AWS Region opens in Spain

Amazon announced the opening on AWS Region in Aragón, Spain. The regions is officially named Europe (Spain) and the API name is eu-south-2. 

The AWS Europe (Spain) Region has three Availability Zones (AZ), enabling the deployment of applications across multiple data centers. Each Availability Zone is a fully isolated partition of AWS infrastructure that contains one or more data centers.

Availability Zones are separate and distinct geographic locations with enough distance to reduce the risk of a single event affecting the availability of the Region but near enough for business continuity for applications that require rapid failover and synchronous replication. 

AWS notes that is has had offices in Madrid since 2014 and in Barcelona since 2018 and has a broad network of local partners. 

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/now-open-aws-region-in-spain/

AWS opens in Zurich

Wednesday, November 09, 2022  AWS  

Amazon Web Services officially opened AWS Europe (Zurich) Region.With the launch of the AWS Europe (Zurich) Region, AWS has 90 Availability Zones across 28 geographic regions, with announced plans to launch 21 more Availability Zones and seven more AWS Regions in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, and Thailand. AWS Regions are composed of Availability Zones that place infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations....

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Telefónica reports a solid Q3, revenue up 11% yoy

In a context of global macroeconomic uncertainty, Telefónica reported Q3 revenue of €10,343 million, up 11.2%  yoy.

The company said it is strengthening its position in its main markets and exploiting new opportunities. The strong growth in revenues in the third quarter was driven by double digit increases in Brazil (+29%) and Hispam (+18.2%), as well as in Spain (+0.2%) and Germany (+6%), a pattern that is also reflected in the first nine months.

Net income amounted to €1,486 million in the first nine months of 2022.

The results obtained and the proactive management of the businesses, despite the unstable global scenario, make it possible for 

Telefónica confirmed its financial targets for 2022, revised upwards in the previous quarter. Telefónica also confirmed the shareholder remuneration for the current year, consisting of a dividend of €0.30 per share entirely in cash, distributed in two tranches of €0.15 euros, to be paid in December 2022 and June 2023. 

https://www.telefonica.com/en/communication-room/telefonica-increases-revenues-by-11-2-in-the-third-quarter-and-reaches-a-net-income-of-e1486-millions-up-to-september/

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Orange and MASMOVIL to combine their operations in Spain

ORANGE Spain and MASMOVIL agreed to combine their operations in the form of a 50-50 joint venture co-controlled by both companies with equal governance rights.

The deal includes a right to trigger an IPO under certain conditions for both parties after a defined period and, in such a scenario, an option for ORANGE to take control of the combined entity at IPO price.

The companies said the merger will lead to significant efficiency gains, allowing the combined company to accelerate investments in FTTH and 5G that will benefit Spanish customers.

As part of the final agreement, ORANGE Spain’s enterprise value is set at €7.8 billion (7.2x 2022E EBITDAaL and 37.1x 2022E EBITDAaL – eCapex) and MASMOVIL’s (which includes the acquisition of EUSKALTEL) at €10.9 billion (8.7x 2022E EBITDAaL and 14.9x 2022E EBITDAaL – eCapex).

Christel Heydemann, CEO of ORANGE, commented: “I am very happy to announce the conclusion of these negotiations today. This deal paves the way for the creation of a joint company that combines the forces of ORANGE and MASMOVIL into a single, stronger operator that will enable investments in 5G and Fiber, benefiting customers across Spain. I strongly believe that the creation of this new company is of fundamental importance for the Group, the Spanish telecoms market and for our customers.”

Meinrad Spenger, CEO of MASMOVIL, commented: “This is a great day for Spanish consumers as well as for our stakeholders. Together with ORANGE, we plan to form a strong operator with a sustainable business model and the capacity to invest in world-class infrastructure, technology and talent. We anticipate this will drive competition, digitization and innovation in the Spanish market.”

https://newsroom.orange.com/orange-and-masmovil-sign-an-agreement-to-combine-their-operations-in-spain/?lang=en

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Telefónica validates its net-zero ambitions

Telefónica claims to be the first telco in the world to obtain validation from the Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative, according to the new ‘Net-Zero Standard’, of its net zero environmental targets, both in the short, medium and long term. 

Telefónica's Net-Zero targets include:

• a committment to achieving net zero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions across the value chain by 2040, which means an effective reduction of at least 90% of all its emissions (direct and indirect) and neutralising the remaining emissions (less than 10%) through high quality carbon credits.
• an intermediate target of reducing absolute GHG emissions in Scope 1 and 2 by 80% and 56% in Scope 3 (value chain) by 2030.

The company says it has already decreased all its emissions by more than 40% (70% for Scope 1+2 since 2015 and 27% for Scope 3 since 2016).

“Protecting the environment is a top priority for Telefónica, which is why we are working to curb climate change and reverse biodiversity loss. The fact that our emissions reduction targets are validated by SBTi according to the new ‘Net-Zero Standard’ demonstrates the company’s commitment to leading the energy and digital transition as they go hand in hand to build a greener future for all,” said Elena Valderrábano, Global Chief Sustainability (ESG) Officer.

https://www.telefonica.com/en/communication-room/telefonicafirst-telco-in-the-world-with-net-zero-targets-validated-by-sbti/

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Telefónica and NTT DATA demo private 5G for logistics management

Telefónica and NTT DATA are executing a private 5G proof of concept (PoC) with CIE Automotive, a global automotive supplier. 

At its facilities in Itziar (Guipúzcoa), a 5G intralogistics management platform has been developed and is being implemented as an integrating and enabling solution for the automation of the transport of finished products from the end of the production line to the warehouse.

The objective of the solution is to increase the flexibility, efficiency and traceability of internal logistics processes through the intelligent management of multiple sensors and mobile devices, such as AGVs (automated guided vehicles) and AMRs (autonomous mobile robots).

Jon Ezkerra, R&D project coordinator of the CIE Automotive group, highlights that “The proof of concept being developed in collaboration with Telefónica and NTT Data will be validated in one of the automated welding cells for the manufacture of fuel rails at the CIE Norma plant located in Itziar (Gipuzkoa) and will connect through the use of 5G technology with the plant’s management system to perform intra-logistics movement via AGVs, will allow connection through the use of 5G technology, with the plant’s management system to carry out intra-logistical movement by means of AGVs, establishing the continuous flow of supply and collection of finished product packaging for stacking at height in the warehouse.”

Andrés Escribano, director of New Business and Industry 4.0 at Telefónica Tech, said: “This initiative will allow us to bring logistics automation solutions to many of our customers in a simple and flexible way. The application of 5G connectivity will help to solve the challenges faced in this field of Industry 4.0.”

https://www.telefonica.com/en/communication-room/telefonica-and-ntt-data-integrate-5g-in-cie-automotives-internal-logistics/

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Google Cloud region opens in Madrid in partnership with Telefónica

Google opened a new cloud region in Madrid, Spain. 

The new Madrid region (europe-southwest1) provides low-latency, highly available cloud services with high international security and data protection standards. The Madrid region is launching with three cloud zones to prevent service interruptions, and our standard set of products, including Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, Cloud Storage, Persistent Disk, CloudSQL, and Cloud Identity.

The facility, which joins Google Cloud's network of 33 regions throughout the globe, was built partnership with Telefónica.

“We welcome the Cloud capabilities that the Google Cloud region is bringing to Spain. It is especially important for the alignment with the security levels that public sector organizations demand and as required in the National Security Scheme. They must take advantage of a cloud that is offered locally with the highest security guarantees. The collaboration with hyperscalers is key. It is also essential to continue advancing with best practices adoption, training, security configurations and supervision” Luis Jimenez, Subdirector del Centro Criptológico Nacional.

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/new-google-cloud-region-in-madrid-spain-now-open

Google's Grace Hopper subsea cable lands in Cornwall

Wednesday, September 15, 2021  Google, Subsea, UK  

The Grace Hopper subsea cable has landed in Bude, Cornwall, UK. This follows a successful Bilbao landing earlier in September.

Google says Grace Hopper will use a new switching architecture to provide optimum levels of network flexibility and resilience to adjust to unforeseen failures or traffic patterns. 

https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/united-kingdom/our-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-has-landed-uk/?linkId=131609522

Google's Grace Hopper subsea cable to link US-UK-Spain

Tuesday, July 28, 2020  Google, Subsea  

Google unveiled plans for a new subsea cable — Grace Hopper — which will run between the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain. The cable is named for computer science pioneer Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (1906–1992), an admiral in the U.S. Navy best known for her work in developing the COBOL programming language.

The Grace Hopper cable will be equipped with 16 fiber pairs (32 fibers). Subcom has been selected as the lead contractor. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.

Google said the Grace Hopper cable system will be the first to use a novel optical fiber switching that allows for increased reliability by moving traffic around outages.

Grace Hopper joins Google's other private subsea cables, Curie, Dunant and Equiano.

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NTT inaugurates data center in Madrid

NTT Ltd. opened its first data center in Spain. 

The high-availability, Tier 3-compliant colocation data center is located on NTT's Európolis Business and Technology Park site 20km northwest of Madrid. It provides hyperscalers as well as enterprise clients with 3,600m2 of IT space and a maximum IT capacity of 6.3MW when fully built out.

The cooling concept of the data center was adapted to the warm climate of central Spain: air-cooled chillers and higher cooling water temperatures reduce power consumption and ensure efficient operation of the facility. NTT’s first major client installation in the facility is powered entirely by renewable energy.

NTT's proprietary Global Data Center Interconnect (GDCI) offers private connections to internet nodes such as ESpanix, NetIX and DE-CIX, as well as cloud providers such as AWS, Google, Microsoft and others. Through Lyntia's fiber network, connections exist to 2,694 cities in Spain, to interconnects in France and Portugal, and to major submarine cables. In addition, fiber links exist to NTT's Global IP Network (GIN) as well as Colt IQ, euNetworks, GTT and other international and regional providers.

"The demand for data center capacity in Spain has grown strongly in recent years. Madrid is the largest data center hub in Spain and a European gateway to the world, and our investment in the region is another milestone on our global roadmap as we continue to expand our presence across the continent to meet the coverage, capacity and connectivity needs of our clients", said Florian Winkler, Chief Executive Officer of NTT Ltd.’s Global Data Centers division in EMEA.

https://services.global.ntt/en-us/newsroom/ntt-opens-its-first-data-center-in-spain

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Vodafone opens European R&D center in Málaga

Vodafone inaugurated an R&D centre and digital skills hub in Málaga, Spain.

The Vodafone European R&D Centre will develop technology solutions and digital services based on unified communications, the Internet of Things (IoT), Edge Computing, Mobile Private Networks (MPN) and Open RAN. It is equipped with the latest Vodafone 5G and ultrafast fibre connectivity, as well as laboratory infrastructure and office space.

Vodafone said the facility will grow to include 50 people dedicated to developing Open RAN, including optimized silicon designs. Plans call for 650 software engineers, architects and technicians at the hub. In total, Vodafone plans to invest EUR 225 million over 5 years in the Málaga R&D hub.

Francisco Martin, Head of Open RAN, Vodafone, explained: “As a pioneer of Open RAN, Vodafone is joining forces with specialist technology companies to expand the ecosystem. Silicon innovation will strengthen Europe’s position in the global market and speed up the roll out of new digital services.”

https://www.vodafone.com/news/technology/advance-open-ran-chip-design

Intel cites continued momentum in 5G vRAN and edge

Monday, June 21, 2021  #5G, Intel  

In a virtual event ahead of Mobile World Congress, Intel showcased a number of foundational technologies and products that position the company for continued leadership in 5G virtual radio access network (vRAN) and edge deployments. This includes the following product announcements:Intel Agilex FPGA family is expanding, with a new FPGA with integrated cryptography acceleration that can support MACSec in 5G applications. This adds another layer of...

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Vodafone tests multi-vendor RAN intelligent controller

Sunday, June 06, 2021  O-RAN, Vodafone  

Vodafone, in conjunction with Cohere Technologies, VMware, Capgemini Engineering, Intel and Telecom Infra Project (TIP), demonstrated an Open Radio Access Network (RAN) platform capable of increasing the capacity of a 5G cell site by two-fold using a programmable, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC).Specifically, he companies showed the first demonstration of 5G Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) – providing more capacity at...

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Ericsson joins Vodafone 5G Lab

Ericsson has partnered with the new Vodafone 5G Lab in Madrid, Spain.

The Vodafone 5G Lab is powered by the new Ericsson Cloud Native 5G Core. Running independently of the existing 4G network, the latency of Ericsson’s 5G Core enables network slicing, and improves the stability of the network and its performance.

The companies describe the partnership as a fundamental step towards further elevating the quality of 5G in the Spanish market and creating a solid 5G ecosystem that ensures the entire chain of project development – from design to execution – has access to the best connectivity and 5G devices.

Marta de Pablos, Head of Strategic Marketing for 5G, Vodafone Spain, says: “Vodafone 5G Lab aims to become a fundamental co-creation space to develop a new generation of services and applications that our customers will be able to access in the near future. It is a very important step forward in our strategy to continue being pioneers and a reference in the deployment and use of 5G networks and services in Spain.”

https://www.ericsson.com/en/news/3/2021/ericsson-partners-with-vodafone-to-power-new-5g-lab-in-spain

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Orange launches TOTEM, its European TowerCo

Orange officially launched TOTEM, its wholly-owned European TowerCo which will be operationally independent from the rest of the Orange Group.  

TOTEM will offer mobile infrastructure sharing offers to operators. It will also sell sell coverage solutions to improve connectivity in dense and enclosed environments: stadiums, underground stations, trains, offices, etc.

Orange has transferred all of its key European passive mobile infrastructure assets (sites, land, leases and leases to third parties) to TOTEM.

As of 1 November 2021, TOTEM’s passive mobile infrastructure portfolio includes over 26,000 sites in France and Spain, the two largest countries where Orange is present. TOTEM France will manage 18,500 macro-sites with a mix of 58% tower sites, 30% flat roofs and 12% in other locations. TOTEM Spain will manage 7,900 macro-sites, distributed equally between tower sites and flat roofs.

At launch, TOTEM has around one hundred employees in France based in seven cities (Lille, Nantes, Toulouse, Marseille, Paris, Lyon, Donges), around fifty employees in Spain based in eight cities, and approximately twenty people working for TOTEM Group.

Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange, said: “TOTEM’s operational launch is an important milestone in our European infrastructure strategy. The creation of this entity will allow us to derive value from our passive mobile infrastructure, for which we have exceptional operational expertise. By opening up these assets to other operators, we will optimize its use. We are determined to support TOTEM on both a strategic and financial level, to make it an undisputed leader on the European market and to keep control of this strategic asset as part of a long-term industrial vision. By retaining control of our infrastructure, we have made a crucial decision for our future growth.”

Nicolas Roy, CEO of TOTEM Group, said: “Launched first in France and Spain, TOTEM has become a new player for regional development in Europe. TOTEM will create value for all stakeholders - operators, landlords and real estate players, regional authorities, companies -, thanks to its connectivity solutions and equipment sharing. TOTEM’s teams will rely on the excellence of its mobile infrastructure and a thorough understanding of its customers’ needs to develop connectivity services everywhere, in both rural and urban locations.”

https://www.totemtowers.com

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DE-CIX Barcelona goes live

 DE-CIX Barcelona is now operational, offing interconnection services like peering and private interconnection, along with cloud exchange services through its Apollon platform, and additional access to top public clouds, including Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, IBM Bluemix and Oracle. Close to 30 network operators (carriers), Internet service providers (ISPs), content providers, and enterprise networks have already started to exchange traffic and make use of the company’s interconnection and cloud services in DE-CIX Barcelona. Among those are global players such as Google and Microsoft, as well as local entities such as the Centre de Telecomunicacions i Tecnologies de la Informació de la Generalitat de Catalunya (CTTI).

The company notes interconnection services to the bitNAP, Equinix and EdgeConneX data centers in Barcelona.

DE-CIX said it is establishing the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in Southern Europe, together with its further IXs in Lisbon, Madrid, Palermo, and Marseille. All DE-CIX IXs in Southern Europe serve domestic markets, as well as establishing new European gateways to South and North America, Africa, and Asia. On top, along with interconnecting to DE-CIX Madrid and Marseille, DE-CIX Barcelona is interconnected with one of the world’s largest IXs, DE-CIX Frankfurt, through which the company is opening up one of the largest cloud exchanges in the world to enterprises in the Catalonian region.

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Nokia supplies DCI for the ESpanix Internet Exchange in Madrid

ESpanix, the largest neutral internet exchange provider in Spain, has deployed a modular optical data center interconnect (DCI) solution from Nokiato connect three data centers in the Madrid metro area.

The DCI uses dual optical links between data centers for redundancy and offers an initial capacity of 4 Tbps between data centers. The solution is based on the Nokia 1830 Photonic Service Interconnect – Modular (PSI-M), a compact, modular DCI-optimized platform with pay-as-you grow scalability. The 1830 PSI-M uses Nokia’s programmable PSE-3 coherent DSP modules to maximize capacity and performance for increasing video and cloud traffic demands. 

ESpanix has deployed the Nokia 1830 PSI-M units to support multiple client-side interfaces at speeds up to 400G to meet growing traffic needs, with each unit supporting dual line-side interfaces and multiple 400G wavelengths to provide high-capacity connectivity between the data centers that host its internet peering platforms. 

Cristobal Lopez Cañas, Managing Director of the Association of ESpanix Carrier Networks Providers, said: “Our strategy is to anticipate internet traffic growth and maximize the performance of our network to meet our members’ expectations for reliable and affordable internet exchange services – today and into the future.”

Manuel Ortiz Fernandez, Senior Vice President of EMEA Webscale business at Nokia, said: “During the pandemic, ESpanix experienced a significant increase in traffic, which tripled in a few months to over 1.2 Tbps. With demand for gaming, teleworking, cloud services and online entertainment set to continue, Nokia is pleased to have helped ESpanix rapidly increase its network capacity 10 times to meet the current needs of its customers."

http://www.nokia.com

Equinix builds 5G edge-to-cloud sandbox with Nokia

Thursday, September 23, 2021  5G, Equinix, Nokia, Texas  

Equinix has established a 5G and Edge Technology Development Center at its Infomart facility in Dallas to provide a production-ready interconnection sandbox environment from the radio network to the cloud. The facility includes a fully operational, non-standalone 5G network from Nokia to test and validate various 5G services and use cases. Equinix says its new 5G and Edge Technology Development Center will bring together mobile network operators...

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Spain's RedIRIS deploys ADVA in national research network

RedIRIS, the Spanish academic and research network that provides advanced communication services to the scientific community and national universities, is deploying ADVA’s FSP 3000 for its new long-haul backbone infrastructure connects universities and research facilities across Spain.

The network features ADVA’s flexgrid multi-degree ROADMs, enabling high-speed coherent and high-baud-rate transport. Through ADVA’s MicroMux technology, the new infrastructure also supports a seamless mix of 10 Gbps and 100 Gbps Ethernet client ports without any footprint increase. The network is monitored by the ADVA ALM fiber assurance solution.

“Our new transport system empowers Spain’s scientists and academics to work together on national and international projects under optimum conditions. With flexible coherent wavelengths up to 200Gbit/s, it provides secure, highly reliable access to everything from video conferencing tools to high-performance remote computing facilities,” said Esther Robles, head of communications networks, RedIRIS. “ADVA’s open FSP 3000 technology enabled a smooth and painless transition from our existing transport infrastructure. With its modular design, it also provides massive scale, giving us the freedom to easily expand and evolve our network to meet future needs.”

Connecting more than 80 points of presence and over 500 institutions, RedIRIS’s new backbone network includes long-haul single-span submarine links to Spain’s Balearic Islands and the city of Melilla, as well as connections to the Canary Islands, the Canarian Institute of Astrophysics and its observatories. 

https://www.adva.com/

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Telefónica acquires 20% stake in Nabiax in exchange for 4 data centers

Telefónica will acquire a 20% in Nabiax, a colocation and hosting partner owned y Asterion Industrial Partners, in exchange for four data centers (two in Spain and two in Chile). Asterion and its coinvestors, who retain the remaining 80% of the share capital in Nabiax.

Nabiax operates eleven data centers that it acquired from Telefónica in 2019.

The transaction includes an agreement for housing services in the four DC’s under equivalent terms and conditions as those established in the prior transaction (initial term of ten years). The transaction does not include the sale of servers owned by Telefónica, nor the management and access to customers hosted on them. Telefónica will therefore continue to provide and manage the services that it has been offering to its customers from these DCs and will maintain the direct relationship with such customers.

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Telefónica launches cloud-based quantum random number generator

 Telefónica Tech has collaborated with Barcelona-based Quside, a developer of quantum random number generators, and New York-based Qrypt, a producer of cryptographic quantum security solutions enabled by its Quantum Entropy-as-a-Service (EaaS) solution, to integrate a new quantum technology into its cloud service hosted in its Virtual Data Centers (VDC).

Telefónica said this collaboration enhances its cloud services by providing its customers with easy-to-use, high quality and high-performance quantum random numbers so they can integrate them into their business processes. Several use cases have been demonstrated using this EaaS integration, including seeding for cryptographic devices (HSM), Monte Carlo simulations for scientific, engineering, and financial applications, gaming, as well as for a new proof-of-transit protocol that improves the security of data transiting software-defined networks (SDN). 

Hugo de los Santos, Director of Products and Services at Telefónica Cyber & Cloud Tech, said: "Offering this key quantum-generated resource is a significant advantage for both our internal and external customers. It is especially important for our enterprise customers with demands for high quality and high-performance random numbers, who will benefit from this unique feature".

"Randomness is an essential resource for a wide range of ICT systems, including cybersecurity. We are thrilled to be part of Telefónica Tech's efforts to deploy stronger security features to their global customers using emerging quantum technologies," says Carlos Abellán, CEO of Quside.

"The secure distribution of true quantum randomness is now a practical technical capability for a broad range of critical applications. We’re excited to be working with Telefónica Tech to scale this quantum service globally " said Denis Mandich, CTO of Qrypt.

https://www.telefonica.com/en/web/press-office/-/telefonica-tech-collaborates-with-quside-and-qrypt-to-validate-new-quantum-technology-in-its-vdc-cloud-service- 

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Barcelona Cable Landing Station offers alternative to Marseille

A new Barcelona Cable Landing Station is expected to come into operation the first quarter of 2022 with the aim of being the digital port of reference in the Mediterranean. 

The facility, which is an initiative of AFR-IX Telecom, is the first international submarine cable landing station in Catalonia. Currently, Marseille is the primary landing point for most submarine fibre-optic cables of the Mediterranean. Organizers of the Barcelona Cable Landing Station say a new regional, landing facility is needed because Marseille is saturated.

Norman Albi, CEO of AFR-IX Telecom, highlighted the importance of the project for the company: “We are proud to contribute our experience and build the first landing station in Catalonia with international reach, which will place us in a privileged position in southern Europe and other continents with fast and reliable connections.”

https://barcelonacls.com/the-first-international-submarine-cable-landing-station/

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Accenture buys Spanish engineering company for 5G expertise

Accenture has acquired Arca, a Spanish engineering services company with a focus on network operations and business services. 

Arca provides multidisciplinary services for network operations — including activities to engineer, design, deploy, and manage telecom infrastructure — supported by an integrated platform that automates network monitoring, optimizes processes and predicts system anomalies. The combination of these capabilities with Accenture’s SynOps platform will advance Accenture’s ability to help organizations pivot operating models to new sources of growth. Its 640 employees will join Accenture in Spain. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“5G, cloud and edge computing will usher in a new wave of change and innovation for businesses,” said Domingo Mirón, who leads Accenture’s business in Iberia. “To realize their full potential, companies must act now to adopt the right strategy and build new business solutions enabled by network investments. By harnessing Arca’s expertise, this acquisition will strengthen our ability to help clients accelerate their 5G Cloud network transformation from design through to deployment and operation.”

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NTT builds data center in Madrid

NTT Ltd. has commenced construction of its first data center in Spain.

The new Madrid 1 Data Center is being constructed on NTT’s 12,516 sqm site at Európolis Business and Technology Park, in the municipality of Las Rozas, one of the largest townships in Madrid, located 20 km northwest of the city of Madrid itself, on the A-6 freeway to A Coruña. Completion is expected in Q3 2021.

Madrid 1 Data Center will have 3,600 sqm and 6 MW of capacity for its clients. The new build will follow NTT’s successful business model and will offer colocation services for wholesale and retail clients, supporting hybrid IT solutions. The site will offer the best physical and technical data center infrastructure, supported by 2N UPS systems and highly redundant cooling systems to always meet our clients' requirements. This site will provide access to multiple carriers and cloud providers though NTT’s Multi Service Interconnection Platform, which provides market leading connectivity to our clients across EMEA and globally.

“Madrid is the largest data center hub in Spain and a European gateway to the world. Three new submarine cables connecting USA, Latin America and North Africa, make Spain a very important communications hub on global connectivity landscape. Connectivity, paired with local and global demand from clients mean Madrid is an important location for NTT to invest and launch a major interconnected data center in Madrid”, said Florian Winkler, CEO of the Global Data Centers EMEA division of NTT Ltd.  

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Telefónica bets on cybersecurity startups

Telefónica is launched a new investment vehicle to foster cybersecurity startups.

Telefónica Tech Ventures, which is promoted by Telefónica ElevenPaths cybersecurity company and Telefónica Innovation Ventures (TIV), aims to discover and support the most innovative ideas in cybersecurity. It begins operations with a group of nine invested cybersecurity startups selected from the portfolio of TIV and Wayra, Telefónica’s global open innovation hub. Over the next three years it also intends to invest in up to 15 startups, both early-stage and more mature ones, entering into series A, B and C and devoting the necessary resources to execute follow-ons in the best-performing startups.

The new investments will be geared towards startups with high disruptive potential in areas such as threat intelligence, cloud security, data protection and the application of automations and artificial intelligence in defence of any organisation, regardless of its size and the nature of the asset to be protected (e.g. its business, IT/OT processes, data, people, image or reputation). The focus of the investments will be on the strategic markets for Telefónica (Spain, Brazil, Germany and the United Kingdom) and other significant technological markets such as the United States and Israel, with an investment ticket of up to 6 million euros. Telefónica Tech Ventures will target startups that can complement the ElevenPaths product portfolio, integrate new capabilities into the company and even establish themselves as M&A opportunities.

“Since we created ElevenPaths eight years ago we’ve remained close to the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the hacking community and this new vehicle will enable us to get even closer”, declared Chema Alonso, chief digital consumer officer at Telefónica and current chairman of ElevenPaths. “It will be an opportunity for them not only to have Telefónica as an investor but also to turn us into a customer or even a business partner, thus providing them with the chance to develop their projects around the world”.

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Adamo picks Ekinops for optical transport in Spain

Adamo has selected Ekinops' FlexRate optical transport solution as part of a €250 million infrastructure investment which will deliver fiber optic services to homes and businesses in less densely populated areas across Spain. 

Adamo is currently deploying the Ekinops 200G FlexRate, a high-capacity optical transport platform which provides native 100 Gbps services. In combination with the aggregation of multiple 10GbE clients together on a single high-speed 200 Gbps link, it significantly lowers the cost-per-bit and operational expenditure, in addition to providing  400G and 600G compliance to accommodate future network growth. Ekinops' Celestis NMS (Network Management System) is also installed to monitor the network infrastructure to prevent outages and minimize service disruption.

"Adamo's mission is to provide greater internet connectivity to Spain's rural areas and smaller cities which are not well served by other operators," says Martin Czermin, CEO, Adamo. "Central to this mission is extending our backbone network and this cannot happen without a trusted supplier. Working with Ekinops is helping us to provide competitive and future-proofed high-speed optical fiber services to the market at the lowest cost per bit, with better than the required reliability."   

"Adamo's aim to provide high-quality internet and telecom services outside of key cities is admirable, and especially poignant in today's world where connectivity to work and loved ones is crucial," says Frank Dedobbeleer, Group Vice President Sales EMEA & APAC at Ekinops. "This seven figure implementation demonstrates how Ekinops can work with service providers to strengthen their optical fiber network with a robust, efficient solution which is able to overcome complex requirements such as Adamo's. We look forward to providing continued support as the company works towards its business goals."

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