- With the new AFR-IX telecom partnership, the DE-CIX Southern European interconnection ecosystem will be taken to a new level.
- AFR-IX telecom is the infrastructure and telecom operator that operates the Barcelona Cable Landing Station, which will become home to the new Medusa Submarine Cable System.
- Barcelona CLS will become DE-CIX’s fourth premium-enabled site in the Catalonian capital, alongside bitNAP, Equinix, and EdgeConneX.
Global internet exchange operator, DE-CIX announced a strategic partnership with AFR-IX telecom an infrastructure and telecom operator that operates the Barcelona Cable Landing Station, the neutral colocation and interconnection facility for submarine fiber cables. It will be DE-CIX’s fourth premium-enabled site in the Catalonian capital, alongside bitNAP, Equinix, and EdgeConneX. It will also extend DE-CIX’s carrier and data center-neutral interconnection ecosystem across the region and beyond.
Major digital hub
Since its inauguration in 2021, DE-CIX Barcelona’s connected networks were increased by more than 25% to 40 with the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya. With the new partnership, the DE-CIX interconnection ecosystem in the region will reach a new level in 2024, when the Barcelona CLS will become home to the new Medusa Submarine Cable System. With the improvement, Barcelona will be a new complementary gateway, next to Marseille, for the traffic between Europe and Africa.
DE-CIX Barcelona is part of the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in the region along with DE-CIX’s further IXs in Lisbon, Madrid, Palermo, and Marseille. DE-CIX Southern Europe is home to the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in the region with 470 connected networks in 13 different data centers. Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX said,
« Today marks another milestone not only for us at DE-CIX, but also for Barcelona, for Catalonia, for the whole Iberian Peninsula and Europe in general. Bringing the local and global interconnection and infrastructure players together in such a terrific partnership will result in better connectivity between Europe and Africa, enhancing especially Barcelona as one of the key digital hubs on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. »