Sparkle and Trans Ocean Network, a Panamanian telecommunications company, will form a joint venture in Panama for the construction of an open landing and connectivity center that aims to become the digital hub for all Central America, the Andean region and the Caribbean.
Panama Digital Gateway, which will be located in Panama City, will offer 3,200 square meters of colocation space for over 600 racks and 5 MW of power. The new building targets a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.4.
The hub will be integrated with Sparkle’s global backbone - more than 600,000 km of fiber spanning from Europe to Africa, the Americas and Asia - and will also be the landing point of existing and upcoming submarine cables looking for a diversified entry way to Central America, thus strengthening the role of Panama as the strategic digital hub between North and South America.
“The development of infrastructures in the Americas represents a pillar of Sparkle's strategic plan to consolidate its positioning in the telecommunications wholesale market while reinforcing its offering of digital solutions to enterprises.”, explained Elisabetta Romano, CEO of Sparkle. “The construction of the hub in Panama, a natural crossroad of Central America and a bridge between the Atlantic and the Pacific as well as a strategic hub between North and South America, is a project of fundamental importance for the landing of new submarine cables and the creation of an ecosystem of interconnected players.”
“Panama Digital Gateway consolidates and positions Panama as the digital hub of the region, strengthening the connectivity of our country, and becoming a strategic interconnection offer for OTTs, carriers and enterprises”, stated JoaquÃn Victoria DÃaz, General Manager of Trans Ocean Network. “We are very pleased to be participating in the construction and operation of this open hub in conjunction with a partner of experience and global scale such as Sparkle.”
Sparkle powers Curie subsea cable with Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme
Sparkle is enhancing its fibers on the Curie submarine cable with Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) technology, enabling a total transmission capacity of up to 450Gbps per channel – which is two times faster than previously available technology - across the 10,476km cable. This will result in an ultimate capacity of up to 19Tbps and a 30 percent increase in the network’s ability, giving end-users the possibility to enjoy more HD video and cloud computing applications.
Sparkle will also have direct connectivity between data centers in the U.S. and Chile using Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme Submarine Network Solution powered by WL5e. In addition, through Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller, Sparkle will be provided with real-time intelligence and visibility to help its network proactively identify connectivity issues.
“Curie is a major addition for Sparkle, as it expands our American backbone with direct Chile to U.S. connectivity. WaveLogic 5 pushes the envelope and helps us execute on our network evolution plans to continue supporting next-generation applications that require endless bandwidth,” commented Enrico Bagnasco, Sparkle’s Chief Technology Officer.
“Ciena’s coherent optical innovations are the industry gold standard. With WaveLogic 5, Sparkle can boost network scalability and forge a path to support the digital economy,” added Fabio Medina, Ciena’s General Manager and Vice President of Sales in Latin America. “Sparkle’s upgraded network opens a new connectivity route to Chile and enables its customers to have faster, more reliable bandwidth as they stream content and use the cloud.”
Sparkle adds fiber pair on Google’s Curie US-Chile cable
The new fiber pair on Curie will be fully integrated with Sparkle’s global backbone, increasing redundancy and offering a fourth diversified route to directly connect South and North America, complementing its 2017 addition of the Seabras-1 cable in the Atlantic.
Sparkle said its newest highways, Curie in the Pacific and Seabras-1 in the Atlantic, position it as the best-in-class choice for OTTs, ISPs, enterprises, Content/Application Providers and Asian players looking for global connectivity through its City2City transport service and its global Tier-1, Seabone IP transit service.
