Microsoft fibre network to connect data centres across Asia, Europe, North America
12 May 2015
Microsoft has engaged several companies in Europe and Asia to help lay a global sub-sea fibre network connecting its data centres around the world.
The contractors include Hibernia Networks and AquaComms, who will lay a sub-sea fibre network to support Microsoft's growing data network needs, would connect Microsoft's data centres via multiple metro and long haul fibres.
Microsoft's $630 million state-of-the-art data centre in west Dublin houses some 200 core Microsoft products, from Office 365 to its search platform Bing, its cloud development platform Azure, and products such as Lync, Exchange and SharePoint.
Microsoft's global fibre network would connect all of its data centres in Europe, North America and Asia.
In Europe Hibernia Networks' new Express cable would be key support to the software giant's backbone and connect several of its data centres.
The Express cable pair would yield over 10Tbps per pair, which was nearly triple the 3.5Tbps per pair delivered on the current systems.
The Hibernia cable would improve connectivity between Canada, Ireland and the UK, while the AcquaComms cable would run from Shirley, NY to Ireland's west coast, according to Tech Crunch.
The Hibernia Express cable set to launch in September would become the first new transatlantic cable in 12 years. The new cable would be especially suited for extreme low-latency operations, and would also be capable of handling up to 10 Tbps per cable pair.
AcquaComm's AEConnect cable could cost around $300 million to build, and would use 130 wavelengths x 100 Gbps per fibre pair. Microsoft is the first customer for the cable, which will also help the company expand its network in Europe.
''These cables will help deliver data at higher speeds, with higher capacity and lower latency for our customers across the globe,'' writes David Crowley, Microsoft managing director for network enablement.
''As people and organizations expect data and information at their fingertips Microsoft must have an infrastructure that can deliver the cloud services, including Azure, which our customers need to support their global businesses,'' Crowley continues.