Intelligent Data Centres Issue 40 | Page 7

2Africa deployment underway with first landing in Genoa , Italy

NEWS he 2Africa consortium , composed of China Mobile International , Meta ( www . Facebook . com ), MTN

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GlobalConnect , Orange , stc , Telecom Egypt , Vodafone and WIOCC , have announced the first landing of the 2Africa cable – in Genoa , Italy .
The landing sets the tone for more landings in the coming months as the cable is extended to a total of 46 locations by the completion of the project in 2024 .
Announced in May 2020 , the 2Africa subsea cable system together with its Pearls extension is designed to deliver seamless international connectivity to approximately 3 billion people , representing 36 % of the global population and connecting three continents , Africa , Europe and Asia .
At 45,000km , it will be the longest subsea cable ever deployed , serving communities that rely on the Internet for services from education to healthcare and business , with all experiencing the economic and social benefits that come from this increased connectivity .
Vodafone , the 2Africa landing party in Genoa , has partnered with Equinix to land the cable directly into the Equinix Carrier Neutral Data Centre ( CNDC ), with Retelit delivering the fronthaul .
As with all 2Africa cable landings , capacity will be available to service providers in Genoa on a fair and equitable basis , encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy Internet ecosystem .
Working with a local Italian operator , 2Africa has also developed a new terrestrial route connecting the Genoa cable landing station ( CLS ) directly to major CNDCs in Milan .
Good progress on the survey work and manufacturing continues with the 2Africa project remaining on track for completion in 2024 .

atNorth has joined the Swedish Data Center Industry Association

tNorth , a leading high-performance colocation provider , has announced that it has joined the Swedish Data a

Center Industry Association ( SDIA ), which aims to bring together the entire ecosystem around the fast-growing data centre industry in Sweden . making them extremely energy efficient ,” added Jofors-aTribe . “ So , with energy prices soaring in the UK and parts of Europe , this is absolutely critical to the industry ’ s future and something that we are keen to influence .”
The SDIA is proactive in supporting its members and the development of the growing data centre industry by making sustainability issues a priority , encouraging and supporting research and innovation projects and enabling the industry to grow .
“ We are pleased to join our data centre colleagues in this very important organisation for our industry . It is crucial to us that we are actively involved with influencing the industry ’ s development in the Swedish market ,” said Stefan Jofors-aTribe , Nordic Sales Director , atNorth . “ We have an enormous number of important industry-wide issues to work on resolving . Of course , sustainability is at the core of atNorth ’ s operations and will always be our priority . We are also keen to understand how we can support the rapid digitalisation of society through the construction of a functioning infrastructure .
“ atNorth ’ s existing sites have been designed to operate with the lowest carbon footprint possible , with 100 % renewable energy ,
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