the 2Africa cable system, suggesting they see some serious opportunity in Africa is at hand.

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Categories: Datacenter · Fiber Networks · Interconnection · Internet Backbones · Mergers and Acquisitions