Trending
Latest

Equinix to host 9,800-kilometre subsea cable system linking Australia and the Middle East

The cable is scheduled to be brought online by spring 2022 at a time when nearly ¼ of Equinix’s global data centre footprint is serving as cable landing stations.

By João Marques Lima

Founder and Editor, The Tech Capital

3 Mins

November 29, 2021 | 5:00 AM GMT

Equinix to host 9,800-kilometre subsea cable system linking Australia and the Middle East

Bevan Slattery, Founder, SUB.CO

The Tech Capital

Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) has been selected by SUB.CO for the landing of the Oman Australia Cable (OAC) directly into its International Business Exchange (IBX) data centres in Perth, Australia (PE2) and Muscat, Oman (MC1).

These locations will serve as strategic interconnection points for the 9,800-kilometre subsea cable system.

The operator said Perth has rapidly become an important gateway for subsea cables in Australia as the country has continued a period of accelerated digital transformation.

It also serves a strategic role as the west coast connectivity point that provides geographic diversity from Sydney and eastern Australia.

Muscat is strategically located between Asia, Africa and Europe, serving as a regional interconnection hub between key global markets, and the OAC is expected to further enhance Oman’s competitiveness in the global digital economy.

OAC, is expected to be completed in Q2 2022 and directly connect Australia with Oman.

Bevan Slattery, Founder, SUB.CO, said: “Building OAC was very important for us, as a key new route to mitigate against the risks inherent in systems that traverse from Asia to EMEA via the Malacca Strait. Working with Equinix is another key component of ensuring OAC’s success, given their global capabilities and flexible approach.”

Equinix operates 17 IBX data centres across Australia. Equinix completed a US$11million (approximately A$15.6 million) expansion of its PE2 IBX data centre in 2019, bringing enhanced interconnection capabilities to local customers.

Opened in October 2020, Equinix MC1 is located in Barka, South Al Batinah in Muscat, the capital of Oman. It is Equinix’s first data centre in Oman and its fourth in the MENA region.

Kamel Al-Tawil, Managing Director, Equinix MENA, said: “Rapid growth of the digital economy has driven increased demand for global connectivity and hybrid multicloud solutions in the MENA region. Organisations across various sectors are evaluating their cloud adoption strategies and cloud readiness.”

Today, of the more than 220 facilities, 41 Equinix IBX data centres are subsea-enabled around the world.

Daily

Daily Brief

A morning briefing on what you need to know in the day ahead, including exclusive commentary from Tech Capital's writers

Login or Register to comment on this article

Listen to this article
Share this article
Keywords
More From

João Marques Lima

Founder and Editor, The Tech Capital

Related Articles