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NJFX Offers Global Carriers New, Diverse Ways to Connect to the U.S. via Multiple Subsea Cable Systems

NJFX Offers Global Carriers New, Diverse Ways to Connect to the U.S. via Multiple Subsea Cable Systems

Secure Connectivity Options Allow Carriers a Way to ‘Breakout’ at NJFX  New Jersey Data Center and Bypass Legacy Choke Points

October 24, 2017

WALL, NJ –  NJFX, the first and only colocation campus to sit at a cable landing station in the U.S and offer Tier 3, carrier neutral data center capabilities, announces a new, direct way for carriers to reach the United States via the TGN-A and Seabras-1 cable systems. NJFX customers can reach these strategic subsea cables via secure Network to Network Interfaces (NNI) at NJFX’s New Jersey colocation campus. The NNIs contribute to guarantee increased performance, reliability and route diversity.

The breakout capabilities also allow carriers, service providers, content companies and enterprises high capacity, while eliminating traditional points of failure when providing US-Europe, US-Brazil, US-Asia connectivity. TGN-1 & 2 cables are submarine cable systems connecting Highbridge UK to Wall, New Jersey. U.S. Seabras-1 is a 10,500-km fiber optic cable that connects Sao Paulo, Brazil to the U.S. It offers connectivity to financial markets and other Latin America enterprises and bypasses the Atlantic hurricane zone.

 

“Our new breakout capability allows carriers to use these subsea systems to reach the U.S. and bypass traditional routes that have multiple hops,” states Gil Santaliz, NJFX Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “This is crucial not only to reduce latency, but also in terms of increasing reliability and disaster recovery options. You only have to look to recent hurricanes to see that for communications hubs, one disruption in the chain could mean disruption in financial transactions, communications and connectivity to South America.”

“Customers at NJFX with the most stringent latency and diversification requirements, and who need higher reliability, can now enjoy direct advanced connectivity solutions to Brazil and beyond through Sparkle’s Seabras-1 capabilities,” says Federico Porri, CTO at Sparkle Americas. “As we are constantly working to provide more value and secure diversity options for our customers, we are happy to partner with NJFX, a company that provides a very reliable and flexible environment with great backhaul partners.”

NJFX offers backhaul options to strategic locations across the United States through carriers including Comcast, Cross River Fiber, Epsilon, Lightower Fiber Networks, Sparkle, Telia Carrier, Windstream, and Zayo – all with no recurring interconnection fee, for direct connectivity to over 50,000 buildings.

For more information on the NJFX colocation campus, visit www.njfx.net.

 

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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.

More In the News

NJFX Offers Global Carriers New, Diverse Ways to Connect to the U.S. via Multiple Subsea Cable Systems Read More »

Wall’s fiber-optic hub connects the world, bets on giant data centers

Wall’s fiber-optic hub connects the world, bets on giant data centers

Ryan Imkemeier Explains the Importance of Equipment Maintenance, Vendor Relationships, Electrical Distribution & Managing the Team

Gil Santaliz

CEO

July 22, 2022

OCTOBER 5 2017, WALL NJ – It is strong enough to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. It has redundant electric systems. And it connects directly to underseas fiber-optic cables from its campus to Europe and South America.

Is it enough to attract companies needing secure places to store their data?

“We shouldn’t be backyard to New York City all the time,” said Gil Santaliz, chief executive officer of New Jersey Fiber Exchange. “Why do we have to go to New York? We’ve got our own assets here.”

A year after it opened, New Jersey Fiber Exchange is trying to capitalize on one of the township’s hidden treasures: the landing point for three underseas fiber optic cables connecting the U.S. to Europe and South America.

For now, New Jersey Fiber Exchange, a 64,000-square-foot, two-story fortress, rents space to communication companies, which then deliver data from the facility to their customers.

But Santaliz and investors have bought another nearly 50 acres next door, betting that their system can be a draw to new data centers, giant buildings filled with servers that store reams of information on the internet.

“For a user who needs international connectivity, it could be very beneficial,” said Jonathan Meisel, a senior vice president at commercial real estate business CBRE, based in central New Jersey.

 

Santaliz, 51, of Spring Lake, decided the venture was worth leaving what was an early retirement.

He previously started 4Connections, a company that built fiber-optic connections that were used by New Jersey government agencies and hospitals, and he sold it in 2008 to Cablevision for an undisclosed amount.

He said he often wondered how to better connect his customers with the international market, and he turned his attention to Wall, a town with a rich communications history.

It was home, for example, to Guglielmo Marconi’s Belmar Trans-Atlantic Wireless station that played a key role in overseas communications in World War I.

And it was home to TyCom, which opened a center in 2001 to operate underseas fiber-optic cables. TyCom’s parent company, Tyco, sold the division to the India-based Tata Group in 2004.

Once the data arrived through the underseas cables to Wall it was routed to Manhattan, where communication companies set up shop in what’s called a “meet-me-room” to exchange data.

Santaliz’s idea: What if communication companies could meet in Wall instead?

He and a group of investors, including Tata, bought about 1.4 acres in 2015 next door to Tata’s operations center for $400,000, according to property records. He declined to disclose how much it cost to build the structure.

A year after it opened, New Jersey Fiber Exchange hosts 10 communications companies, from Tata to TI Sparkle, an Italian carrier. It offers faster speed for data. And it gives them another option in case other communication centers are hit by natural disasters, for example.

“We allow carriers to pick their routes and have less points of failure,” Santaliz said.

The project could pay off for Wall. Santaliz and his partners purchased another 48 acres nearby that could attract data centers — buildings that store companies’ data.

The industry is growing fast, keeping up with an explosion in data use. Investors have pumped more than $45 billion into the sector the past five years with more than half of that coming since the start of 2016, according to CBRE.

New Jersey has its share, primarily thanks to financial services companies in Manhattan that could store data more securely and less expensively across the Hudson River.

That segment of the real estate market in New Jersey peaked in 2012. And other parts of the country, namely northern Virginia, have surpassed partially because of lower electric costs, CBRE’s Meisel said.

But New Jersey Fiber Exchange with its access to the international market could give it a chance to compete, Meisel said.

“We live in a global world and a lot of these data centers connect with each other around the country and now around the world,” he said.

Wall officials said they welcome the industry. It will do little to create permanent jobs; just 10 people work full-time at New Jersey Fiber Exchange. But it would turn the dusty Clayton Block Co. property into a high-tech center — without much traffic.

“We’re trying to get that property back to a use that is less impactful to residents that live around there,” Wall Mayor Nick DiRocco said.

It would be a stretch to think Wall could compete with places like Loudoun County, Virginia, which boasts of being the traffic cop for 70 percent of the world’s internet traffic.

But Santaliz thinks Wall, with its rich history and prime location, could join Jersey City as another hub.

“By having the infrastructure where all this connectivity can exist, we should take advantage of it,” he said, “and that’s what we’ve done.”

See the original article by Michael Diamond – Asbury Park Press

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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.

More In the News

Wall’s fiber-optic hub connects the world, bets on giant data centers Read More »

2017 Storms May Mean Network Rethink

2017 Storms May Mean Network Rethink

Major hurricanes, even ones as powerful and large as Hurricane Irma, don’t disrupt subsea cables, according to industry executives. But that doesn’t mean traffic crossing those cables won’t be disrupted by the damage from hurricanes, warns one data center operator.

Gil Santaliz

CEO

See the original article here: Lightreading.com

September 22, 2017

Gil Santaliz, founder and managing director of New Jersey Fiber Exchange (NJFX) , the New Jersey-based data center located next to the Tata cable landing station in Wall, N.J., says the impact of storms such as the US and the Caribbean have seen this fall isn’t in the damage done to cables or even cable landing stations. It’s in what happens to traffic after it leaves those places. He’s expecting the global industry to take a long look at how traffic is managed going forward.

“It’s the aftermath of the hurricane, it’s the widespread electric outages, it’s the buildings the subsea cables go to that nobody knows they go to,” he says in an interview. “What we should have braced for was what happens a day or two after the storm. There are subsea landing stations on the east coast, Florida, but what folks in St. Louis, Chicago and Denver don’t realize is that all of that traffic from subsea networks ends up going to central hubs — and those were the places where large-scale power outages can have catastrophic effects on our networks.”

Businesses that were impacted when these traffic hubs went without commercial power for multiple days will now be motivated to take a closer look at how their networks are set up and rethink their diversity plans, Santaliz says. As a result, the fall’s destructive hurricane season may have an impact on how businesses — and carriers — plan network diversity, in much the same way that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 changed how the industry viewed New York City as a natural location for data centers, he notes.

“Post-9/11, there was a massive data center exodus out of New York City,” Santaliz says. “Then [Hurricane] Sandy came along and all of that flooding that happened in lower Manhattan was affecting the two buildings that were critical for the Europeans to connect to everyone in North America — 60 Hudson St. and 32 Avenue of the Americas.”

The result was that connections between Europe and Chicago or even New Jersey were impacted by the flooding in Manhattan, he says. And that led to businesses seeking diverse routes for that traffic as well. Now this round of hurricanes will prompt a closer examination of where the massive amount of traffic that comes through the Caribbean and lands in the US in Florida goes, once it leaves the landing station.

“What these storms are now pointing out is that you probably should take the due diligence to know how your network really works,” he says. “On a global basis, we expect our connectivity to always work but if we don’t ask hard questions, and make sure there is true diversity, then there are going to be unpleasant surprises.”

The cable landing stations themselves are, much like the subsea cables, likely to withstand even a Category 5 hurricane such as Irma, says Nigel Bayliff, CEO of Aqua Comms and a non-executive board member for Deep Blue Cable, developer of a subsea fiber optic system in the Caribbean.

“The cables are very much more secure underground and underwater,” he says. “There is a slight chance of movement of seabed caused by severe storm surge. The issue is, even if we are not affected, virtually everything else is. Potentially the landing stations can be, but we build them to withstand category 4-category 5 hurricanes. It’s everything you connect to next that you really can’t do something about.”

Bayliff also points to better construction of facilities, including interconnection and data center facilities themselves, to withstand storms and be prepared to go without commercial power for longer periods as powerful storms hit more frequently. Santaliz says that reality may force many companies to re-write their playbooks for how they prepare for natural disasters of this type.

“These events we are having now are so wide-scale, things aren’t on the procedure books to deal with them,” he says. That includes dealing with situations where most of a state, or even an entire island nation, is without power for a substantial period of time. “This is a process that is just beginning. If you are operating a hub, and it’s going to go on generator, situations like this will test your ability to get fuel and for your employees to get to work.”

At the same time, businesses are less likely to accept prolonged outages, he adds. “You can’t tell your customers, ‘We are going to have an outage and it will take me two days to fix it,’ because in some industries, that’s a non-starter,” he says.

— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading.

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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.

More In the News

2017 Storms May Mean Network Rethink Read More »

NJFX Supports Global Communications Infrastructure From 1,500 Miles Away, As Historic Hurricane’s Impacts Are Felt

NJFX Supports Global Communications Infrastructure From 1,500 Miles Away, As Historic Hurricane’s Impacts Are Felt

NJFX’s Colocation Campus is crucial in supporting interconnecting subsea cables, as Miami is threatened by the aftereffects of Irma

September 12, 2017

WALL, NJ –  New Jersey Fiber Exchange (NJFX), the first and only colocation campus to sit at a cable landing station in the U.S and offers Tier 3, carrier neutral data center capabilities, announces today its urgent work with major carriers to expedite installation of infrastructure to support a major connectivity hub in jeopardy from Hurricane Irma related power outages.

It’s more important than ever for the United States to have the infrastructure in place to avoid a loss of global connectivity.  “The way we communicate worldwide is through the Miami, Puerto Rico and New York City gateways,” states Gil Santaliz, CEO for NJFX. “If Miami went down, the only way to communicate to Europe and South America is through Puerto Rico. We are in contact right now with major carriers that supply connectivity to large, international companies and are looking to keep networks up and running. They are confidently turning to NJFX and rest assured that their needs will be met.”

Santaliz adds, “If New York’s telecom infrastructure is impacted either through natural or other disasters, then major carriers and telecoms will be adversely affected. Because NJFX has an optimal location in New Jersey, which bypasses legacy chokepoints and the congested NYC routes, we play a major a role in making networks work. NJFX offers a critical solution for multinational businesses and carriers in the U.S.”

NJFX’s New Jersey location is 64 feet above sea level, making it impervious to tidal surge and ideal for disaster recovery. NJFX clients can diversify their connectivity options to key hubs across North America, Europe, South America and the Caribbean. Through its many partnerships and more than 10 carriers and service provider partners, NJFX clients have direct access to any carrier’s suite of services in the NJFX ecosystem, without incurring cross-connect fees.

“Aqua Comms provides high capacity networking systems designed to future-proof connectivity options for cloud, content, service providers and carriers,” comments Nigel Bayliff, CEO for Aqua Comms. “We recognize the value of being strategically located at the NJFX campus because it securely interconnects major, international subsea networks with terrestrial networks on the U.S. east coast.“

For more information, please visit www.njfx.net. For the latest news, follow the company on TwitterLinkedIn and Facebook.

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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.

More In the News

NJFX Supports Global Communications Infrastructure From 1,500 Miles Away, As Historic Hurricane’s Impacts Are Felt Read More »

NJFX CEO: “We Provide Options”

NJFX CEO: “We Provide Options”

Submarine Cable NewsFeed – Market Snapshot

Gil Santaliz

CEO

Editor’s Note:

In September 2016, NJFX formally unveiled its data center campus located adjacent to the submarine cable landing station in Wall Township, New Jersey. The colorfully named “Tier 3 by the Subsea” was the first of its kind in the industry, disrupting the traditional backhaul model and redefining proximity by providing direct interconnection options at the cable-head without recurring costs on cross-connects.

“NJFX is doing something that no company has ever done before,” Gil Santaliz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NJFX, said at the September launch. “The unique location of our campus enables unprecedented access to a number of the most sought after subsea and terrestrial assets transporting traffic nationally, as well as internationally. NJFX ensures our customers receive the flexible, reliable and secure connectivity they require to support their growing business needs.”

Since September, NJFX’s facility has continued to develop. Another expansion phase was completed in January and the concept has clearly resonated within the industry as more submarine and terrestrial cable operators make connections.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Santaliz about NJFX and what the future may hold:

Santaliz: “We have several billion dollars’ worth of assets sitting in our NJFX Campus now. We have three transatlantic cables — two Tata Communications cables, which were there when we arrived, and now Aquacomms has come in and installed their equipment in the building to provide a third way across to Europe with their AEconnect cable. Seaborn Network’s new Seabras-1 cable from the US to Brazil also will be connected when it becomes ready for service this summer. So we are continuing to be unique. We are up to four subsea cables and we’re rivalling any location in the US or the world in terms of having so much subsea cable capacity in one place.

We provide options. You can bypass New York City by using Tata from Ashburn, Virginia, or any part of the US. We have alternate paths across the Atlantic. We have two ways to apply access to Seabras-1. TI Sparkle, which purchased three fiber pairs on Seabras-1, has taken residence in our facility, and the cable also can be accessed through Tata. There’s one cross-connect in the building rather than going all around New York or New Jersey, thus reducing latency and increasing efficiency.

On the US side, we’ve had Lightower come in and install their network and they’re about to put in a second cable in the building for diversity. Altice (formerly CableVision Lightpath) has installed their network. We always had Windstream offering capacity at our facility and we’re talking to Zayo about increasing the capacity it has. So we are the center of the universe between the US, Europe and South America — between the US domestic fiber networks and the European and South America cable operators.

We made a decision about three months ago to take an opportunity to expand our property. We were always a 10-acre site with Tata and we are finalizing our joint venture to expand to 48 more acres. We had a large Fortune 100 company knock on our door and the amount of space they wanted from us exceeded what we could do for them, so we took the initiative to take up 48 more acres. We also expanded our relationship with the electric utility and now we can offer not only Tier 3 but Tier 4 for additional and increment space.

We need to all think differently because the world is changing so quickly. The telecommunications network is a global platform and the assets should reflect how we currently operate. People expect things to work whether you’re in Denmark or Frankfurt or Latin America. Content needs to move. Latency is important. Diversity is important. Our model is to give customers reliable, high-performance, reduced cost access to critical submarine cable assets so that they can do business, provide services and support all these new ideas that people have out there in the increasingly dynamic world.

Read full article at submarineworld.com/…

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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.

July 20, 2017

More In the News

NJFX CEO: “We Provide Options” Read More »

NJFX Launches The NJFX Market PoP: A Community Portal for Best of Breed Connectivity and Services Options

NJFX Launches The NJFX Market PoP: A Community Portal for Best of Breed Connectivity and Services Options

NJFX Welcomes NJEdge as its First Market PoP User

May 30, 2017

WALL, NJ –  NJFX, the first and only colocation campus to sit at a cable landing station and offer Tier 3, carrier neutral data center capabilities, introduces The NJFX Market PoP, a virtual community portal that connects customers to a vast number of vetted service providers that provide a plethora of options for best of breed connectivity and services. By establishing a Point of Presence (PoP) at NJFX’s colocation campus, NJEdge and its esteemed members are now part of the NJFX community and benefit from using the newly released NJFX Market PoP.

Delivering a broadband statewide network, NJEdge establishes standards for interoperability, economies of scale, and supports new and emerging technologies. With a presence at the NJFX colocation campus, NJEdge ensures their customers receive direct transport and data services for efficient service delivery. Additionally, NJEdge is licensing seats at the NJFX campus to support its 24-hour operation.

“By establishing a presence at the NJFX campus, our educational members will benefit from a number of highly valuable onsite resources,” states Dr. Samuel Conn, President and Chief Executive Officer of NJEdge. “Our clients will now have the option for close proximity to local health care markets, along with direct access to Europe for scientific research, giving them the ability to generate strategic leads and promote our network services to our targeted vertical markets.”

“With access to NJFX’s robust ecosystem and its Market PoP, NJEdge receives immediate access to a vetted buyer or seller, and proactively pairs them together to establish the ideal solution – simply and effectively,” adds Gil Santaliz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NJFX. “This permits them to expand their customer base and target multiple verticals for enhanced service options.”

For more information on the NJFX colocation campus and its Market PoP, visit www.njfx.net.

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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.

NJFX Launches The NJFX Market PoP: A Community Portal for Best of Breed Connectivity and Services Options Read More »

Aqua Comms and Epsilon Partner to Bring European Route Diversity and On-Demand Connectivity to NJFX’s Colocation Campus

Aqua Comms and Epsilon Partner to Bring European Route Diversity and On-Demand Connectivity to NJFX’s Colocation Campus

Aqua Comms and Epsilon Partner to Bring European Route Diversity and On-Demand Connectivity to NJFX’s Colocation Campus 

May 15, 2017

WALL, NJ –  NJFX, the first and only colocation campus to sit at a cable landing station and offer Tier 3, carrier neutral data center capabilities, announces the addition of Aqua Comms DAC (“Aqua Comms”), the operator of Ireland’s first dedicated subsea fibre-optic network interconnecting New York, Dublin and London, and Epsilon Telecommunications, a privately owned global communications service provider, to its ever-growing connectivity ecosystem. With the introduction of Aqua Comms, NJFX customers can strategically diversify their connectivity options to key European hubs, bypassing legacy chokepoints within the U.S.

Aqua Comms has deployed a Point of Presence (PoP) within NJFX’s colocation campus, allowing NJFX customers to directly access the carrier’s suite of services without incurring cross connect fees. Epsilon and Aqua Comms have partnered to deploy Infiny by Epsilon – an on-demand connectivity platform – within the NJFX facility, and Aqua Comms will use the Cloud Link eXchange (CloudLX) module of Infiny to rapidly interconnect new services in and out of the NJFX campus. Now, Aqua Comms’ customers can benefit from interconnecting with NJFX’s growing ecosystem of global carriers, network operators, enterprises, cloud providers, and internet exchanges.

“We are excited to welcome Aqua Comms as a strategic addition to our community,” says Gil Santaliz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NJFX.  “What makes NJFX unique is its carrier neutral subsea capabilities, so customers have options when choosing which cables move their data from our campus to key landing points in Europe.  Having Aqua Comms at our colocation campus enables customers to further diversify and plan their international connections with certainty and accuracy, eliminating any transport uncertainty.”

“The CloudLX module of Infiny accelerates access to global cloud service providers and creates unique value for NJFX’s network operator tenants,” comments Carl Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer of Epsilon.  “We have combined a track record of success and innovation with an on-demand connectivity platform that simplifies how users connect and grow their businesses. Additionally, Epsilon will offer its customers access to an increasing number of new connectivity options to leverage and scale their operations more effectively.”

“Establishing a PoP in the NJFX colocation campus grants our customers access to a diverse and growing ecosystem of carriers and service providers,” adds Nigel Bayliff, Chief Executive Officer of Aqua Comms. “With Ciena’s WaveLogic Encryption offering, all data Aqua Comms carries remains secure and safeguarded from PoP to PoP. Plus, NJFX’s strategic location enables us to bypass congested legacy New York City hubs, eliminate multiple points of failure and save our customers from facing hefty cross connect fees.”

The NJFX team is attending International Telecoms Week (ITW) from May 14 – 17, 2017 in Chicago.

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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.

More In the News

Aqua Comms and Epsilon Partner to Bring European Route Diversity and On-Demand Connectivity to NJFX’s Colocation Campus Read More »

Data Center Journal: INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: DATA CENTER DIFFERENTIATION

Data Center Journal: INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: DATA CENTER DIFFERENTIATION

Industry Outlook is a regular Data Center Journal Q&A series that presents expert views on market trends, technologies and other issues relevant to data centers and IT.

May 10, 2017

This week, Industry Outlook talks with Gil Santaliz, founder and CEO of NJFX, about how data center companies can differentiate themselves in a changing landscape. Previously, Gil was CEO, founder and managing member of 4Connections LLC, a 500-mile New Jersey fiber network serving many verticals in that state. 4Connections pioneered the deployment of carrier-neutral dark-fiber services for both New Jersey and New York City.  In 2008, he successfully exited the business in a preemptive transaction with Optimum Lightpath, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cablevision. Having over two decades in the communications industry, Gil’s reemergence in telecommunications demonstrates his ability to anticipate market drivers and solve complex connectivity challenges both domestic and internationally.

Industry Outlook: Are all data centers essentially built the same, with all providers using the best technologies, or can a company build a facility with some sort of “secret sauce”?

Gil Santaliz: I can definitely say that all data centers are not the same. Each one brings something different to the table. Sure, we all have standards, but in today’s market, you don’t see many shared or proprietary data centers being built because so many are already out there. They must be able to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack, and they do so through their geography, specialty ecosystems and ability to serve customers’ immediate needs. Just because a data center has a particularly robust set of carriers doesn’t mean it meets the reliability and security standards needed to keep your data safe. In the end it’s a compromise, because it’s tough to get a highly reliable, highly secure and highly connected site, but that’s the magic combination you are constantly striving towards.

IO: Can site selection alone serve as a differentiator?

GS: Site selection is always a differentiator. Geography is the most important factor for accessing and transporting your data efficiently. Don’t be fooled though, because the network ultimately determines the location of a great data center. The days of opening a facility anywhere are over. The network potential must be there first.

IO: Do you see ecosystems developing away from the traditional hubs—e.g., New York City and Ashburn?

GS: Ashburn is here to stay, but New York City is a relic. Whether people want to believe it or not, data center computing left New York City years ago, and what’s left is the legacy carrier infrastructure. Don’t get me wrong, there are things that should be there, but Manhattan alone shouldn’t support Connecticut, New Jersey, Ashburn and the like. The network design for New York City data centers was built 30 or 40 years ago, but for some reason it continues to be the hub for international traffic. When the time comes, moving that legacy infrastructure will be difficult, but the next step should be the transition of the infrastructure that doesn’t need to be there.

IO: What can data center providers do to simultaneously serve local and global customers?

GS: Combine your subsea networks with U.S. networks to create that hyper-attractive market of international and “locally global.” If you aren’t fortunate enough to have a subsea network in your facility, you need to get access to multiple systems. The idea of connecting subsea networks with the U.S. creates a unique opportunity to ensure a highly connected, globally local presence. This strategy will mean fewer points of presence and more options for point-to-point connections between locations.

IO: What is driving the changing data center landscape?

GS: I believe consolidation is critical, and it’s always driven by efficiencies across the market, not to mention the economy to scale. Customers want fewer relationships with the providers that have more assets, and we are finding that it supports this consolidation trend.

IO: How can data center providers successfully deviate from traditional offerings to meet customer demands in this landscape?

GS: The pendulum swings when it comes to cloud solutions versus proprietary data center solutions. We’re seeing customers looking for flexibility with the option of prioritizing which applications should be in the cloud and aren’t necessarily data center specific. Providers who have that flexibility can tailor their product to best serve their various customers. As I mentioned before, I believe the main driver for the changing data center landscape is consolidation along with ecosystems in the marketplace—a portal where buyers and sellers can collaborate to create solutions.

IO: Can you expand on the idea of consolidation as a major driver of change?

GS: Today, more and more data centers are seeing that the customer wants options: multiple locations with several service offerings, all within the same set of standards. This situation is forcing smaller players to work—if not merge—with larger ones. I don’t see this trend stopping anytime soon. Also is the capacity to scale that comes from multiple locations with central cabinets, billing and systems. The market has a lot of synergy. The only way to survive as an independent operator is to have something truly unique to offer.

IO: Which model is better—offering managed and cloud services on your own, or referring to third-party providers?

GS: At NJFX, we believe a third-party provider eliminates conflicts between the tenants and the landlord. No one wants to compete with their customers, and by having a model where you don’t need to, operators can enable innovation and spur opportunities for providers to come in and offer unique services. That arrangement is quite honestly the best of breed. That’s what makes NJFX special—we meet data center standards with optimal carrier-hotel connectivity.

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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.

More In the News

Data Center Journal: INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: DATA CENTER DIFFERENTIATION Read More »

NJ Business: NJFX Announces Plan to Expand Cable Landing Station Campus by Additional 48 Acres

NJ Business: NJFX Announces Plan to Expand Cable Landing Station Campus by Additional 48 Acres

March 27, 2017

NJFX, the first Tier 3 carrier-neutral colocation campus that intersects where subsea cables from the United States, South America, Europe and the Caribbean meet, announces the expansion of its colocation campus in Wall. By expanding its campus an additional 48 acres, NJFX emphasizes its commitment to developing a tenant-driven community with purpose-built colocation and disaster recovery space, as well as its ability to accommodate space for future independent cable landing stations.

With the additional 48 acres, NJFX will now span a total of 58 acres across Wall Township. The flexible site plan will include a new, two-story 80,000 square foot data center and premium disaster recovery space that will sit adjacent to NJFX’s current Tier 3 facility – just 60 miles from New York City – with a plethora of global communication providers.

NJFX announced the completion of its colocation campus in September of 2016. The new Tier 3, purpose built 64,000 square foot colocation facility boasts a 10 MW design with the ability to support high density requirements up to 8KW per rack. The location offers a unique opportunity, as it sits 64 feet above sea level, which is significantly higher than lower Manhattan that sits at less than 24 feet above sea level. Its strategic positioning allows customers to not only have direct access to Tata Communications’ subsea cable landing station, but also offers access to the most robust and diverse facilities in the market.

“I am happy that NJFX intends to expand its investment in our community,” states Mayor Dominick DiRocco of Wall Township. “NJFX’s presence in our town, and proposed future expansion, helps us to meet our goal of growing our local economy in a sensible way, while also fostering growth in a critically important sector for our regional economy.”

“We are fortunate to be located in Wall where we have access to bores and multiple subsea cables,” adds Gil Santaliz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NJFX. “By expanding the NJFX campus, customers will now have the option to work and live in a community that supports innovation and where communications rates are extremely competitive and reliable. Furthermore, having a safe haven locked down in a pleasant and secure area, in the event of a regional emergency, is ultimately the best scenario for any business.”

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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.

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Data Center Knowledge: NJFX to Expand Jersey Data Center Campus that Links to Submarine Cables

Data Center Knowledge: NJFX to Expand Jersey Data Center Campus that Links to Submarine Cables

NJFX says the amount of traffic has been “staggering” at its 65,000-square foot data center campus in Wall, New Jersey, known for connecting more than 240 countries and numerous communication providers via one of the largest global subsea fiber networks in the world.

And the company is preparing for it to get a lot busier.

March 27, 2017

This week it announced a 48-acre expansion to include a new two-story 80,000-square foot data center that will be adjacent to the existing campus. While the additional space is designed to draw more tenants to fill its colocation space, NJFX will also be able to accommodate future independent cable landing stations.

NJFX said it charges customers for data center space and for connections to its meet-me room: a 24-count cable to the meet-me room costs $1,500 per month. Previously, the meet-me room had been limited to carriers only, but it is now open to enterprises, such as banks and content providers.

Completed in September of 2016 and just 60 miles from New York City, the Wall Township campus is located where four submarine cables from the United States, South America, Europe, and the Caribbean land and provides a shortcut of sorts for companies wanting to connect globally. The cables connect to a Tata-owned landing station in a borough in Monmouth County.

Before the Wall campus was built, data centers needing to move traffic to Europe or South America via a landing station in New Jersey would have to work with one of the large telco carriers to backhaul traffic to and from Manhattan. But today the NJFX data center allows for direct connectivity to those geographical regions, and the company said another cable may come online later this year.

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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.

Data Center Knowledge: NJFX to Expand Jersey Data Center Campus that Links to Submarine Cables Read More »

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