VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A third high-speed subsea cable will make its way to Virginia Beach after ACA International announced a partnership with South Atlantic Express International.
The cable will supposedly run from South Africa to Virginia Beach and will add-on the announcement by ACA International recently of the relocation of its corporate headquarters to Virginia Beach from Washington D.C.
“This is the third high-speed cable agreement to be finalized in Virginia Beach,” said Virginia Beach Economic Development Director Warren D. Harris. “This new connection from South Africa is a significant addition to our global connectivity infrastructure, and strengthens the city’s position as a Tier One digital community.”
According to officials familiar with the deal, the 72 terabit per second bandwidth SAEx cable will be the only system connecting South Africa directly to the U.S. It will combine with a partner system from Fortaleza, Brazil, offering a diverse transatlantic network, with a planned second phase from South Africa to Asia.
ACA International’s $52 million investment for its new data center in the Corporate Landing Business Park of Virginia Beach is expected to be completed by the fourth fiscal quarter of 2019. But plans and details about the subsea lines, along with a time plan for their construction has not been released.
“The addition of SAEx to our open and neutral cable landing station is significant as it provides a direct link for both South Africa and LATAM into our new Digital Port in Virginia Beach,” said Joel Ogren, CEO at ACA International. “The collaboration with SAEx and the deployment of the SAEx subsea cable system will enable us to foster cost-effective, high-speed broadband connectivity between Southern Africa and the Americas.”
Virginia Beach is already home to the world’s fastest subsea cables, installed by Microsoft, Facebook and Telxius, connecting Hampton Roads to Europe and South America.
Globalinx Data Centers is also building a 150,000-square-foot, three-phased data center campus in proximity to the Telxius Cable Landing Station in Virginia Beach.
Related links:
ACA International to invest $52 million for data center in Virginia Beach
Va. Beach to become tech hub teaming up with giants like Microsoft, Facebook
Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Hampton and Williamsburg honored for being top digital cities in U.S.
