Int’l Bytes: SubCom, EXA, Nokia, ODATA, EXATEL, Ciena

A new subsea cable, two network upgrade projects, and a data center buildout:

The Arctic may soon have a new subsea cable system in place. Space Norway and SubCom now have a contract in-force for the Arctic Way Cable System. The 2,350km of infrastructure will connect both the Svalbard archipelago and the volcanic island of Jan Mayen back to Norway. SubCom will produce the necessary cable and components at its New Hampshire plant. If all goes well, the system could be ready by Q2 2028.

EXA Infrastructure has tapped Nokia for an optical upgrade. EXA will use Nokia’s 1830 GX platform as well as ICE7 optics to leverage 1.2T per channel technology across their international network. Nokia’s ICE7 comes from its purchase of Infinera, which closed a couple months ago, bolstering their optical capabilities and complementing the rest of their portfolio.

ODATA, which is Aligned’s Latin American venture, has launched a major new facility in Mexico. It’s their first facility at the DC QR03 campus in Querétaro where they will eventually support as much as 300MW of IT capacity. At full buildout the campus will support five facilities and 275,000 square meters, representing some $3B in investment.

And in Poland, EXATEL has tapped Ciena to further expand its open-architecture infrastructure. They will be using Ciena’s WL5n 400G ZR+ coherent pluggables across multiple router vendors. The pluggables will provide connectivity both in Poland and to hubs in neighboring countries.

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 · Fiber Networks · Internet Backbones · Telecom Equipment · Undersea cables