Key takeaways
- EXA Infrastructure marked its first year with a new investment programme that increases routes under construction to 8,400 kilometres
- The new projects add routing diversity, capacity around key data centre clusters and resilience of critical network links
- Projects span the northern Balkans, Spain, Belgium, Milan and Zurich, plus DWDM upgrades enabling 400 Gigabit-per-Second services
- Martijn Blanken, CEO, says this is just the beginning: EXA wants to offer the best and broadest network available
A further investment programme at year one
EXA Infrastructure, the largest dedicated digital infrastructure platform connecting Europe and North America, today marked its first year in business by unveiling a further strategic investment programme that increases the total routes currently under construction to 8,400 kilometres. The commitment will further increase the geographic reach and capacity offered, particularly in central and southern countries, and adds to the 7,000 new kilometres announced just four months ago.
These new projects will increase routing diversity, capacity around key data centre clusters and resilience of some of the continent’s most critical network links. They will further enable EXA to offer the broadest geographical coverage across Europe and transatlantic routes, bringing greater capacity, intelligence and automation.
The programme is on top of the €190 million for new infrastructure and upgrade projects already announced in May. EXA’s growth strategy is centred on investing capital in new infrastructure where customers need it, and optimising existing assets to unlock their potential, to become the undisputed leader in the European digital infrastructure market.
The new investment projects
The latest investment is closely tied to current and anticipated demand from hyperscale network users, large enterprises, telecoms carriers and governments. The investment projects included in the new programme are:
- A new 830-kilometre northern Balkans link connecting Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Udinese, forming a low latency and diverse route connecting the major traffic hubs of Sofia and Istanbul to western Europe
- A major new 600-kilometre high fibre count cable route between Barcelona, Zaragoza and Bilbao that will create a new high-capacity, low latency link between the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic cable landing station and data centre clusters
- Major enhancements to metropolitan area fibre around Barcelona to interconnect existing and newly announced data centres, as well as the new cable landing station serving Mediterranean and North African subsea cables.
- Creation of a new route linking Ghent and Brussels in Belgium, and an upgrade of the cable between Brussels with Frankfurt, Germany, forming the most direct and modern route between London and Germany’s financial heartland
- An expansion of co-location facilities within Milan’s principle telecommunications campus at Via Caldera, including a new data centre fit-out as part of continued investment in co-location
- Installation of a new high fibre count cable route between Milan and Zurich
- Comprehensive upgrades to Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) equipment across many parts of Europe with the latest Infinera optical technology, vastly increasing the footprint for 400 Gigabit-per-Second (Gbps) services that increase capacity while reducing complexity
The programme in numbers
- Total routes currently under construction rise to 8,400 kilometres
- Adds to the 7,000 new kilometres announced just four months ago
- On top of the €190 million for new infrastructure and upgrade projects announced in May
- A new 830-kilometre northern Balkans link and a 600-kilometre route between Barcelona, Zaragoza and Bilbao
Comment from Martijn Blanken
“We have spent our first year creating a new high bar for the long-haul telecoms sector by investing in the digital infrastructure, team and capabilities that Europe needs now and for the future,” said Martijn Blanken, CEO, EXA Infrastructure. “This new round of capital investment signals our intention to continue to expand our capabilities assertively, to deliver what customers need from a focused, specialist infrastructure provider. We are shaking up a sector that is hungry for investment by committing the capital and the expertise required to deliver new infrastructure where and when it is needed.
“EXA has moved mountains in the past 12 months to deliver on our promises to our customers, partners, suppliers and our own colleagues. This is just the beginning: we want to continue to offer the best and broadest network available with a team that is easy to do business with, in lock-step with what our customers require,” he added.
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About EXA Infrastructure
Headquartered in London, UK, EXA Infrastructure is the largest dedicated digital infrastructure platform connecting Europe and North America, and owns 112,000 kilometres of fibre network across 32 countries. EXA’s network connects 300 cities and offers 14 Tier 3-equivalent data centres, with sub-sea routes that include three transatlantic cables, one the lowest latency link between Europe and North America. EXA is wholly-owned by I Squared Capital. For more information, see exainfra.net
