Microsoft invests in transatlantic submarine network capacity

Two suppliers of submarine network capacity have announced Microsoft Corp. has leased capacity on their undersea cables across the Atlantic. Aqua Comms Ltd. says Microsoft is the first foundation customer for its upcoming America Europe Connect (AEConnect) submarine cable network. And Hibernia Networks reveals that its Express subsea fiber-optic network will connect Microsoft data centers in Canada, Ireland, and the UK.

TE Subcom recently began construction of AEConnect, which will link Shirley, NY, and Killala on the West Coast of Ireland, a span of more than 5,400 km (see "America-Europe Connect submarine network construction begins"). It is designed to provide intercontinental data center interconnectivity via 100-Gbps wavelengths.

Aqua Comms says Microsoft will use the transatlantic capacity to address growing bandwidth demands as well as to support delivery of enterprise cloud services, including Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and Microsoft Intune.

"Out of approximately 230 subsea cables across the globe, very few are currently equipped to fully support coherent technology with 100-Gbps capabilities. With bandwidth-hungry applications on the rise, we want to ensure our customers are getting the capacity across the Atlantic that they need," said Dave Crowley, managing director of Microsoft's Global Network Procurement, via an Aqua comms press release. "AEConnect aids in future-proofing our transatlantic capacity requirements, connecting directly to our operations in Ireland and onward into Europe to support our expanding data network capacity needs."

Meanwhile, Hibernia says its Express fiber-optic network will offer Microsoft connectivity between Halifax, Canada; Ballinspittle, Ireland; and Brean, UK. The connections will link several Microsoft data centers via multiple metro and long haul fibers.

The Express cable, which is also under construction, is designed to support in excess of 10 Tbps per fiber pair. TE Subcom is managing this deployment as well.

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