Digital Realty has partnered with PCCW Global to locate the Pakistan East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) subsea cable system’s termination and interconnection equipment in Interxion’s MRS2 data center in Marseille, France. Specifically, this partnership will enable low-latency access to over 160 connectivity providers along with multiple content, cloud, gaming, and video streaming platforms.
PEACE Subsea Cable – Importance for Digital Realty and PCCW
The PEACE subsea cable system comprises 9.3k miles and has the capacity to transmit over 16 terabits per second. Indeed, the subsea cable has cost over $400m to build. The system is owned by a consortium comprised of China-ASEAN Information Harbor, Hengtong Group, PCCW Global, and Tropic Science. Additionally, the PEACE subsea cable system’s supplier and installer is Huawei Marine.
Overall, the PEACE subsea cable offers high-speed, increased capacity, and low-latency routes connecting China, Europe, and Africa. In addition to France, the subsea cable will land in Malta, Cyprus, Egypt, Djibouti, Kenya, and Pakistan. Ultimately, through onward terrestrial connectivity, the PEACE cable will reach China.
The PEACE subsea cable will be the 15th subsea cable system to land in Marseille, once completed in 2021. Indeed, the PEACE subsea cable will further enhance the value of Digital Realty’s data centers as an interconnection hub in Marseille. Specifically, enterprises are seeking greater resiliency and performance for interconnecting global workflows. Therefore, the value of interconnection at Digital Realty’s data centers becomes increasingly important.
The PEACE system provides the most direct (i.e., shortest) and high-capacity route from China, to Europe and Africa. Importantly, the PEACE subsea cable is interconnecting three of the world’s most populous continents. Additionally, the PEACE subsea cable has exceptionally low latency. This is vitally important for a wide array of commercial and consumer applications.
PEACE deploys a state-of-the-art “system within a system” configuration. This gives each user the required flexibility to design its own subsystem. Specifically, PEACE enables reconfigurable bandwidth for different points, over the lifetime of the subsea cable. In turn, PEACE will facilitate the burgeoning exchange of data and video traffic between Europe, Africa, and Asia. Furthermore, the subsea cable will enable enterprises to extend their global workflows in an efficient manner.
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Interconnection
Software-defined networking (SDN) interconnection services (also known as virtual interconnect) have grown increasingly important as third-parties have emerged to partner with data center providers. Specifically, the three most notable third-party SDN interconnection platforms are Megaport, PacketFabric, and Console Connect by PCCW.
These companies have placed their networking equipment at hundreds of facilities, of the major data center operators, around the globe. In turn, these third-party SDN interconnection platforms are able to offer variable cost, contract term, and capacity increments, for networking services to their customers. Therefore, customers can dynamically scale up or down their connectivity needs. Indeed, this is much easier and more affordable than the traditional fixed cost and fixed contract term networking services.
Digital Realty Partnership with PCCW Console Connect for the PEACE Subsea Cable
Digital Realty is utilizing PCCW’s Console Connect SDN interconnection platform, to facilitate greater use of the PEACE subsea cable. Indeed, this will enable customers of both companies to deploy and manage hybrid IT services quickly and efficiently. Specifically, PCCW’s Console Connect is available to Digital Realty customers at Interxion’s MRS1, MRS2 and MRS3 facilities, which is where the PEACE subsea cable terminates.
In turn, this connectivity provides customers at these locations with instant access to a global ecosystem. This ecosystem includes cloud, Software as a Service (SaaS), Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Internet Exchange (IX) and Internet of Things (IoT) partners. Furthermore, PCCW’s Console Connect extends coverage to Digital Realty customers through a network of more than 400 data centers in 47 countries worldwide.
Finally, Digital Realty customers at the Interxion facilities in Marseille can also access PCCW Console Connect’s Internet On-Demand service. Indeed, the Internet On-Demand service offers high-performance internet access on-demand across PCCW’s Tier 1 IP network, including the PEACE subsea cable.
Digital Realty – PEACE Terminating at Interxion Marseille
Digital Realty is the second largest public data center REIT and has a global footprint of 284 data centers, representing 1,800 megawatts of power capacity. Collectively, these data centers comprise 35.4m sqft, across 49 metros and 24 countries, supporting over 4,000 customers.
Digital Realty, through Interxion, offers one of the world’s leading digital hubs for intercontinental data traffic at its Marseille campus. Digital Realty’s operations in Marseille comprise three data centers offering 20.8 megawatts of power capacity and 274k sqft of space. Specifically, it is Digital Realty, through Interxion’s MRS2 data center in Marseille, France which is the termination point for the PEACE subsea cable.
Overall, the Marseille campus boasts numerous connectivity providers, digital media, and cloud service providers. Moreover, the campus connects both local and global enterprises, enabling them to scale globally. Indeed, the rich interconnection environment in Marseille enables the PEACE subsea cable to extend the system’s reach to key FLAP data center markets, such as Frankfurt and Paris.
