Now More than Ever, We Need to Know How Our Networks Work

An interview with Gil Santaliz, NJFX CEO, conducted by SubCableWorld

April 9, 2020

Editor’s Note: Submarine cables are a critical infrastructure even during normal times, but as the world deals with the Coronavirus and COVID-19, the global submarine fiber optic cable network takes on an even greater importance.

As SubCableWorld has noted, the U.S. government has identified workers at submarine cable landing stations and cable depots, as well as cable ships crews, as essential during this crisis because making sure that global Internet traffic continues to flow is essential as well.

With this backdrop, we wanted to speak with Gil Santaliz, CEO of NJFX, which operates a combined cable landing/colocation campus in Wall, New Jersey. We wanted to get his views on how the pandemic is impacting his company, especially given its proximity to New York State, which has been hard hit by COVID-19, and New York City, with its massive telecom market, as well as the broader questions of disaster recovery and the activity level of the industry. The following are his comments:

Mr. Santaliz: NJFX is still working in this time of crisis. We’re not on lockdown, we’re installing customers every day. In fact, there are three major installations going on right now [at the time of the interview]. We’re at Stage Yellow, as we call it. We’re monitoring the movement of people more closely.

Inside, what we’ve done is taken extra precautions to separate employees from vendors coming into the building — separate bathrooms, run temperature checks for people coming in, filling out forms explaining that you’ve not been exposed to anyone with COVID-19. We’ve taken lots of precautions. We got lucky because the building was designed in such a way that you don’t touch anything when you come in — it’s all card keys with automatic faucets, soap dispensers, hand dryers, etc. I’m not going to say it was done on purpose, but we’re lucky that there are not a lot of surfaces that you touch at NJFX, so everyone goes straight to their space and when you finish your work, you leave the building.

What we’re seeing during this pandemic is that every multinational organization has put in place their disaster recovery (DR) plans. Their employees are working either from their homes or are being asked to go to their DR sites. They’re creating quadrants of employees; basically telling them who goes where and we’re seeing this at NJFX. We’re seeing traffic being re-routed. How do I get that DR site the kind of IP it needs? Remember, those sites really were meant to be a place to work from for two or three days, not three or four months.

In the 1990s, companies like Comdisco existed and they were the places that people could go to for a day or two. Hurricane Sandy taught us that this could last for a long time and that was eye-opening – wow, it lasted two weeks. And now the game plan is “where do I go for the next three months?” You have to re-route traffic and it has to be working from the DR sites. Or, if you have your employees at home, did you ever plan for your New York employees to interact with your Frankfurt and London offices, but they’re all going to be at home? It still needs to be secure. It still needs to go through a centralized data center on both sides of the pond. Again, all of the employees have to get into those data centers and then go across the cables between Europe and the United States.

Did they know how their networks were orchestrated so they could change them? If you have an international or domestic issue, but you don’t know how your network works or you don’t know which cable your traffic uses, you really can’t make decisions on re-orchestrating what you have. Now more than ever, we need to know how our networks work. You know you have cable diversity terrestrially and you know you have cable diversity at the subsea level, but if New York City will be suffering potential issues for a period of time and you have to re-route your traffic, what do you do? Do you know who to call and that they are going to do it? Hopefully, you will because someone thought “I may need to do this someday” and put it into the agreements and built it into the infrastructure so that it could be done dynamically or by dialing in because guess what, I can’t travel to NYC anymore. I’m not allowed to go in and move things around. I can’t coordinate the way I did before. So your plan had to think that through – that people can’t move around easily any longer.

Unfortunately, things are not going to get better. Are you ready to lose a major PoP and if you do, can the other PoPs take over? The example that keeps coming up is NYC. It survived 9/11 and back then we were all focused on it. We said we can never let that happen again. So, many of the data centers went to New Jersey. Then Hurricane Sandy happened and we said we have to make sure we have alternate sites and alternate ways to do things. But they left all of the international communications — the subsea systems and backhaul — in NYC. The data was sitting outside NYC, but all the important interconnection points for the global networks were left in Lower Manhattan. Now, once again we have a major issue where getting to Lower Manhattan is a problem and the legacy subsea systems, the ones built between 1999 and 2004, are still handing off 85% of their traffic through Lower Manhattan.

We have several customers that have been quick on their feet. For example, Aqua Comms has a wholesale model only, as opposed to others. The benefits of that is that if you sign a contract with three or four national providers that come into NJFX, then you can have thousands of customers running across the Havfrue transatlantic system in a couple of days. They have the MSA paperwork with everyone, they have the backhaul – it’s all in place.

We also have a customer, Bulk Infrastructure, who has large customers via a spectrum ownership model. They turn up those customers and they’re up and running in just a matter of days because of the scale of their operations. Bulk has been public about Amazon Web Services being their customer and Aqua Comms is the landing party for its partners, such as Facebook and Google on the Havfrue system, and can also turn their capacity on immediately.

Migrating customers from one cable system to the next requires lots of planning. TAT-14 will be retired at the end of the year, so everyone is planning on moving their capacity over. The natural cable that they’d move it to is Havfrue/AEC-2, because it lands in the same place in Denmark so you can use the backhaul and your existing systems. All you have to do is take your couple of hundred Gigabits and find a home on Havfrue through Aqua Comms or Bulk and off you go.

The other cables that land at NJFX are TGN-1 and TGN-2. They were built by TyCom back in 2004. They have thousands of customers and Terabits of capacity, but it’s no secret that most of that capacity goes through NYC. Seabras-1, a Seaborn cable of which TI Sparkle owns half of the fibers, runs to Brazil non-stop bypassing the hurricane activity in the Caribbean, but they too initially had all their traffic going to NYC. Now, they’re handing off traffic at NJFX, rightfully so, because we have a community of carriers that can buy from there. As mentioned, we also have the Havfrue cable that is going RFS soon. They have their gear ready to go at NJFX so they can offload customers by working with their carrier community.

Meanwhile, NJFX is prepared and working through this crisis and helping our carrier and subsea clients augment network architectures where needed. We’re still active, still working, nothing has changed. We’re just monitoring more closely across every level.

Read the original article on SubCableWorld’s website.

Also published in Ocean New’s and Technology’s May 2020 Edition!

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About NJFX:

NJFX is a Tier 3 Carrier Neutral Cable Landing Station campus. Our colocation ecosystem has expanded to over 35 network operators offering flexibility, reliability, and security. Our Wall, NJ location provides direct access to multiple subsea cable systems giving our carriers diverse connectivity solutions and offers direct interconnection without recurring cross-connect fees.

Critical Infrastructure, Critical Procedures, Our Unsung Heroes for Critical Times

NJFX Blog / Sarah Kurtz

Critical Infrastructure, Critical Procedures, Our Unsung Heroes for Critical Times

March 25, 2020

When we hired our site access team, in-house electricians, critical infrastructure technicians, vendors, security team specialist, security outsource team and Cable Landing Station management, we explained that they worked at a mission critical facility, where one day we may need them to make sacrifices for the benefit of our critical infrastructure. At the time, the thought was it could be a hurricane, terrorist attack or even widespread power outage but the word “pandemic” never came up. We gave our team credentials designating them as Essential Employees with the State of New Jersey and explained it was a cautionary measure in case it was ever needed. Today, we are in the midst of a very fluid situation. With New Jersey currently having a stay at home order – we are prepared. When/if the situation changes again, our essential employees are prepared to travel to and from our facility with the proper credentials.

Our site access team is keeping the operations of NJFX in a consistent, reliable and steady state. We are busier than ever, assisting our clients and partners to deploy and augment their communication infrastructures during this time of increased bandwidth needs and to further ensure they have diverse, reliable routes in place. We added a new member to the operations team this week because we knew our bench would need to deepen as this crisis unfolds. Our team is busy getting customers installed with new fiber projects, cages and assisting vendors as they perform their preventative maintenance programs to ensure we are ready. These NJFX employees are the unsung heroes that don’t travel to conferences or coordinate events at the CLS Campus, they just keep everything operating smoothly to make sure our critical infrastructure is supported and protected so the rest of us can work from home, take virtual classes and even attend live streamed religious services.

These critical team members prefer to keep their anonymity and not be named or shown or recognized in any way, including for this article, but we wanted to say THANK YOU to all of them for doing what they do for us in our time of need. They have families, friends and full lives with varied interests. Today, they are at the NJFX CLS colocation campus, making all of us their priority during these uncertain times.

We say thank you to all of the essential employees at work today for making the sacrifice so our connected world can stay that way in a critical moment in time.

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About NJFX:

NJFX Earns Second Consecutive Year as a HIPAA Compliant CLS

NJFX Blog / Sarah Kurtz

NJFX Earns Second Consecutive Year as a HIPAA Compliant CLS

The Facility is the Only HIPAA Certified CLS in North America, as Global Health Initiatives Become Crucial amid COVID-19 Pandemic

March 16, 2020

Wall Township, NJ – NJFX has been certified for a second consecutive year as the only Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant cable landing station in North America. This renewed certification demonstrates NJFX’s continued leadership in the telecommunications industry. This certification reflects the most stringent standards for data centers in the industry and is required for all facilities hosting medical records. The designation takes on added significance as international agencies exchange information across global networks with sensitive medical data to battle the current pandemic of COVID-2019 (Coronavirus).

In addition to the HIPAA renewal, NJFX has taken several steps at its facility to combat spread of the virus. Most notably, fever testing upon arrival to the facility. As per CDC recommended guidelines, NJFX will require that guests visiting the site are illness/fever free for a minimum of two days prior to arriving. Individuals who have recently traveled are asked to refrain from visiting for a minimum of seven days. The company will limit non-essential employees and visitors. To make sure our facility remains fully operational for all, we will support our key customers in getting classifications for essential employees in the event of widespread quarantines.

NJFX will offer face masks for those outside visitors. Hygiene advisory signage has been installed throughout the facility, including all restrooms. All commonly touched objects are being cleaned and disinfected regularly and frequently. Surfaces in the facility’s restrooms are touch-free using automatic flush toilets, hands-free faucets, and hand dryers. NJFX has also instituted a “No Handshake” policy until further notice.

These policies and procedures are being spearheaded by Lisa Edelstein, the Site Access and Administration Manager for NJFX. She was also instrumental in attaining and retaining the facility’s HIPAA designation. Edelstein is an experienced compliance, security, logistics and administrative professional and is critical in NJFX’s day-to-day operations, functioning as the main point of contact and manager of:

All site security and compliance designations, including HIPAA, SSAE16/18 Type II, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Critical Infrastructure
All vendor relationships
IT network administration, including information security
Site access
Customer Support and communications
Employee, Site Access, Customer and Company policies and procedures

Lisa is a member of New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC). The organization focuses on cybersecurity information sharing, threat analysis and incident reporting. NJCCIC also works to make the state more resilient to cyber-attacks, promote awareness of cyber threats and facilitate adoption of best practices. In addition, Lisa oversees all DHS procedures at NJFX and is a designated DHS clearance holder for the company, allowing her to be a point of contact with federal officials. She also holds a certificate in Infrastructure Protection from TEEX (The Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service), a recognized leader in the delivery of emergency response, homeland security, and economic development. Lisa engages in continued training from both TEEX and DHS to remain vigilant in threat assessment and response.

“Keeping our facility safe and secure is paramount to me. I have open lines of communication with federal officials and eagerly participate in training offered in areas of disaster recovery, active threats and other safety scenarios,” comments Lisa. “NJFX’s goal is to ensure customer requirements are met with the highest standards. My team works to maintain industry protocols and establish standards of excellence that the NJFX customer community has come to expect.”

NJFX is the only Cable Landing Station (CLS) colocation campus in the U.S offering Tier 3, carrier-neutral data center capabilities, with seven terrestrial and four subsea routes available to customers. To learn more, contact [email protected].

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About NJFX:

NJFX Hires Ryan Imkemeier to Manage CLS Services

NJFX Blog / Sarah Kurtz

NJFX Hires Ryan Imkemeier to Manage CLS Services

Febraury 17, 2020

NJFX, the only Cable Landing Station (CLS colocation campus in the U.S.) offering Tier 3, carrier-neutral data center capabilities, announces today the hiring of Ryan Imkemeier as the new Cable Landing Station Manager. Mr. Imkemeier, as a twenty year veteran in this evolving subsea industry, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience related to new open cable multi-vendor to NJFX clients. His specific knowledge that subsea operators need to ensure operational efficiency at the CLS relate to design, implementation and maintenance of Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE) for subsea fiber and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) gear for fiber backhaul.

In this complex subsea environment, the overall systems for subsea cables are powered by Power Feed Equipment (PFE), which physically powers the cable across the ocean on a series of repeaters via a copper core and shifts data traffic with intelligent branching units. This critical component of the system becomes a life safety issue when the unplanned occurs, such as shunt faults or full fiber cuts. Depending on the severity and the extent of the pre-planning, stringent protocols must be followed in coordination with the system Network Operations Center (NOC), subsea ships and the experienced CLS Stations.

Proactively, the front-haul conduit systems connecting the CLS to the beach manhole need close supervision to ensure system integrity. All of these critical systems need the varied technical expertise that Mr. Imkemeier brings to NJFX.

“NJFX is proud to have Mr. Imkemeier join the NJFX team,” said Gil Santaliz. “We have worked with him over the last few years as he was part of TGN cable system and supported the setting up of the Seaborn subsea system in the Tata CLS.”

The addition of Mr. Imkemeier to the team further demonstrates NJFX’s high dedication to ensuring customer projects and solutions are deployed and maintained to the utmost quality and resilience. By adding a team member specifically dedicated to the oversight of subsea cable and network projects as they relate to NJFX’s Cable Landing Station, NJFX continues to lead the industry and set itself apart.

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About NJFX:

DE-CIX Establishes Point of Presence in NJFX

Newsroom / Sarah Kurtz

DE-CIX Establishes Point of Presence in NJFX

February 10, 2020

Wall, NJ – NJFX, the only Cable Landing Station (CLS) colocation campus in the U.S offering Tier 3, carrier-neutral data center capabilities announces today that DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange (IX) operator with the largest IX in the New York market, has established a Point of Presence (PoP) in the NJFX CLS.

Providing premium interconnection services, DE-CIX operates a range of carrier and data center-neutral Internet Exchanges in Europe, India, the Middle East, Asia, and the U.S. The new PoP at NJFX will provide access for customers to exchange traffic so that their data can traverse directly from the U.S. East Coast to Europe and beyond, as well as up and down the East Coast U.S. corridor to the New York metro area, and to Ashburn, Virginia. Customers can also interexchange traffic across the multiple subsea cable systems available at NJFX, including TGN1, TGN2, and Seabras, in addition to HAVFRUE/AEC2 later this year.

“DE-CIX is establishing more than just a point of presence at NJFX,” comments Felix Seda, General Manager for NJFX. “With the deployment of a router to exchange traffic directly at NJFX, it decreases the hops and increases security while improving latency, and allows carriers and service providers to reach their destinations more directly.”

Currently, DE-CIX serves more than 1850 network operators, Internet service providers (ISPs), and content providers from 100+ countries with peering and interconnection services at its more than 20 locations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North America. DE-CIX North America operates two IXs in Dallas and New York. DE-CIX New York is the region’s largest neutral IX and one of the top five IXs in the U.S., which features access to over 220 networks through a single connection

“For global enterprises, ISPs, CDNs and network operators, having access to diverse terrestrial and subsea options for connectivity is the coin of the realm, the foundation of their ability to reach new customers and penetrate new markets,” states Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX International. “By establishing a presence at the NJFX CLS colocation campus, customers are now able to leverage direct, low latency routes to major U.S. business hubs in New York and Ashburn that avoid legacy chokepoints. In addition, customers can also gain access to multiple subsea cable systems for intercontinental data exchange, including critical transatlantic connectivity to Europe. We are also seeing the LATAM market as one of the focus regions for networks we want to connect in NJFX to DE-CIX New York.”

Home to four subsea cable systems and seven independent U.S. fiber-based backhaul providers, NJFX offers a marketplace rich with fiber networks and platforms providing multiple options for route diversity, availability, reliability and security. For more information about how NJFX is creating a new model of the CLS as a hub of unprecedented capacity and connectivity, please visit www.njfx.net or contact [email protected].

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About NJFX:

NJFX media inquiries, please contact: [email protected]

About DE-CIX

DE-CIX is the world’s leading Internet Exchange operator and will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year. Having started operations in 1995, DE-CIX in Frankfurt am Main is the Internet Exchange (IX) with the world’s highest data throughput at peak times, at more than 8.1 Terabits per second (Tbps). Its technical infrastructure has a total capacity of 48 Terabits.

In total, DE-CIX serves over 1800 network operators, Internet service providers (ISPs), and content providers from more than 100 countries with peering and interconnection services at its more than 20 locations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North America. Further information at www.de-cix.net

For DE-CIX media inquiries, please contact:
iMiller Public Relations
+1.866.307.2510
[email protected]

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NJFX Fosters Growth of Millennial Telecoms Professionals

NJFX Blog / Sarah Kurtz

NJFX Fosters Growth of Millennial Telecoms Professionals

Goals of Millennial Reception at PTC 2020 Include Collaboration, Mentorship, Investment in the Future

February 3, 2020

NJFX was honored to host the inaugural Millennial Reception at PTC ‘20, which offered attendees at PTC the amazing opportunity to network, engage and build relationships to foster the infusion of young talent entering the telecommunications industry. The company’s resident millennial, General Manager Felix Seda, says he hopes the reception will become an annual event and eventually expand to other conferences.

“We want to have young leaders in the industry become empowered and become more vocal. We would also like to have industry veterans become mentors,” adds Mr. Seda.

Newest NJFX team member Sarah Kurtz is a digital native, and is taking initiative to remind industry newcomers and hopefuls alike that it is filled with opportunity, excitement, and innovation. Growing up in the internet age brings a fresh perspective to the industry. Millennials also bring an extensive knowledge of new and existing tech. Watch NJFX’s JSA TV to learn more about the Millennial Reception.

NJFX’s attendance at PTC was a milestone event for an additional reason. The organization honored NJFX with the “Outstanding Cloud, Data Center, or Interconnection Company” award.

“To be recognized as an industry leader by such a highly regarded organization is truly an honor,” says Gil Santaliz, CEO of NJFX. “This achievement confirms that our efforts to bring unprecedented interconnection via our world-class ecosystem of carriers and subsea providers is truly the model that the industry is looking for.”

Visit www.njfx.net for details on the company’s latest news and where the team is headed next!

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About NJFX:

Will Tax Incentives Jump-Start NJ’s Data Center Industry?

Newsroom / Sarah Kurtz

Article by Rich Miller, published by Data Center Frontier

Can New Jersey re-establish itself as a major player on the U.S. data center scene? Gil Santaliz believes it can, if the Garden State can follow the lead of at least 27 other states and offer tax incentives for the data center industry.

Santaliz, the founder and CEO of the NJFX data campus in Wall, N.J., says he has been in discussions with state officials about the merits of data center incentives, and is hopeful that the dialogue will lead to legislation.

“We’ve met with the governor and leaders in the legislature,” said Santaliz. “Twenty years ago, New Jersey probably led the country and data center space, but we haven’t moved the needle at all in 20 years.”

New Jersey was once a hotbed of data center activity, with thriving markets for colocation and financial data centers. The state maintains a substantial and strategically important data center community, but the hottest leasing action has shifted elsewhere, primarily to Northern Virginia.

“We are helping the state of New Jersey evaluate the opportunities,” said Santaliz. “There is a bill being looked at, and it looks very similar to the broad strokes of what you see in Virginia.”

NJ’s Business Incentives in Transition

Northern Virginia is the world’s largest data center market, has experienced unprecedented growth amid the shift to cloud computing. At more than 1 gigawatt of data center capacity, it is twice the size of any other market in the United States.

In Virginia, most data center facilities are exempt from state sales and use taxes, so long as they spend at least $150 million and create between 25-50 new jobs in the area. Those tax breaks are good through 2035, providing long-term visibility into operating costs for data center operators.

“If we get a package like that, we’re back in business again as a state,” said Santaliz. “Data centers create no burden on the school’s fire district or roads. It’s just tax revenue on the real estate side, without all the people. The labor unions love data centers. They’re good for electricians and construction.”

“I think data centers will only go where they’re welcome.”
Gil Santaliz, CEO of NJFX

The outreach from the data center sector comes as New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is seeking to revamp the state’s approach to economic incentives for business. The state Economic Development Authority (EDA) has awarded more than $11 billion in tax breaks to corporations since 2005, but Murphy says applicants have been poorly vetted and the programs have failed to deliver for New Jersey residents.

“The return on investment the state achieves through these programs is unacceptable, and the ability for well-connected interests to exploit the many loopholes of the programs is shameful,” the Democratic governor said in 2019.

The Murphy administration is expected to overhaul the state’s business incentive programs later this spring, after receiving a final report from a task force on the issue. That could provide a window of opportunity for the data center industry.

Some States See Big Boost From Data Centers

At least 27 states now use economic incentives to attract data center projects, yearning to land deals with Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon or Microsoft that would signal their transition to the new digital economy. In some areas, incentives for data centers have become a hot button issue, with taxpayers and legislators questioning the value of perks for giant tech companies

Emergency backup generators

Generators inside a New Jersey data center. (Photo: Rich Miller)

The math behind data centers is focused on tax revenue, rather than the traditional economic development benchmark of job creation. That’s because data centers involve huge capital investment, but are highly-automated and typically create between 25 and 50 full-time positions.

But the economic development power of data centers has been showcased by a revenue windfall in Virginia’s Loudoun County, home to a large cloud cluster in Ashburn. County officials expect the direct tax revenue from the data center industry will exceed $320 million in the current fiscal year – nearly double the projections from 2018.

That cloud building boom enabled the county to adopt a 2019 budget featuring reduced property taxes, a $76 million increase in funding for county schools, and the addition of 204 new positions in county government.

Experiences vary by region and city, but there is a growing body of data affirming the impact of data centers in revenue and jobs for local economies. In an environment where many local jurisdictions struggle to balance their budgets, Virginia’s success illustrates the potential for data centers to be compelling engines of prosperity.

There is also recent evidence that incentives can make an impact. The state of Illinois recently passed data center incentives, hoping to offset a slowdown in data center leasing in the state. The move has seen immediate benefits in expansion announcements from T5 Data Centers and Microsoft.

NJ Data Center Market Struggles to Compete

The New Jersey data center market is home to about 2.1 million square feet of data center space, according to research from datacenterHawk. With a vacancy rate hovering between 15 and 20 percent in recent years, New Jersey has more unfilled space than many leading data center markets, reflecting lower demand.

In the 1990s, New Jersey benefited from its proximity to New York, with many financial service providers shifting their IT workloads to facilities across the river. That trend gained pace after the 9-11 terror attacks, as financial regulators cracked down on key financial players that had both production and backup data centers in the five boroughs.

Colocation facilities thrived in Weehawken, Secaucus and Clifton, while an active wholesale market emerged in Central New Jersey around Piscataway. Meanwhile, many large financial services firms built stand-alone data centers in New Jersey, including the NYSE and NASDAQ stock exchanges. The rise of automated trading strategies, including high-frequency trading (HFT) brought added momentum.

All of these market drivers took a hit in the financial crisis of 2008-2009, as Wall Street retrenched and has had a less robust appetite for data center space ever since. That led to a surplus of space in 2011-12, from which the NJ market has been slowly recovering.

In recent years there has been a modest uptick in demand, with Iron Mountain, CyrusOne and QTS Data Centers entering the market. Last year saw a significant uptick in leasing of wholesale data center space, paced by an expansion by Bloomberg at several sites in Central New Jersey. “New Jersey achieved a large increase of more than 10 MW in leasing by financial firms,” said North American Data Centers in a market analysis released this week.

Can NJ Win the Big Cloud Deals?

But New Jersey has largely missed the cloud computing boom, as large deals have sought states where it is cheaper to do business. Northern Virginia had a record 270 megawatts of leasing in 2018, or more than 20 times the volume of New Jersey’s leasing.

Cable to Cloud: New Data Flows Raise Hopes

One issue is the price of electricity. Power in New Jersey is significantly cheaper than New York, which helped attract customers moving out of Manhattan. But in recent years NJ has lost out to East Coast states with even cheaper power, including Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia.

Santaliz believes the best way for New Jersey to gain traction is with tax incentives. “New Jersey is plagued with high taxes,” said Santaliz. This is a way to combat that.”

NJFX is one of the largest recent data center construction projects in New Jersey. In 2016 it opened 64,000 square foot Tier III data center built next to a cable landing station in Wall Township operated by Tata Communications. Santaliz believes the subsea cables offer a focal point for future development. NJFX has additional land and power capacity for large hyperscale data centers – a lucrative sector that is often wooed through tax incentives.

“We’ve got critical mass in undersea cables,” said Santaliz. “We’re one mile from the ocean, but 64 feet above sea level. You can’t get that anywhere else on the East Coast. We’re positioned between New York and Ashburn. We couldn’t be better located

“I think data centers in the United States will only go to states where they’re welcome,” he added. “New Jersey is not as expensive as New York, and not as cheap as Ashburn. But with the right incentives, we could find ourselves looking just like Ashburn, only with better weather and the subsea cables already in place.”

Will Tax Incentives Jump-Start NJ’s Data Center Industry? Read More »

Telenor Maritime To Establish Direct Connect From NJFX Cable Landing Station Campus to Norway

Newsroom / Sarah Kurtz

Enables cyber-secure digital infrastructures and transmission of enormous amounts of data

Wall, NJ – January 28, 2020 – NJFX, the only Cable Landing Station (CLS) colocation campus in the U.S offering Tier 3, carrier-neutral data center capabilities announces today that Telenor Maritime has expanded its U.S presence at the NJFX CLS campus. Telenor Maritime is establishing a direct connection to Norway via the 7200km Havfrue subsea cable system, which traverses the North Atlantic and connects the U.S. at NJFX to mainland Northern Europe. Focused on accelerating operational efficiency and boosting marine and shore connectivity, Telenor Maritime offers ships and rigs cyber-secure digital infrastructures and the capability to wirelessly transmit enormous amounts of information.

“We welcome Telenor Maritime to our growing NJFX ecosystem,” comments Gil Santaliz, CEO for NJFX. “The company will be one of the first telecom operators to take advantage of Bulk Infrastructure’s Nordic Gateway at NJFX. This gateway will directly connect U.S. content, cloud and service providers with the Nordics, unlocking the many capabilities related to sustainable digital services and emissions-free hydropower.”

Telenor Maritime, owned by Telenor Group, is the only operator at sea with a fully managed service, offering all mobile access technologies such as 2G, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi and VSAT for ships and offshore platforms. With the goal of empowering the digital worker, Telenor Maritime is the only supplier that offers a digital platform with high-speed internet and 4G in the same ecosystem.

“As the leading global communication operator at sea, Telenor Maritime is on the forefront of developing and defining secure standards for the maritime business,” comments Lars-Erik Lunøe, CEO at Telenor Maritime. “As part of the new landing point at NJFX’s carrier-neutral campus, Telenor will access the new Havfrue subsea cable and offer direct connections from the U.S east coast to the Bulk Infrastructure campus in Norway, N01, which hosts our new core site. We chose the NJFX SSAE 16/18 certified infrastructure due to its rich ecosystem of global connectivity providers and subsea cable systems, as well as for its close proximity to the Satellite Teleport in Holmdel, New Jersey. We are well on our way to unlocking the Nordics and enabling new capabilities for our clients globally.”

NJFX is home to four subsea cable systems and seven independent U.S. fiber-based backhaul providers, offering a marketplace rich with fiber networks and platforms providing multiple options for routes, security and diversity while creating a new model of the CLS as a hub of unprecedented capacity and connectivity. For more information, please visit www.njfx.net or contact [email protected].

About NJFX

NJFX owns and operates a 64,800 square foot purpose-built Tier 3 Cable Landing Station (CLS) Colocation facility and 58-acre campus in Wall, NJ. This unique campus is the only carrier-neutral CLS colocation campus in the U.S supported by several route-independent carriers that offer direct access to multiple independent subsea cable systems interconnecting North America, Europe, South America and the Caribbean. The facility offers direct access to TGN1, TGN2, and Seabras. The building is the subsea cable landing of HAVFRUE/AEC2 this year as well as Wall-LI in the future. High and low-density colocation solutions are available with 24/7 support.

For NJFX media inquiries, please contact: [email protected]

About Telenor Maritime

Telenor Maritime has been leading the evolution of secure connectivity at sea since 2004, enabling the global maritime industry for IoT. In one digital ecosystem, we provide unique solutions permitting the same quality of experience at sea as on land, increasing profitability through operational excellence. Telenor Maritime is part of Telenor Group , one of the world’s major mobile operators. Through Telenor, we have access to a broad range of competence and resources to market, product, innovation and content development. Telenor Maritime is serving more than 100 ship owners, 25 million passengers and crew on board more than 400 vessels worldwide. For more information, please visit www.telenormaritime.com

For Telenor Maritime inquiries, please contact:

CEO

Lars Erik Lunøe

+47 90973006

[email protected]

Telenor Maritime To Establish Direct Connect From NJFX Cable Landing Station Campus to Norway Read More »

NJFX to Host Millennial Reception at PTC 2020

NJFX Blog / Sarah Kurtz

NJFX to Host Millennial Reception at PTC 2020

Fostering the Growth of the Next Generation of Industry Leaders

January 7, 2020

Wall, NJ/Honolulu, HI – NJFX, the only Cable Landing Station (CLS) colocation campus in the U.S offering Tier 3, carrier-neutral data center capabilities, will host a PTC 2020 reception geared towards fostering and developing young leaders in the telecommunications industry. The event will provide a space for young individuals within the industry the chance to network with their peers as well as industry professionals to better establish their telecom knowledge and contacts.

In recent years, it has become increasingly obvious that there is a lack of young talent entering the telecom industry. To do their part to usher in a new decade of leaders, NJFX’s resident millennial leader, General Manager Felix Seda, has led efforts to create an event that educates industry newcomers as to why the industry is so rewarding, and to encourage pre-professionals to consider a career within the space. The event not only invites current young employees, but also the PTC Young Scholars program and PTC Academy to come together with a number of established tech and telecom professionals to act as mentors.

“I am very excited to be spearheading this event with the PTC Council, and hope to make it an annual part of future conferences,” says Mr. Seda, “This year’s PTC theme is Vision 2020 and Beyond, and that ties in nicely with our goals for creating this annual reception. At NJFX we value the opportunity to give young people the opportunity to strive towards success in the telecom industry, which we made clear just a few months ago with the hiring of Sarah Kurtz, our new Sales Support Manager.”

The NJFX team is also involved in other aspects of PTC including CEO Gil Santaliz’ participation on the panel Data Centers and Networks on the (Cutting) Edge, and the company has also been shortlisted to receive the award for Outstanding Cloud, Data Center, or Interconnection Company. To meet with NJFX at PTC 2020 email [email protected].

To learn more about NJFX go to www.njfx.net.

About NJFX

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About NJFX:

Happy Holidays from NJFX!

NJFX Blog / Sarah Kurtz

Happy Holidays from NJFX!

Leaning into 2020, Looking Back at 2019

December 19, 2019

We cannot let this decade come to a close without highlighting a year of significant accomplishments that would not be possible without our amazing partners and customers. We are so thankful for all those who trust and rely on us to deliver a highly reliable, innovative ecosystem along with the secure infrastructure to support their networks.

One of the most exciting developments for NJFX this year, was the announcement of the Nordic Gateway, Bulk’s on-ramp solution into the Havfrue Cable System, stretching 7,200 kilometers from New Jersey to the Nordic countries of Denmark and Norway. With Bulk`s exclusive ownership to the Norwegian branch of the cable system, Bulk controls six routes in the system between the USA, Ireland, Denmark and Norway.

Other milestones include Neutrona Networks establishing of a Point of Presence (PoP) at NJFX. Neutrona Networks is a leading managed network service provider. The PoP brings a greater experience of connectivity to Latin America (LATAM).

Our ecosystem grew in other ways this year with the Telia Carrier deployment of a PoP delivering multi-terabit capacity. The new network infrastructure provides resilient network options for customers wanting diverse connectivity throughout North America.

NetIX, a Europe-based carrier class Ethernet exchange, established its first entry into the U.S. market via a PoP at NJFX. The NetIX network currently connects 20+ IXPs, serves more than 100 members, reaches nearly 5000 direct peers in 28 data centers and delivers close to 500 Gbps of traffic.

NJFX executives have proven their thought leadership and expertise to become key speakers at several high-profile industry events. Founder and CEO Gil Santaliz is honored to be a part of the Submarine Networks EMEA 2020 Advisory Board, as well as the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) Advisory Board.

Next stop for Santaliz and the NJFX team is Honolulu, Hawaii for PTC 2020, where Santaliz will speak on the panel, “Data Centers and Networks on the (Cutting) Edge.” NJFX has been shortlisted for an award in the category “Outstanding Cloud, Data Center, or Interconnection Company.”

And lastly, NJFX has a new team member. Sarah Kurtz serves as Sales Support Manager. As a digital native, Kurtz brings a fresh perspective to the industry and the desire to excel in an industry that enables all of the technology she’s grown up with.

In the coming year, Santaliz will continue its focus on growing New Jersey’s digital economy, with a planned campus expansion that will allow for more data center capacity. This, in part, will allow New Jersey to compete with leading data center locations like Ashburn, VA, where tax incentives have brought a significant tech economy to the region.

NJFX is smashing the model of a CLS being a quiet place that is seldom visited. The CLS can no longer be a passive location serving one purpose. It must be more than just a landing point that allows connection to a faraway hub for carriers. Today, NJFX serves as a landing point that is hub itself, bringing unprecedented capacity and connectivity to North America, South America, Europe and the Caribbean. We are proud to close the books on a successful 2019 and look ahead to 2020 with robust ecosystem of partners, carriers and customers. Happy Holidays!

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