Existing to make growth effortless and scale sustainable, EXA Infrastructure’s mission is clear – to become the undisputed leader for data center to data center connectivity in Europe and North America. EXA provides access to new markets, new audiences, and new possibilities. EXA Infrastructure is where market growth happens.
The demand for connectivity and bandwidth continues to grow globally, while the international subsea cable sector is booming. EXA was launched in September 2021 with strong intentions to meet this rising customer demand.
High Demand Requires High Growth
The ever-increasing data traffic we are seeing in the streaming boom from the hyperscale cloud companies and content providers is attributed to the rising data traffic. According to a recent report by TeleGeography, which highlights the growth trends of intra-European networks and submarine cable landing, total Africa-Europe connectivity has hovered around 80% for the last five years. Tracking the industry trends across Europe, new growth is being seen southward and eastward as Europe continues to grow as a capacity hub.
Europe remains the largest and arguably the most strategic node in the global internet backbone. It’s strategic location between North American and Africa serves the growing subsea cable systems. EXA announced last month it is preparing for the subsea cable growth in Mazara Del Vallo on the island of Sicily to enhance its current landing and backhaul capacity.
The new CLS will consolidate existing smaller landing sites in Mazara to create a scalable high-tech environmentally sustainable facility in a key location for data transitioning in and out of Europe. EXA continues to invest in growing its network offering its customers the most diverse route to service subsea cable growth from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
EXA’s Chief Operating Officer Ciaran Delaney said. “Mazara is a very strategic landing location in terms of diversity from other major landing locations, and we are ready to take on new traffic demands as we continue to forge ahead as the undisputed data centre to data centre industry leader. The intention to invest in this new build in Sicily will offer an economically attractive, sustainable and scalable option in the region, further demonstrating EXA’s growth mission.”
The news follows EXA’s announcement on its expanded network investment in Portugal, trailblazing connectivity across the Iberian Peninsula.
Spain is fast becoming the epicentre for digital traffic with rising demand for digital infrastructure, centered on the cluster of data centers around Barcelona. EXA’s network investments across Spain to Portugal meets the industry’s demand for growth, harnessing customer expectations for resilient connectivity across the Iberian Peninsula.
“In the last 12 months, EXA has promised to be the most expansive and dedicated infrastructure network for organizations looking to maximize scale and control,” said Chief Commercial Officer of EXA infrastructure Nicholas Collins. “We are delivering on that commitment and expanding our footprint to extend from Spain to Portugal is the next step in this journey. Our focus is firmly on building more diversity options for new and existing customers on one of the most advanced fiber networks in the market.”
Experts in Infrastructure
In September, EXA Infrastructure marked its first year in business by unveiling further strategic investments, increasing the total routes under construction to 8,400 kilometers. The commitment will further increase the geographic reach and capacity offered to its customers, particularly in central and southern countries in Europe.
EXA’s strategic investment is anchored on its customers and offering increased routing diversity and capacity around key data center clusters in central Europe. Resilience on some of the continent’s most critical network links is pivotal and will further enable EXA to offer the broadest geographical coverage across Europe and transatlantic routes, bringing greater capacity, intelligence and automation.
“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,” EXA CEO Martijn Blanken said.
EXA: Where Growth Happens
In May, EXA announced €190 million for new infrastructure and upgrade projects. The business is shaking up the industry by investing capital in new infrastructure where customers need it, while optimizing existing assets to unlock their potential.
To become the undisputed leader in the European digital infrastructure market comes down to one key objective, which is focus. According Blanken: “We will have a relentless focus on the data center to data center infrastructure services we provide, enabling our customers to provide the most compelling experiences to their clients and end-users.”
EXA’s growing network is closely tied to current and anticipated demand from hyperscale network users, large enterprises, telecoms carriers and governments.
The investment projects include:
- A new 830-kilometer 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-kilometer-high fiber 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 center clusters
- Major enhancements to metropolitan area fiber around Barcelona to interconnect existing and newly announced data centers, 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 principal telecommunications campus at Via Caldera, including a new data center fit-out as part of continued investment in co-location
- Installation of a new high fiber 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
“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.”