Int’l Bytes: Colt, RETN, AMS-IX, Ciena, Sparkle

A bit of data center M&A, two expansion projects, an upgrade, and some R&D news:

Colt Technology Services will be reducing its data center presence somewhat with the divestment of eight facilities to two entities managed DWS Group. NorthC is acquiring six of them in Amsterdam and five German markets, while an unnamed UK-based data center operator will acquire two facilities in London. The divestment is part of Colt’s digestion of Lumen’s EMEA business, which it bought two years ago now.

RETN has expanded its southern European infrastructure with some spectrum services from the new Medloop Cable System. The deal adds a new route to RETN’s network between Marseille and Milan and upgrades the Marseille-Paris link as well. Medloop offers a newly diverse subsea link between the two key entry points on the Mediterranean to European infrastructure and is manage dby Sipartech. RETN is looking to add resilience to its global network in the region.

AMS-IX is expanding its Cross-IX collaboration to two new European markets. They are adding outbound service from Amsterdam to Netnod IX in Stockholm and to MIX in Milan. The expansion will enable AMS-IX members and customers to connect directly from Amsterdam to both northern and southern Europe with a single VLAN connection.

Ciena has picked up a deal in India. Microscan will be deploying Ciena’s WL5e coherent optical solution as well as related switching gear and supporting software and services. The upgrade to Microscan’s optical transport network is aimed at improving the company’s data center connectivity between Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, and Goa. It will also support the company’s expansion into Chennai, Bangalore, and Delhi.

And Sparkle says it has joined the ECSTATIC project. The European research effort is looking to turn subsea cables into global seismic sensors. Trials are ongoing on Sparkle’s BlueMed cable system in the Tyrrhenian Sea between Genoa and Palermo. The hope is that the integration of next generation data processing as well as AI and machine learning will improve real-time sensing of events by re-using existing infrastructure.

If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!

Categories: Datacenter · Interconnection · Internet Backbones · Telecom Equipment · Undersea cables