Microsoft Invests In Undersea Cable Projects to Go Strong on its Data Center Connectivity

Microsoft has announced its partnership with a group of telecom companies to build a new transpacific undersea cable that will connect a number of points in China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan with the U.S. West Coast.

According to the company, the New Cross Pacific (NCP) Cable Network will provide faster connections for its customers and help it compete on cloud cost.

Further, it also announced its deals with Hibernia to offer faster connectivity between Canada, Ireland and the U.K., and AcquaComms to use its upcoming AEConnect cable between Shirley, NY and the West Coast of Ireland.

The Hibernia Express cable, the first new transatlantic cable in twelve years, will launch in September.

Microsoft is the first customer for the AEConnect cable, which will cost about $300 million to build. The cable uses 130 wavelengths x 100 Gbps per fibre pair and will also function as a platform for Microsoft’s network expansion in Europe going forward.

For these cables, Microsoft specifically notes that its investment is meant to connect its data center infrastructure in North America to Ireland and the U.K. David Crowley, Microsoft’s MD for Network Enablement states, “These cables will help deliver data at higher speeds, with higher capacity and lower latency for our customers across the globe.”

Adding further, he said, “As people and organizations expect data and information at their fingertips Microsoft must have an infrastructure that can deliver the cloud services, including Azure, which our customers need to support their global businesses”.

Notably, Microsoft isn’t alone in expanding its global networking infrastructure. Its competitor, Google has as well made similar investments in undersea cable infrastructure.

Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt. Ltd.