Lisbon/Madrid and Dublin, Ireland, 27 April 2021. DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange operator, and EllaLink, the express optical platform between Europe and Latin America, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a strategic partnership. The goal of the partnership is to promote and enhance a new low latency path across the southern Atlantic, directly connecting Brazil and South Europe. Lisbon will function as the entry point to South Europe’s largest neutral interconnection ecosystem, consisting of the five DE-CIX interconnected IXs in Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Marseille and Palermo. The aim of the partnership is to offer the unique benefits of the low latency routing to all DE-CIX and EllaLink customers and partners, as well as the wider global Internet community at large.

“Latency is the new currency of our digitalized world. Everything, everywhere, will be digital – and every millisecond counts when it comes to critical applications for different verticals, e.g. mobility, finance, or e-health. The two strong business regions of South Europe and Latin America share many similarities when it comes to culture, language, and the demands on the markets, and will now – with the new EllaLink sub sea cable – grow together even more strongly. The huge demand for low-latency and high quality data exchange between the two continents requires the shortest and fastest connection possible. This is what users on both sides of the Atlantic deserve for a great Internet experience,” says Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX International.

“One of our main objectives for creating a low latency route between Latin America and Southern Europe was establish a unique ecosystem which would unite these two markets and provide benefits to users in both continents. The demand for digital content continues to rise, which in turn drives the demand for network optimisation. EllaLink’s design places Fortaleza as close to Europe as it is to the USA, and therefore with the same latency reach. Through our partnership with DE-CIX, EllaLink will be able to provide Latin America with safer, more efficient, and more secure access to Internet Exchange points in Europe allowing us to offer a stable and secure environment for our customers. We are excited to lead this new route revolution,” said Diego Matas, COO of EllaLink.

Celebrating its fifth anniversary, DE-CIX Madrid is the heart of the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in South Europe, which also consists of further IXs in Barcelona, Lisbon, Marseille, and Palermo. As data traffic is increasingly moving to the south, DE-CIX Lisbon, DE-CIX Barcelona, and DE-CIX Marseille act as an ideal gateway to enter Europe from the Americas, Africa, and Asia, to interconnect directly with local, regional, and global networks, and get closer to people and businesses.

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About DE-CIX

DE-CIX (German Commercial Internet Exchange) is the world’s leading operator of Internet Exchanges. In total, in its 28 locations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia, DE-CIX interconnects over 2200 network operators (carriers), Internet service providers (ISPs), content providers, and enterprise networks from more than 100 countries, offering peering, cloud, and interconnection services. The combined connected customer capacity of all DE-CIX locations worldwide exceeds 70 Terabits, making it the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in the world. DE-CIX in Frankfurt, Germany, with a data throughput of more than 10 Terabits per second (Tbps) and over 1000 connected networks, is the largest Internet Exchange in the world.

Further information at www.de-cix.net.

About EllaLink

EllaLink is an advanced optical platform offering secure high capacity connectivity on a unique low latency transatlantic route serving the growing needs of the Latin American and European markets. The EllaLink network directly connects Brazil and Europe, linking the major hubs of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza with Lisbon, Madrid and Marseille.

The EllaLink System has been built with state-of-the-art coherent technology initially offering 100Tbps of capacity over four direct fibre pairs between Europe and Brazil. The landing sites in Fortaleza (Brazil) and Sines (Portugal) have been secured and EllaLink is scheduled to be Ready for Service in May 2021. EllaLink is a privately funded and independent company committed to providing products and services on a Carrier Neutral and Open Access basis. Marguerite II, a pan-European equity fund active in the renewables, energy, transport and digital infrastructure sectors, is the main shareholder of EllaLink. For more information visit https://ella.link/

Media Contact DE-CIX:

Carsten Titt
Head of Global Public Relations
Telephone: +49 (0)69-1730902-130
Email: media@de-cix.net

Media Contact EllaLink:

Vincent Gatineau
Chief Marketing & Sales Officer
Telephone : +353 87 467 6231
Email: vincent.gatineau@ella.link