CAPE TOWN, South Africa (November 15, 2016) — Angola Cables today announces that it is has selected Etix Everywhere as its partner to build its critical infrastructure globally as part of an ambitious project to offer a lower latency route between the U.S. and Africa. The first element of the deal includes the construction of a landing station in Fortaleza (Brazil) and a data centre in Brazil for Angola Cables’ new South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) and Monet submarine cable networks, which will link the Americas and Africa.
According to Antonio Nunes, CEO of Angola Cables, “This partnership will help us to quickly develop and operate state-of-the-art data centres as we continue to build ‘digital bridges’ to connect continents and the world.”
Closer Access to Two Promising Markets
Currently, when data travels from Africa to Latin America, it is transmitted through Europe. Angola Cables’ new submarine cables — Monet and SACS — will dramatically reduce the latency between the U.S., Latin America and Africa.
The Monet submarine cable, a partnership between Angola Cables, Google, Antel and Algar Telecom, is scheduled to be ready for service mid-2017, linking Miami, Florida, to Fortaleza and São Paulo, Brazil. This route will offer resilient connectivity and better latency between the two continents. Latin America is a booming market and the internet penetration in this area is tremendous.
The SACS submarine cable, currently being deployed by Angola Cables, will be a direct connection between Latin America and Africa. Data will no longer have to pass through Europe, offering lower latency and better bandwidth quality between Africa and South America, and therefore the U.S.
“With these projects, Angola Cables is transforming the face of African IT infrastructure,” explains Nunes. “Africa has been home to the world’s fastest-growing telecoms sector in the last five years. By offering better connectivity, Angola Cables is making way for a new era of economic growth.”
Ambitious and Resilient Architecture
The cable landing station and the data centre will be flagship infrastructure projects for Etix Everywhere. These projects will follow the company’s innovative architecture design model, encompassing three scalable power sources and world-class equipment. Each of them will offer 500 kVA of hosting capacity, with the ambition of reaching a PUE lower than 1.5 on a Tier III design.
“Considering the extreme weather conditions in Fortaleza, this PUE is a challenging goal,” declares Benoît Parisse, CTO of Etix Everywhere. “However, Etix Everywhere has extensive experience in terms of operating in extreme weather conditions. We are confident in our ability to reach this goal.”
The second challenge for Etix Everywhere is to deliver these projects in six months in a city known for being a difficult environment in terms of construction work. The cable landing station and the data centre will be delivered mid-2017, in time to be connected with the new submarine cables.
Innovation at the Heart of this New Partnership
“Angola Cables chose Etix Everywhere from among 11 competing companies due to its culture of innovation, exemplified by the latest software and hardware technologies developed by Etix Labs, Etix Everywhere’s R&D cluster,” observes Nunes.
“Fifty percent of our workforce is dedicated to creating smart data centres,” says Antoine Boniface, Managing Director of Etix Everywhere. “The mission of Etix Everywhere is to provide fully automated data centres, using automation and artificial intelligence to improve facility operations and create a better user experience.”
The innovative character of Etix Everywhere does not stop at its core business, but also comprises other complex business offerings. Angola Cables also selected Etix Everywhere for its co-investment model; this partnership approach enables the telecom operator to set their ambitions serenely in the long term.
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ABOUT ETIX EVERYWHERE
Etix Everywhere specializes in the construction and operation of scalable data centres and cable landing stations. Headquartered in Luxembourg and founded in 2012, the company has developed innovative technical solutions that can be deployed anywhere in less than 16 weeks. Etix Everywhere builds turnkey projects for large customers and also develops its own colocation data centre network in which housing services are provided. For more information visit www.etixeverywhere.com/en. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
ABOUT ANGOLA CABLES
Angola Cables is an Angolan telecommunications company founded in 2009, which operates in the wholesale market and whose core business is the commercialisation of capacity in international circuits for voice and data through Submarine Cable Systems throughout the South Atlantic and Africa. Angola Cables is responsible for the management and development of WACS (West Africa Cable System) providing carrier-level services to operators in Angola and in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa; fast becoming one of the leading capacity providers on the continent. It also operates Angonix (Angolan IXP) in its data centre in Luanda, and is building a world-class data centre and interconnection facility in Fortaleza, Brazil. For more information visit www.angolacables.co.ao. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
PRESS CONTACT
Etix Everywhere
iMiller Public Relations for Etix Everywhere
Tel: +1 866 307 2510
pr@imillerpr.com
Angola Cables
Andrew Cole
Atmosphere Communications
+27 (0)79 483 3208
andrewc@atmosphere.co.za