NJFX Founder and CEO Gil Santaliz Speaks at Subsea World Panel

The future of the subsea industry was a main topic of Subsea World 2021. The week-long virtual conferences focused on highlighting upcoming trends in the next year, as well as how rapidly transforming technology and connectivity is affecting the industry.

Gil Santaliz

CEO

August 3, 2021

Subsea World

One highlight of the event was a panel discussion titled “Americas Spotlight”. Moderated by Andrew Lipman, the panelists included Gil Santaliz, Founder & CEO, NJFX, Andy Bax, COO, Seaborn, Buddy Bayer, Chief Network Officer, Windstream, Mike Cunningham, CEO, Crosslake Fiber, and Paul Scott, President and CEO, Confluence Networks.

With the Covid-19 pandemic greatly accelerating the need for more deployments of cables in new areas, the discussion of specific geographic locations and the reasoning behind them quickly became the topic of discussion. “Way back when we started, we picked this region because we saw it as one with a huge development opportunity, huge growth capabilities, underserved in terms of both capacity and competition,” commented Bax, speaking of connectivity between LATAM and the U.S. 

We have critical mass now in terms of carriers that are here, economies of scale. When we do this all of my customers benefit, they all benefit from being in a better, more secure place, and getting the latest and greatest of what we do best. If I start expanding beyond what I do best, I’m not going to be as good as what I’m supposed to be doing, and that’s just housing the network, interconnecting, providing them smart hands for their equipment to lower their costs, provide marine protection services, and do what you do best. That’s what we believe in.

Gil Santaliz, Founder and CEO, NJFX

“I think more cables need to land across the US, but New Jersey has been home to cables for 100 years. It’s a proven area, we’ve got density of population, we’ve got a thriving business community, we have financial exchanges, we can’t afford a lack of interconnection,” stated Santaliz.

Another important topic of discussion was Confluence-1, a 24 fiber pair submarine cable along the eastern seaboard of the United States. Paul Scott, President and CEO of Confluence Networks explained that his reasoning for deploying the new cable system was due to the need to enhance connectivity while still balancing latency and high performance. This cable is providing more secure linkages through existing terrestrial routes from Miami to New York. 

“We have critical mass now in terms of carriers that are here, economies of scale. When we do this all of my customers benefit, they all benefit from being in a better, more secure place, and getting the latest and greatest of what we do best. If I start expanding beyond what I do best, I’m not going to be as good as what I’m supposed to be doing, and that’s just housing the network, interconnecting, providing them smart hands for their equipment to lower their costs, provide marine protection services, and do what you do best. That’s what we believe in.” – Gil Santaliz, Founder and CEO, NJFX

While the other panelists agreed on focusing on their own expertise, they acknowledged that the pandemic is acting as a catalyst for digital transformation, forcing many to work together to discover solutions that can help best aid their customers.

Santaliz concluded by stating, “We happen to be sitting in probably one of the hottest markets ever for telecommunications, in terms of investments…it’s a fascinating time.”

###

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

Why operators and enterprises will need an AI data center strategy

Enterprises are prioritizing low-latency networks to ensure that their AI applications function at optimal efficiency and accuracy. This focus on reducing latency is about more than speed; it’s about creating a seamless, responsive experience for end-users and maintaining a competitive edge in an increasingly AI-driven market.

Read More »

The New Wave of SMART Cables

The Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) Subsea Cables initiative seeks to revolutionize deep ocean observing by equipping transoceanic telecommunications cables with sensors to provide novel and persistent insights into the state of the ocean, at a modest incremental cost.

Read More »
small_c_popup.png

Let's have a chat

Learn how we helped 100 top brands gain success.