Allied Fiber, an open-access, integrated, network-neutral colocation and dark fiber company, has announced it has signed two 20-year Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) agreements: With Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC), a not-for-profit electric cooperative with more than 3,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and more than 600 substations; and with C&W Networks, one of the largest telecommunications service providers in the Caribbean region.
For its part, GTC will be running four fiber links from Jacksonville, Fla. to Atlanta, via Allied Fiber’s Southeast Route.
The Southeast Route provides GTC with the security of sufficient bandwidth capacity for the lifetime of the agreement, with minimal costs to upgrade and maintain the network overtime,” the company said.
As a part of the agreement, GTC will gain access to colocation space from three of Allied Fiber’s Georgia neutral colocation facilities located in Fargo, Ashburn and Barnesville, to form the backbone of its state-wide telecommunications network. Through this network, GTC will provide more reliable communications for operations of the state’s electrical grid; at various points along the route, GTC’s Electric Membership Corporations (EMC) members will be able to connect to the network via GTC’s transport services throughout the state. The Southeast Route will also supply GTC with the ability to connect to its own electric substations, training facilities, and other offices through a unified telecom platform.
“Working with GTC gives Allied Fiber the ability to provide our customers direct, physical layer access to the GTC network through several of our neutral colocation facilities in Georgia, and allows GTC to expand their reach and service offerings in the state,” said Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber. “We are excited to support GTC and help local communities in Georgia benefit from our collaboration.”
EMCs in Georgia will benefit by not only connecting to each other, but also to other major telecom hubs in Atlanta and Jacksonville, said David Van Winkle, vice president of operations and maintenance of GTC. “This helps us overcome the challenge of delivering bandwidth to remote locations, and assists in meeting the needs of our partners today and tomorrow, thanks to our partnership with Allied Fiber,” he said.
Meanwhile, C&W Networks will utilize colocation space and dark fiber from the Southeast Route. C&W Networks will have long-term use to two of Allied Fiber’s express fibers, local fibers in North Miami, Boca Raton and Jacksonville, and its five colocation sites. These local links allow C&W to connect its ARCOS-1, CFX, and PCCS submarine cables/landing stations in Florida to the Allied Fiber system, to help it offer higher capacities, greater network resilience and more affordable Internet solutions for customers, C&W said.
“As the demand for reliable, high-speed broadband infrastructure and network access increases in every country and continent, the need for additional submarine cables and subsea capacity to connect them naturally increases as well,” Newby said. “By connecting to and through Allied Fiber, C&W Networks is able to efficiently and cost effectively interconnect its own cable landing stations in the United States, providing control over service quality, cost and scalability.”
Added Paul Scott, president of C&W Networks, “Allied Fiber’s business model provides new and exciting opportunities for us to expand our footprint and better service our valued customers. We are delighted that this neutral colocation and dark fiber network exists so that we can improve our own network operations and performance to better meet the ever evolving needs of our customers.”
